While reviews have been OK for
Spore, the game's getting a
hammering on Amazon for the way they implement DRM. You can only install the game 3 times, then you'll have to call up EA and ask for another install after wards. Ars also has a
nice little article on the situation. The game's been in development for a long, long time and guys like Will Wright deserve your support. But, seeing the game being railed on because of the DRM must be pretty tough. We went through something like this for
BioShock as well.
The game was out on pirate sites days before release and it seems that all DRM is doing these days is hindering legitimate customers and not preventing piracy at all. Is it time for publishers to abandon this archaic practice of trying to protect their games by DRM? It might have worked many moons ago but things have changed and it doesn't seem any of these tactics are working in preventing the game from becoming freely available before the official release.
My quick take is, offer the game at a more reasonable price on the PC and don't use these complex copy protection programs. Don't treat your customers like they are criminals. Don't limit them on how many machines they can install on in their own home. Know that your game's going to get pirated no matter what but change your practice to maximize the profits. You might be surprised at how many people do purchase your software if you make a good quality product and don't hamper it by over the top copy protection schemes that doesn't prevent copying at all.
