Acivation Limits of games on Orgin/EA

Marcdaddy

2[H]4U
Joined
Feb 21, 2003
Messages
3,635
Guys i have a couple of games that now i cant play since it says i have excedded my activation limits, i mean i re install my pc maybe twice a year unless i have a problem. I have been on Chat with someone from EA for 30 mins and now he says he needs to escalate my claim to anoher department WTF just release my friggin games to me to play!!! I plan on re installing windows on Sunday after i get my Haswell CPU, is there something i need to do before wiping my system? I tried to download there authorization tool but it doesnt even work... Go Figure.
 
EA is bs now. There is an activation limit. Even ubisoft has an activation limit now. Tis why piracy is high.
 
Ya my Crysis 2 and Need for speed Shift 2 and The Run wont install. Lord knows what else wont work im furious! Ive been online chat for 45 minutes with them and he has verified who i am and that i own the games but know he says he needs to send it off to a department that handles things like this WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
You should try calling them, should be a lot faster than waiting for them online.
 
Ya I think to be safe im going to just play what i have until Sunday, Install Haswell and then re install everything and see whats jacked up then call. This is so bad i hate EA, why do they think this is good customer service is beyond me.
 
Its such bullshit that he even has to call. He's purchased these fucking games. This is a perfect example of why we should not support EA.
 
This is why draconian DRM causes piracy. When DRM results in legitimate owners being prevented from playing their game, DRM pushes people toward piracy. DRM isn't a burden to pirates, it only hurts legitimate customers.
 
Its such bullshit that he even has to call. He's purchased these fucking games. This is a perfect example of why we should not support EA.

Plenty of games, including NFS: Shift, would behave the exact same way if purchased from steam. BF3 does not have an activation limit. NFS: Shift uses securom, so do other popular games like the batman franchise.
 
Plenty of games, including NFS: Shift, would behave the exact same way if purchased from steam. BF3 does not have an activation limit. NFS: Shift uses securom, so do other popular games like the batman franchise.

This is correct, it isn't an EA problem much as some steam defense force people love to claim.... It is an industry wide problem that the clamoring for online drm has brought about. Way back when, we warned of steam... People even hated the idea, well some of us. Look where we are now, eh?
 
This is correct, it isn't an EA problem much as some steam defense force people love to claim.... It is an industry wide problem that the clamoring for online drm has brought about. Way back when, we warned of steam... People even hated the idea, well some of us. Look where we are now, eh?

I can understand where you're coming from with this not being EA's fault, but how exactly does it become Steam's fault now? Maybe I am missing something, but I think Steam is a relatively mild form of DRM as far as I can tell. Almost all of the DRM issues I have ever run into have to do with others tacking their DRM on top of Steam (and yes, that includes Origin logins).

Honestly, this recently after Simcity 2013, I am amazed anyone has the ability to defend EA about their DRM practices.
 
Honestly, this recently after Simcity 2013, I am amazed anyone has the ability to defend EA about their DRM practices.

Agree with this.

I never seem to have trouble with Steam and I install on any machine or build I want.

This bullcrap from EA is a joke.
 
same thing happened to me with crysis 2, got on chat and they fixed it in minutes.
 
Technically you guys should be supportive then of EA moving to using Origin as DRM for their newer in house titles as there are no activation limits as the case with their older titles using third party DRM. It is essentially parity with Steam in terms of DRM.

The same titles with activation limits using third party DRM sold on Steam also have the same issue (or any other). There are actually warnings posted on the store pages for those. For example Crysis: Warhead -
http://store.steampowered.com/app/17330/
3rd-party DRM: SecuROM™
5 machine activation limit

The one digital storefront that stands out in regards to dealing the activation limit issue may be Amazon. The last time their policy was they themselves would directly add more licenses to any games you ran out of activation limits without you having to deal with the actual content owner (mostly the publisher). I am not sure if this has changed. As far as I know every other digital distributor's policy is to contact the publisher.
 
I honestly believe that if BF3 would have been on Steam, or would be released on Steam right now, that there would be A TON more players. Have a weekend sale and bam, fill the servers. Just my 2cents.
 
I honestly believe that if BF3 would have been on Steam, or would be released on Steam right now, that there would be A TON more players. Have a weekend sale and bam, fill the servers. Just my 2cents.

From a business stand point I assume they are weighing the possible long term benefits of pushing Origin versus the short term. Valve, for example, also most likely lost out on potential sales revenue with HL2 in the short term (I actually think their reason for signing the original bundle deals, HL2 was bundled with quite a few products, was to push as much share as possible as opposed to simply revenue) but I think in hindsight most would agree with their move to push Steam and the position they are now with it from a business stand point.
 
I honestly believe that if BF3 would have been on Steam, or would be released on Steam right now, that there would be A TON more players. Have a weekend sale and bam, fill the servers. Just my 2cents.

