Internet rage has once again carried the day as BioWare has announced they are dropping the proposed “recurring validation” scheme in the upcoming PC version of Mass Effect.
On Friday, BioWare Community Manager Jay Watamaniuk posted a message on the official Mass Effect forum saying that the game’s copy protection is being changed to a one-time-only online authentication when the game is first installed. Under the new system, each game will be valid for installations on three different computers, with further authorizations handled by EA support on a case-by-case bases. Once installed, the DVD will no longer be required for gameplay, and connections to the internet for future validation will only be required if the player downloads new game content.
“There has been a lot of discussion in the past few days on how the security requirements for Mass Effect for the PC will work,” the message said. “BioWare, a division of EA, wants to let fans know that Mass Effect will not require ten-day periodic re-authentication.”
“BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them,” it continued. “To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able to re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.”
Mass Effect and Spore were intended to be the first two games to make use of the new copy protection scheme, which EA said would be employed in all its future PC releases. No indication was given as to how this decision will effect the planned use of recurring validation in other releases. The PC version of Mass Effect is due to hit North American shelves on May 28. For more information, check out masseffect.bioware.com.
