Games

The Curse of Outdated DRM Claims Another Victim, 'Tron: Evolution'

If you bought 'Tron: Evolution' but haven't played it yet, the game is currently broken.
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Image courtesy of Disney

As of this week, players who owned a legitimate copy of Tron: Evolution they paid for but never played it, no longer can. Tron: Evolution, a tie-in game for the 2010 Tron: Legacy film , used SecurRom, a form of digital rights management (DRM), and publisher Disney hasn’t paid its bill. This means Disney can no longer authenticate purchases and "unlock" copies of the game that people bought but haven't used yet.

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Players first noticed they couldn’t play the game after purchasing it in October, but a thread on Reddit today brought more attention to the issue.

“I often buy games on sales, but don't play them immediately,” user Renusek said on Reddit. “Yesterday I decided to play Tron: Evolution, maybe even practice speedrunning it, so I install the game, try to activate it (game still uses SecuROM DRM) and… the serial key has expired (?!).”

SecurROM is DRM software that companies attach to video games to make sure they aren’t downloaded illegally. It was popular among big game publishers some years back, often causing havoc and annoyance to players.The software doesn’t stop pirates entirely and even the best DRM only works for so long. Often, the people most affected by DRM are people who purchase the game legitimately and experience performance issues tied to the extra software running or, as is the case with Tron: Evolution, suddenly can’t play the game at all.

Players on Steam reached out to SecurROM for help, who told them to reach out to ask Disney for a refund. “Unfortunately, Disney decided not to use SecuROM any further,” a Steam user said SecuROM told them. “Best would be to contact Disney to get a refund for your purchase or convince them to release an unprotected version of the game.”

Disney told players it’s working on a patch to fix the problem, but doesn’t have an ETA. The problems with Tron: Evolution only affect people who purchased the game but never ran it, something we’re all guilty of after a Steam Sale.

Disney and SecurROM have not responded to VICE Games request for comment.