No, Battlefield Hardline does not contain ghastly DRM
Origin blocks benchmarker from making more than five hardware changes.
EA has explained why one Battlefield Hardline player was locked out of playing the cops vs. criminals shooter after benchmarking a number of graphics cards.
Games blogger Hilbert Hagedoorn initially suspected Visceral's FPS contained "ghastly DRM" that had blocked him from playing after five changes to his own hardware.
"Here's what EA's DRM is doing," he wrote. "EA doesn't just verify the number of PCs you work on slash use, nope... they dare to monitor hardware changes inside your PC now, which I am sure is a privacy breach on many levels."
But EA has now clarified the issue relates to its Origin client, and not any particular DRM within Battlefield Hardline itself.
"Origin authentication allows players to install a game on up to five different PCs every 24 hours," an EA spokesperson explained.
"Players looking to benchmark more than five hardware configurations in one 24 hour period can contact our Customer Support team who can help."
It's hardly a widespread problem - especially as it has taken so long for the issue to come to light. But one to bear in mind if you're ever testing out graphics cards in quick succession.