I completely agree. That is why EA's (and other's) decision to go exclusive to their own store has always struck me as just a dumb business move.

Slap BF3 on Steam tonight (or Guild Wars 2 or Diablo III), it'd be the top seller for the whole weekend. That's automatic cash they're just leaving on the table. Obviously, I understand the 30% cut issue, but there are about 100 more elegant solutions to solve that than exclusivity. Exclusivity is about the least elegant solution.

They could make it timed exclusive, or just differentiate the price and make the Steam version more expensive. If I could buy Dragon Age 2 for Steam at 30% higher than it is on Origin, I would do it, and they'd get the same revenue. There's 20-30 million Steam members that don't have an Origin account, so I am certain I am not the only one.
 
From a business stand point I assume they are weighing the possible long term benefits of pushing Origin versus the short term. Valve, for example, also most likely lost out on potential sales revenue with HL2 in the short term (I actually think their reason for signing the original bundle deals, HL2 was bundled with quite a few products, was to push as much share as possible as opposed to simply revenue) but I think in hindsight most would agree with their move to push Steam and the position they are now with it from a business stand point.

I wonder when they will consider the evaluation period up and deem it a failure. They have already released BF3, SWTOR, Simcity, and a host of other games exclusive to Origin on PC, and yet they are still at best at half of the PC user base of Steam. That's just a huge crowd of (20+ million) PC gamers they are simply failing to reach.
 
I wonder when they will consider the evaluation period up and deem it a failure. They have already released BF3, SWTOR, Simcity, and a host of other games exclusive to Origin on PC, and yet they are still at best at half of the PC user base of Steam. That's just a huge crowd of (20+ million) PC gamers they are simply failing to reach.

Err...but Steam has 10x or more the number of games that Origin does. The barrier to buy any of those games is extremely low...download and install Origin, and you have your game. I think there are very people who are so "principled" they won't get the game solely because of Origin. At this point, people who want the game will have already gotten it.
 
stop giving them money. the end. only that will influence their decision-making. i agree with feelings about ea but i am dumbfounded how and why people continually give them money and then complain, then do it all over again for the next big ea title that comes along - as if they just can't live without some titles... i just don't get it. i guess the "need" to play some games overrides what some think is their principles.
 
Plenty of games, including NFS: Shift, would behave the exact same way if purchased from steam. BF3 does not have an activation limit. NFS: Shift uses securom, so do other popular games like the batman franchise.
This is incorrect. On Steam, NFS: Shift has no layered DRM, safe from needing an EA account. It is Shift 2 which has SolidShield TAGES DRM.

Technically you guys should be supportive then of EA moving to using Origin as DRM for their newer in house titles as there are no activation limits as the case with their older titles using third party DRM. It is essentially parity with Steam in terms of DRM.

The same titles with activation limits using third party DRM sold on Steam also have the same issue (or any other). There are actually warnings posted on the store pages for those. For example Crysis: Warhead -
http://store.steampowered.com/app/17330/
Just to clarify, when Cyrsis 2 was released, Crytek updated the activation limits on Crysis and Crysis Warhead from 5 to 50 activations (it still is silly as I think they should have simply unlocked those games).
 
I can understand where you're coming from with this not being EA's fault, but how exactly does it become Steam's fault now? Maybe I am missing something, but I think Steam is a relatively mild form of DRM as far as I can tell. Almost all of the DRM issues I have ever run into have to do with others tacking their DRM on top of Steam (and yes, that includes Origin logins).

Honestly, this recently after Simcity 2013, I am amazed anyone has the ability to defend EA about their DRM practices.

Steam was the first really generally accepted form of online activation required DRM, before that people railed against it. This vastly affected the industry's direction for DRM schemes.

Also, EA is basically identical to Steam on their own DRM nowadays. It's third-party ones that affect both, that are causing these kinds of issues.
 
EA is bs now. There is an activation limit. Even ubisoft has an activation limit now. Tis why piracy is high.
lol no. piracy was problem first then came the activation limits. now its an excuse to pirate which is beyond ironic. pirates are pirates and they will always have an excuse.

and at least EA actually gives a shit if you have a problem. just give them a call and someone will take care of your problem or even give you refund if that cant fix an issue that you have. have fun waiting on your canned response from Valve if you have an issue.
 
I honestly believe that if BF3 would have been on Steam, or would be released on Steam right now, that there would be A TON more players. Have a weekend sale and bam, fill the servers. Just my 2cents.

Doubt it. Steam doesn't make a game better. People that want the game.. Will get the game regardless where it is. People that don't want it. Will use the Steam excuse to justify themselves. When in reality its a pathetic excuse. There is nothing wrong with Origin. It's exactly like Steam.
 
