Yesterday, reports emerged suggesting that Battlefield Hardline contained an activation limit. Guru3D was the source of the story, who, in benchmarking Battlefield Hardline's graphics and performance, encountered this error message:

Source: Guru3D

Guru3D assumed this was a specific DRM check by Battlefield Hardline—likening it to the hard activation limits once imposed by Ubisoft in games like Anno 2070. (Or of previous EA games like Spore.)

In fact, the error is the result of an Origin-wide activation check. An EA spokesperson told PC Gamer that, "Origin authentication allows players to install a game on up to five different PCs every 24 hours."

"Players looking to benchmark more than five hardware configurations in one 24 hour period can contact our Customer Support team who can help," the spokesperson said.

Is that better or worse? On the one hand, if the Origin client is responding to graphics card changes, that's hardly the same as "five different PCs". On the other hand, is such an activation limit something an average PC user is going to be affected by? Probably not.