Two weeks ago it was brought to our attention that a Sims 2 player was having difficulty with his PC, perhaps due to a conflict with the SecuROM copy protection system that is utilized on EA PC games. Since then, there has been an outpouring of emotion, passion, and confusion on this topic. It has been a difficult time for all of us: both The Sims 2 team and our players. Our Sims 2 community is the most passionate in the game industry. There is no doubt about this, it is what makes us such a unique and thriving community. The past 2 weeks have proven this once again. We appreciate you greatly and want you to have all the information about SecuROM that we can provide.

In recent collaboration with Sony DADC, the makers of SecuROM, we have created a Frequently Asked Questions sheet, posted below to address the questions that have been posed here on the BBS. It has been well documented by our players on the BBS that PC issues may occur. Since this was discovered, we set up a 24/7 SecuROM Customer Support team to help our players resolve these potential issues. Since that team was set up 2 weeks ago, we received only 12 calls to EA's North American Support Center from players looking for help with their PC's, suspecting a conflict with SecuROM. Sony DADC received just 29 calls about The Sims 2 Bon Voyage and SecuROM. Publicly available resources indicate that considerably more than 100,000 copies of The Sims 2 Bon Voyage have been sold in North America alone. So in perspective, while we'd like to have zero calls, we have received 41 calls on the more than 100,000 copies sold.