Dragon Age II mired in accusations of DRM restrictions

by Steven Mostyn - Mar 25 2011, 12:24

While there’s supposedly no such thing as bad publicity, chances are Canadian software developer BioWare is sick of seeing its latest blockbuster game in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Moreover, with the Internet community still simmering after a BioWare engineer issued Dragon Age II with a perfect review score via aggregation site Metacritic, reports have emerged claiming that the PC version of the RPG sequel contains dreaded Digital Rights Management (DRM).

That’s according to outspoken DRM consumer watchdog Reclaim Your Game, which has accused BioWare and third-party publisher Electronic Arts (EA) of failing to disclose the presence of SecuROM DRM prior to the game hitting retail shelves.

Following that initial accusation, EA promptly released a statement explaining that Dragon Age II does not use SecuROM DRM, but actually applies a harmless process from Sony SecuROM technology group call Release Control.

“Release Control is simply a technology that involves a one-time startup check with a server to confirm that the official street date for the game has passed,” it offered. “Once the street date has passed and the check is done, this software is removed.”

However, despite continued denials issued by both BioWare and EA, the diligent watchdogs over at Reclaim Your Game have gone to great lengths in tying Release Control to the SecuROM DRM suite.

For those who don’t know, DRM is access-control technology used to provide the content holder with complete copy protection—a shield that DRM opponents claim overreaches existing copyright law.

Some of DRM’s leading proponents include Amazon, AOL, Apple, BBC, Microsoft and Sony.

You can read Reclaim Your Game’s full report on the matter by clicking here.

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