author: Frozen
Anthem: user loses game library for attempting to stream the alpha
A Twitch user has discovered what are the consequences of breaking an NDA. Streaming a video from the closed tests of Anthem cost him his entire Origin library.
User smokethrone tried to launch Anthem during a live stream on Twitch. When connecting to EA servers, the Origin client stopped responding, forcing the streamer to close the process through the Windows Task Manager. After restarting Origin, smokethrone discovered that their game library was empty.
One of the conditions for gaining access to the closed alpha version of Anthem was signing the NDA (non-disclosure agreement). The document clearly states that sharing any information about the game with third parties is strictly prohibited (point 8. of the contract), and failure to comply with the NDA may even result in deletion of the account (point 5.). It's not known how many titles were owned by smokethrone before the event. It's also a mystery whether the games have been removed from the account forever or it's just a temporary penalty for breach of contract.
Was the punishment adequate to the offence? We still have too little information about the incident to tell. It's true that the streamer showed a complete lack of responsibility, but taking all the games, which he (probably) paid for, away from him is a bit too much on the part of the publisher... unless in the collection he had only alpha version of Anthem in the collection. Then it would make sense.
Anthem is a sci-fi action RPG with MMO elements, made by BioWare studio (known from the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series). The game is scheduled to launch on February 22, 2019. Closed alpha tests are currently in progress. People weren’t lucky enough to get in, will be able to test the title at a later date, thanks to a playable demo version.
