So you know how the whole Xbox One DRM thing became a huge circlejerk among video game media circles as this terrible thing cooked up by publishers? You know, many gaming sites were saying “Oh, it was EA and Ubisoft and Capcom -- they forced Microsoft to impregnate the Xbox One with DRM and they'll do it to Sony, too!” well that's not really true, because EA says they didn't lobby squat to Microsoft about the anti-consumer DRM in the Xbox One.
Polygon [via MCVUK] caught up with Electronic Arts' COO Peter Moore who stated that...
"As the guy who is the chief operating officer of Electronic Arts I can tell you that EA did not aggressively lobby for the platform holders to put some gating function in there to allow or disallow used games,”“I am on record as being a proponent of used games. I like the ecosystem. I like the fact that it's kept pricing at a good level for eight years. I like the fact that someone can buy a physical game and see some equity in that game. That keeps GameStop vibrant and they are a great launch and marketing partner for us.”
Moore also went on record as saying that Electronic Arts is still undecided on how they plan to approach any fees for used games or if they will embrace the [dark side] opportunity that Microsoft is presenting them with the Xbox One. This occurred after Sony put their foot down and stated that no publisher, first, second or third-party, will be allowed to use Online Passes any longer for the PS4. Yes, all forms of Online Passes are barred from the PS4.
While a lot of people tried pushing the blame on publishers as the reason why Microsoft has hardware embedded DRM, Sony's opposing stance seems to say that publisher pressure and lobbying isn't as heavy as the media has been leading on. In fact, I'd venture to say that the hardware manufacturers have more sway on publishers than the other way around, given Sony's announcement that caused EA to stop, pause, think and reconvene on how to approach the used game situation.
Given their former two-time annual win as the Worst Company in America, I would be compelled to think that EA should have been the last on a short list of AAA publishers lobbying for a system-wide DRM infrastructure like the one currently being used for the Xbox One.
Then again, this is the same company that blocked their support number from showing up in the SimCity support forums, thus limiting consumers in their ability to get refunds for the game...so who knows?