Doubt it. Steam doesn't make a game better. People that want the game.. Will get the game regardless where it is. People that don't want it. Will use the Steam excuse to justify themselves. When in reality its a pathetic excuse. There is nothing wrong with Origin. It's exactly like Steam.

While that is true, some people just want all their games in one place, like steam. If origin had the same amount of games that Steam had, Id say go with origin. Steam is FAR more popular than Origin, therefore having BF3 there would get more people playing the game. I forget I even have BF3 installed sometimes because I scan through my steam games to see what I want to play. lol
 
Just a FYI both my games ate still locked!!!!!! I called and they said they released them yet 4 hours later it's still a no go... I'm ready to do something I should t to get them to play again.
 
Just a FYI both my games ate still locked!!!!!! I called and they said they released them yet 4 hours later it's still a no go... I'm ready to do something I should t to get them to play again.
I only ran into activation limits one time and that was on Warhead which I had installed on many computers to test. when I called they reset right there over the phone and that was it. that has been 3 years ago now.
 
Ya I think to be safe im going to just play what i have until Sunday, Install Haswell and then re install everything and see whats jacked up then call. This is so bad i hate EA, why do they think this is good customer service is beyond me.

Definitely make all of your changes before you get your activation limits bumped up. Or you will be doing this again.
 
Just a FYI both my games ate still locked!!!!!! I called and they said they released them yet 4 hours later it's still a no go... I'm ready to do something I should t to get them to play again.

Jeez, that sucks :(... they ever unlock em yet!?
 
It's exactly like Steam.

That's not quuiite true. I have BF3 (though I don't play it anymore because...grinding). I didn't really ever sign in to Origin with it, just launched the battlewhatevernet page whatever thing, it launched Origin in the background (or something) and played the game. With other games I didn't even need to sign into Origin at all, just launch it.

As much as I use Steam, if I want to launch a game on Steam, I have to launch Steam first every time, then launch the game. for lots of games I wish Steam would get out of the way more. Or even just not load at all, in exactly the same way, especially those games which aren't even Steamworks, or don't use Steam as it's ingame browser. It makes it a useless appendage and a barrier to entry in situations it doesn't even need to be in.
 
That's not quuiite true. I have BF3 (though I don't play it anymore because...grinding). I didn't really ever sign in to Origin with it, just launched the battlewhatevernet page whatever thing, it launched Origin in the background (or something) and played the game. With other games I didn't even need to sign into Origin at all, just launch it.

As much as I use Steam, if I want to launch a game on Steam, I have to launch Steam first every time, then launch the game. for lots of games I wish Steam would get out of the way more. Or even just not load at all, in exactly the same way, especially those games which aren't even Steamworks, or don't use Steam as it's ingame browser. It makes it a useless appendage and a barrier to entry in situations it doesn't even need to be in.

shift+tab
 
That's not quuiite true. I have BF3 (though I don't play it anymore because...grinding). I didn't really ever sign in to Origin with it, just launched the battlewhatevernet page whatever thing, it launched Origin in the background (or something) and played the game. With other games I didn't even need to sign into Origin at all, just launch it.

As much as I use Steam, if I want to launch a game on Steam, I have to launch Steam first every time, then launch the game. for lots of games I wish Steam would get out of the way more. Or even just not load at all, in exactly the same way, especially those games which aren't even Steamworks, or don't use Steam as it's ingame browser. It makes it a useless appendage and a barrier to entry in situations it doesn't even need to be in.

Sounds like you have your login saved in origin, otherwise you would need to log in after you start up battlefields website browser.

I just startup steam when I play a game and leave steam running when I shut the game down. I don't auto start steam on boot up, but I do leave my machine on 24/7 and only reboot during hardware changes or OS updates.
 
This is correct, it isn't an EA problem much as some steam defense force people love to claim.... It is an industry wide problem that the clamoring for online drm has brought about. Way back when, we warned of steam... People even hated the idea, well some of us. Look where we are now, eh?
I don't understand this logic. The Activation limit comes from EA and not Steam. Steam is more than happy to not employ the Activation limit DRM. In fact, they're probably puzzled why they would want both.

And the original Batman AA handled the op's situation correctly. You gained one activation back every month. Every six months would be more than enough.
 
Err...but Steam has 10x or more the number of games that Origin does. The barrier to buy any of those games is extremely low...download and install Origin, and you have your game. I think there are very people who are so "principled" they won't get the game solely because of Origin. At this point, people who want the game will have already gotten it.

Your contention is that there would be no new sales if BF3 popped up on Steam today? Seems like a dubious proposition at best. Certainly wasn't the case when they released Baldur's Gate on Steam and that was available elsewhere. The platform matters more to some than it does to others. Hence, it is silly to walk away from the customers that care about Steam as a platform.
 
Back
Top