EA Promises It Won't Delete Inactive Origin DLC
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
This. If it's 100% not gonna happen, then WHY IS IT THERE?redmarine said:
EA, stop tripping over your own feet.
It's also there in the WoW agreement. As for WHY IS IT THERE, maybe you should read the article as it says why quite plainly - for legal reasons.lacktheknack said:
Because when some 50 years from now, when we're all playing virtual reality games, Origin shuts down and no longer provides its service, they're gonna give people one more year to download their games and put them somewhere. When that happens, they don't want a bazillion people who have used Origin at one time or another to sue the arse off the company for something that happens naturally.
Oh and Origin ain't Steam people. It's not a DRM, it's a digital distribution service. When it eventually shuts down (something that's not gonna happen any time soon), it doesn't mean you'll lose access to your games, it just means you'll lose the ability to download them again at any time. By the time this happens, we'll have 100 TB hard drives in standard PCs and you'll be able to grab your games and shove them in a folder somewhere to access them from there whenever you please.
I personally gotta side with some of the other folks in this conversation - if it's something they have no intention of ever doing, then they should just remove it from their ToS.
EA doesn't exactly have a stellar track record for keeping their online services going, and I believe that when Origin isn't doing as well as they hoped, it will get shuttered just like so many of their other online services.
EA doesn't exactly have a stellar track record for keeping their online services going, and I believe that when Origin isn't doing as well as they hoped, it will get shuttered just like so many of their other online services.
I think most contract have a "loophole" addendum like that just so they can cover their ass and escape a bad situation. Yeah they could abuse it but really any company could abuse a similar loophole to screw everyone if they wanted to. I think actually doing anything about it would hurt their business venture far more then anything though so I don't see them using it for some time.
*obligatory chastising of people for EA prejudice here*
*obligatory chastising of people for EA prejudice here*
"Well its says that your games will be deleted after 2 years. But we super special promise not to"
From a legal standpoint it makes sense, but they really need to work on their PR. Its like EA dont understand people.
From a legal standpoint it makes sense, but they really need to work on their PR. Its like EA dont understand people.
Actually most game related companies have clauses similar to that. Steam has it, and if you look really close all the other DDs probably have it as well. Most MMOs have a clause similar to that in the EULA(some state that the data will be preserved for the life of the game, but can be erased and any time, etc.) I would believe that they would include a line for legal protection. EA is out to make money, that is what companies do. It would be extremely bad PR for them if they start locking people out of the content that they paid for and have the right to use.
From Steams EULA
C. Termination by Valve.
1. In the case of a recurring payment Subscription (e.g., a monthly subscription), in the event that Valve terminates or cancels your Account or a particular Subscription for convenience, Valve may, but is not obligated to, provide a prorated refund of any prepaid Subscription fees paid to Valve.
2. In the case of a one-time purchase of a product license (e.g., purchase of a single game) from Valve, Valve may choose to terminate or cancel your Subscription in its entirety or may terminate or cancel only a portion of the Subscription (e.g., access to the software via Steam) and Valve may, but is not obligated to, provide access (for a limited period of time) to the download of a stand-alone version of the software and content associated with such one-time purchase.
3. In the case of a free Subscription, Valve may choose to terminate or amend the terms of the Subscription as provided in the "Amendments to this Agreement" section above.
From Steams EULA
C. Termination by Valve.
1. In the case of a recurring payment Subscription (e.g., a monthly subscription), in the event that Valve terminates or cancels your Account or a particular Subscription for convenience, Valve may, but is not obligated to, provide a prorated refund of any prepaid Subscription fees paid to Valve.
2. In the case of a one-time purchase of a product license (e.g., purchase of a single game) from Valve, Valve may choose to terminate or cancel your Subscription in its entirety or may terminate or cancel only a portion of the Subscription (e.g., access to the software via Steam) and Valve may, but is not obligated to, provide access (for a limited period of time) to the download of a stand-alone version of the software and content associated with such one-time purchase.
3. In the case of a free Subscription, Valve may choose to terminate or amend the terms of the Subscription as provided in the "Amendments to this Agreement" section above.
you shouldnt actually HAVE to promise that. if you feel the need to, take a long hard look at your company
I have a feeling that there will be some incident in which something gets deleted anyways, even if it ends up being a small one in terms of number of users.
However, I do see the reasoning behind putting that clause in there: it basically says "we have the right to delete anything for whatever reasons we deem necessary, should we deem it necessary". Maybe pirating or flagrant violation of the ToS or something else I'm not aware of. It just allows them one more way to deal with people; and the two years thing I can see as a backup in case they ever need to free up server space for some reason--delete a bunch of inactive accounts, but it would probably be a better PR decision to just upgrade the servers/buy more servers to increase the amount of storage space. I still wouldn't be too surprised if they started using this as a weapon, since by agreeing to the ToS you agree to this clause and therefore to EA's right to delete your stuff.
I guess we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.
However, I do see the reasoning behind putting that clause in there: it basically says "we have the right to delete anything for whatever reasons we deem necessary, should we deem it necessary". Maybe pirating or flagrant violation of the ToS or something else I'm not aware of. It just allows them one more way to deal with people; and the two years thing I can see as a backup in case they ever need to free up server space for some reason--delete a bunch of inactive accounts, but it would probably be a better PR decision to just upgrade the servers/buy more servers to increase the amount of storage space. I still wouldn't be too surprised if they started using this as a weapon, since by agreeing to the ToS you agree to this clause and therefore to EA's right to delete your stuff.
I guess we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.
This is one of the big reasons I don't buy digital unless whatever I'm buying can be saved and reinstalled at any point in the future, completely stand-alone. EA may have put a time-frame on it but the fact is that any digital provider - Steam, D2D, Xbox Live, whatever - can shut down your account for violating your terms of service in whatever manner it deems, and your stuff is gone. Your games, your DLC, everything - gone forever.
Maybe that's okay if you picked up Chime for $2.49 on some Steam sale but if you paid full price for MewTwo or AssCreed and suddenly they're all gone, that's a different story entirely. And obviously it's not something that's likely to happen, but I'm not willing to base my continued ownership of anything on the goodwill (and continued existence) of some external agency, regardless of what the fine print says.
Maybe that's okay if you picked up Chime for $2.49 on some Steam sale but if you paid full price for MewTwo or AssCreed and suddenly they're all gone, that's a different story entirely. And obviously it's not something that's likely to happen, but I'm not willing to base my continued ownership of anything on the goodwill (and continued existence) of some external agency, regardless of what the fine print says.
Not true, I logged into a old EA account today and found only 1 item still on it. The rest of them where gone, and it has been a long, long time since I logged into it last, but apparently it does happen, no matter how much EA Fanboys want to say EA will never do it.
teh_Canape said:
But it now sets the standard for DLD providers the world over. Origin is already shooting itself in the foot. "Naw, Valve removed Crysis 2, and DA:2" "We're not sure why no other company ever found their ToS restrictive"
That's a relief.
Well, it would be if I was going to use Origin, which I'm not. Still, it's nice that they got that cleared up.
Well, it would be if I was going to use Origin, which I'm not. Still, it's nice that they got that cleared up.
As much as I'm no big fan of Origin, you nailed it perfectly there.Vrach said:
People need to chill out and not take the conclusion "OMG EA IS EVIL THEY DELETE UR GAMES!".
It's just so EA can cover their future asses and not get sued to hell by some idiot in the future that finds a loophole he can exploit for unlimited sue-money.