The brand new SimCity released for PC brought the incredibly unpopular feature of “always-on” DRM (copyright protection) which is said to supposedly prevent hackers from stealing games and playing them for free.

However, this has resulted in a chain of events that is leaving EA looking quite a mess. First there was the user who was denied a refund after EA publicly stated they would give refunds out, and on top of that he was threatened with being banned from EA’s Origin Marketplace losing all access to any game he ever bought there.

Thanks to GC and one gamer who stood up to EA for what’s right, you can see that conversation below:

Now EA has announced that they are adding servers as well as shutting down achievements and leader-boards just to get people signed into the single player game that doesn’t let you play without being socially connected online to EA’s barely publicized gaming network.

Perhaps this is the time for companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Ubisoft to learn from EA’s mistakes before the same situations repeat. Doing always-online copy protection simply might not be worth the negative consumer response it always receives. Surely it would be less expensive to try another way of blocking piracy rather than dealing with this kind of PR mess and fan outrage.