With all the problems that DRM has caused over the last few years it’s a real wonder why companies even incorporate it into their games. Recently Spore was the debatable topic due to it’s ludicrous DRM issues were you would have to phone up to activate your game. Speaking of EA they also have a download limit with their EA Download Manager which makes no sense when you consider how often windows has to be re-installed or formatted.
Unfortunately it’s happened again and to a game that personally I enjoy probably too much. Football Manager 2009 was released today to audience suffering from DRM and activation issues. When you install it on the PC you are asked to activate through Steam which makes perfect sense but then once it’s loaded into Steam you have to activate through SoftAnchor which seems to be the cause of the problem.
The first time I launched the game I was greeted with yet another enter-your-serial-key screen. It took a good ten attempts to get SoftAnchor to actually activate my copy of the game and I was away or at least I thought so. After a while I decided that my busted pc couldn’t really handle the 3d engine and if I had to play the game with the old engine I’d opt to play it on a faster MacBook.
It works fine on OS/X except the day in date patch that they released is yet to get a OS/X release. So after deciding to ignore it and play it anyway I launched the game up on the original disk version. Problem is that the disk has an old database. Normally I wouldn’t mind but personally I manage Tottenham and pre-patch it’s the old staff set up while post-patch it’s the setup that’s working and importantly winning games. So I think I’ve got a valid version for hanging out for the mac patch.
After switching back to PC version I was greeted with the same screen that I saw eariler. After entering the same code I got a ‘This unlock key is already active. To purchase an unlock key, please visit” http://www.sigames.com’. After a quick look on Sports Interactive’s forums I found I’m not the only one experiencing these problems and it appears that some people have been locked out of the game from the beginning.
I’m going to carry on refreshing the forums for any updates although that’s becoming a problem because their forums are slowing down. Presumably because of the DRM issues they are having and partly due to some misprinted characters in serial numbers that make it hard to differ between o & 0 and i & 1.
My real point is, well apart from ranting until it gets fixed, is why do companies include DRM in their games. It makes sense to make measures to keep pirates out and I’m sure we all want to see our favourite game companies get the money they deserve but at what cost is DRM causing them. The truth is that if you wanted to play Football Manager 2009 right now, the only way would be by easily downloading it illegally. DRM really just seems to keep people who bought the game out meanwhile pirates can be managing who ever they want.
We are currently contacting SI and Sega regarding an ETA on the OS/X patch and the PC activation problems.
No Comments to Football Manager 2009, Broken DRM & You
by Mathsman
On November 14, 2008 at 7:49 pm
SEGA have already issued a statement…
http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk/articles/archive/2008/footballmanager2009activationissues04141108/
by Miguel
On November 17, 2008 at 4:45 pm
how I have the unlock key to activate Football Manager 2009?
by qbl
On November 19, 2008 at 8:15 am
Well… finally I find someone who writes about this. I’m actually also all against the DRM. In my country, where the average of annual wage of IT professionals is just around 7000 dollar (I repeat, annual!), I once thought I should save some money from my wage to buy the next release of FM. As I never bought the legal ones before, I intended to start buying legal software as soon as I graduat from my uni and get employed.
And now, that I’m ready to do so… I reconsider this. This DRM things will just draw away people who want to buy the legal ones. People will think “why should I buy a legal one when even activating it is soooo messy?” (I’ve read the whole thread in the sigames forum). I really think that SEGA and Sports Interactive just made a huge leap with the 3D view of match but a huge step backward with the DRM. Big blunder there!
by Pissed0ff
On November 20, 2008 at 3:37 am
Yea, this drm sh1t boll0cks. Whats worse is I still can’t find an f-ing good crack on pirate bay. All the ones I have I can’t go on holiday + other bugs etc. Royal f-up I say.
by Shea
On November 21, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Hello, the problem is if u have a 0 in the serial number u r to enter make sure u r using the 0 and not the letter O,,,,,,,,,,,,,, thats what the problem is.
by neil
On December 2, 2008 at 10:04 am
same problem here to.
what if you dont have 0’s or O’s in your serial number?
by Rob
On December 22, 2008 at 11:15 pm
does anyone have the solution to this problem? a lot of people are tlkin about it but no answers
by Thierry
On December 27, 2008 at 3:56 am
How can I find the product key or tell me the product key, please help me, please.
by aaa
On May 1, 2009 at 2:24 pm
szss
by jack gervis
On May 25, 2009 at 6:14 pm
whot a lod of shite how do you get the code
by SHANE
On August 12, 2009 at 10:38 pm
i been buyin this game4yrs n neva downloaded the pirate version , i cant believe this fukin shit i left my wife last yr coza football manager2008 lol na this nds2b sorted out not happy
by BISHOP1501
On August 21, 2009 at 2:49 pm
This is absolutely doing my head in… Did anyone ever get an answer as to how to fix this ?
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