EA Eases Spore Copyright Controls

Following howls of protests from buyers, EA will now allow Spore to be registered on five computers, and will address the issue of only one player being allowed to use it.

Game maker Electronic Arts expected big things from its new release, Spore. And it got them, but it wasn’t the cries of delight. Instead there were growls of complaint when purchasers realized they could only register the game on three computers, with no way to de-authorize in installation to allow for another, and each copy only allowed for one player with one screen name to use it.

EA, it seems, has been listening to the complaints and watching the poor user reviews on sites. Now the company has said that it will allow the game to be registered on five computers instead of three, which it believes will be enough for most gamers.

Frank Gibeau, EA Games’ president, told the BBC:

"We’ve received complaints from a lot of customers who we recognize and respect. I believe we need to adapt our policy to accommodate our legitimate consumers."

EA has also said it will work to allow a way to de-authorize computers and to allow up to five screen names for each copy of Spore, although it’s yet to reelase details on how either will be implemented.