DRM has never been popular among PC gamers and for a good reason, it can greatly limit how the game is played especially in terms of hardware. EA has recently been receiving many complains about there being specific limitations on the game.
A reviewer from Guru3d discovered whilst testing different graphics cards that you can be locked out of the game for doing this. After testing the game with 5 different graphics card they were locked out from the game for 24 hours, leading the reviewer to believe Battlefield Hardline had been laced with ghastly DRM.
Graphics card are not typically considered a ‘new computer’ however it would seem that this is not a Battlefield Hardline issue but rather an issue with EA’s Origin platform. EA has spoken about the issue and has confirmed Origin is the cause of the lockout and that Battlefield Hardline itself has no DRM; instead it would seem Origin has inbuilt DRM.
“Origin authentication allows players to install a game on up to five different PCs every 24 hours,” a spokesperson for EA has announced.
It would seem that Origin has access to all details on the computer system it is installed on and for some reason it registers a change in graphics card as meaning it’s a new computer even if all other parts are the same. Origin monitors a computers hardware used on machines with Battlefield Hardline installed which seems to be very different to all other games on the platform; other games have been released within the past year including Dragon Age Inquisition, which was released in November 2014, yet there were no or very few problems reported. This could mean that this is an issue specific for Battlefield Hardline for some reason or it’s part of a new update and all games on Origin are due to be effected.
This is not much of an issue however as most users will not be making more than 5 modifications within 24 hours however for those that are you will need to contact Origin’s Support team or face a 24 hour lock-out during testing.