Electronic Arts has, ostensibly, struck a blow to video game piracy with its latest, hidden anti-piracy measures used in The Sims 4.
Gamers who pirated the game were met with a nasty surprise after downloading and installing the title – instead of building houses and making Sims, they were greeted with pixalated screens.
The blurring effect starts as it normally would, when your Sim steps into the shower or gets naked, with their “private parts” covered by the distorted pixels.
When they step out of the shower or put their clothes back on, however, the pixelated areas start to expand until the entire screen is blurred. This effect only occurs in pirated versions of the game.
Despite the fact that some gamers obtained their copy of The Sims 4 illegally, it did not stop them from taking to EA’s forums to complain about their broken copies of the title.
According to reports, EA has no plans to help any of the aforementioned players, and why should they – they are pirates after all.
A hidden in-game form of anti-piracy isn’t anything new, of course – you may recall that Serious Sam 3 put an indestructible scorpion demon in its game to relentlessly hunt down pirates.
Do you think EA has taken a big step towards eliminating piracy, or will modders/hackers find a way around this in no time? Let us know in the comments and forum.

Actually a cracker already broke that part of Sims 4, you just need to find the right crack 🙂 and then that pixel-lation is gone