How 2K Games and BioShock Took Back the West

Gamers With Jobs has posted a new article called “How 2K Games and BioShock Took Back the West” that takes a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of the game’s significant copy protection.

2K Games has set a new precedent by requiring the user to activate their game online before allowing them to play. Unlike a Windows Vista or XP install, you can’t pick up the phone to activate your key. Never have we seen a publisher require this extra step for a single-player only title. It’s assumed in multiplayer games like Battlefield 2 or World of Warcraft that you aren’t going to get around needing to login to a central server and verify legitimate CD key before you can play. Until now, we were also safe in assuming we could skip that step for a game that wouldn’t otherwise require a net connection at all.

This added activation step has seemingly frozen game-cracking pirates in their tracks. But before the corks cleared the Champaign bottles at 2K Games, user complaints began flooding in regarding the two activations limit. Customers who had to reinstall the game after issues or upgrades were angry at the prospect of being locked out from a game they own. While uninstalling was supposed to add one activation back, it wasn’t working. 2K has since come forward and increased the activations to five per copy, and promised a (revoke activation) tool to remove a computer’s clearance to play the game so it can be transferred to another.

The publisher seems to have taken a (better to ask for forgiveness) approach and gradually given the user back some measure of control over their own software. The precedent will remain, however. A big budget, single-player PC game has required activation and by all accounts, it’s working. The game is flying off shelves, the reviews are stellar and reports of Starforce levels of computer issues have been minimal so far.