Electronic Arts have confirmed that the next version of The Sims will be free of Digital Rights Management (DRM).

The firm came in for considerable criticism last year, when the copy protection limited users to three installations of the game Spore.

The Sims division head, Ron Humble, said the game would use traditional serial code copy protection as "this is a good, time-proven solution".

DRM was introduced to c****at game piracy but proved unpopular with users.

"The game will have disc-based copy protection - there is a serial code, just like The Sims 2," said Mr Humble in a blog posting.

"To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed."

"We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution, that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future," he added.