Followup On N-Gage Game Transfers
There was a huge to-do several months ago, when we all realized that Nokia’s current N-Gage policy doesn’t allow you to transfer a game license from one handset to the next. The debacle was covered across the internet, with everyone from blogs to major news outlets picking up and commenting on the story. Nokia made a statement that essentially said, ‘Thanks for letting us know, we’re working on it,’ and then we never heard anything else again.
AllAboutNgage has decided to check into things again, and have discovered that while you can, now, transfer your licenses, it only works once, according to Nokia. You can call in to have your license transferred from the original phone to a 2nd one, but there is no plan in place to allow multiple handset transfers, sadly. Also, the policy doesn’t account for phones that are stolen, where the owner has no control over having to get a replacement.
Nokia has stated before that a more robust plan is in the works, where gamers will have the ability to transfer their license quickly and easily, by simply changing the IMEI tied to their gamer ID. However, there have not been any details released as to when we might expect this to be announced, or more importantly, available.
With the N-Gage application only getting a single, rather small incremental update since it was officially released, and games trickling out at roughly one per month, I’m really rather concerned for N-Gage’s future. I would have hoped Nokia learned more from its first foray into N-Gage territory, the current policy is even more restrictive than the original system, where you could as least swap the memory card containing the game into any phone.
I personally have licenses for 4 games, spread across 4 different phones. I’m planning on getting an N85 NAM soon, though, so I’m hesitant to go through the hassle of transferring the licenses to my N95-3, only to transfer them again a few weeks (hopefully) later.
Have you successfully transferred your N-Gage game licenses to a new phone? How easy/hard was it?
But as we said in the article on AAN, this only works once, with other readers reporting they couldn't transfer games after buying a third compatible phone, and several people at Nokia confirming the one-transfer policy.
I should emphasise that Nokia's replies to our queries also repeated that they intend to come up with a permanent multi-transfer solution, but they wouldn't give any details, just that it was coming "soon".
The irony is that (as I mentioned in the report) as far as I can tell the N-Gage terms and conditions don't mention the transfer limit, so I wonder what kind of legal ground Nokia is on with this situation. Even if they did mention a limit, who the heck is going to read a seven thousand word legal document on their mobile device before buying a game? Even if Nokia's legally in the clear, people will find it a very nasty surprise if they unexpectedly lose their game collection, and that's very bad PR.
But aren't that the same for other software companies?
I haven't tried transferring any software / game licenses myself, so I've bought two copies of for instance X-plore, QuickOffice and Profimail (One for my N95 which I gave away to my little brother and one for my current N82)
In that regard that it is indeed not that "strange" or unjustified that they do this that way.
(You can of course argue about how long you really use a phone, or what about using it one several phones etc.)
So all in all that they will allow us to transfer the licenses to another phone for that matter is great.
However I do understand the frustration, which I, in my opinion, stands in the middle of this discussion.
When it comes to the N-gage games I did use modified versions of the N-gage games due to this policy, but also because I now have played all the games before I know which is worth buying.
(After I sent my N82 for service, they updated my fw to version 30.x.x, which makes me unable to hack my phone anymore, thus also not enable me to play those modified games).
Don't get me wrong on this one as I do like to support them for a good cause, by buying their games.
Currently speaking I even got licenses for 11 of the N-gage games.
(4 of them in which I bought during the N81 First release, using a modified version of the N-gage app)
That's licenses for about 50% of their released games. (11 of 23)
So this matter of being able to transfer the games concerns me a lot too.
Therefore I also see that it's easier to just use modified versions of the games as using legal versions, will bring much more further cost for those who switch phones regularly.
The question however that comes to my mind is, what should they set the limit to?
Personally I think that 3 to 4 times is enough if you think about using a phone for up to 2 years before switching. That means that your license will be valid for 6 to 8 years which is more than even most of the PC softwares.
(I know I tend to drag out examples to the PC's but that's how I regard the Smartphones, they are my lightweight laptops)
What I also like to see in regards to the N-gage is the ability to backup your game progress and transfer that to another phone.
(One of the main reasons why I'm disapointed that I can't hack my N82 anymore)
With Nokia, it took me 3 e-mails, 1 phone call, and a 12-day wait to get my license transfer after being told by one rep that licenses aren't tied to IMEI numbers (WRONG!) and being tolkd by another rep that transfering my licenses to the new phone was against current Nokia policy (WRONG again!)
In contrast, I have game and software licenses from small companies and they were all able to process my request quickly via e-mail with me sending them the old and new IMEI numbers and my old activation code. Only Nokia struggled with this seemingly simple task.
Now, Nokia won't transfer my licenses to the N85 I'm waiting to get. I would have thought Nokia should do whatever's necessary to have me send another $500+ to them for a new handset. Maybe they don't value my business or my evangelism of Nokia products...
N-Gage Upgrade Timeline:
Sept 5 - contacted Nokia Customer Service by e-mail and asked about transfering my N-Gage licenses.
Sept 5 - Nokia Customer Service e-mails me back asking me to call customer service.
Sept 5 - Called Nokia Customer Service. First rep seems to know nothing, takes a bunch of information from me, and transfers me to a Level 2 rep. Unfortunately, the Level 2 rep knew just as little. He said game licenses weren't tied to IMEI numbers and that my games should work just fine on the new phone without having to do anything (NOPE!).
Sept 5 - E-mailed Nokia Customer Service with IMEI numbers and old activation codes and requested license transfer again.
Sept 6 - Nokia Customer Service responds telling me that they will someday allow license transfers, but not now. Only if I had exchanged my phone directly through Nokia would I get new licenses. She tells me I have to by new licenses for my new phone.
Sept 6 - I e-mail Nokia Customer Service with the press quote from Nokia refuting what was written in the last e-mail they sent me and again asking for my licenses to be transfered to my new phone.
Sept 6 - Nokia Customer Service says that they need to "research this issue" and asks me to wait 5-7 business days.
*** Wait 11 days ***
September 17 - Nokia Customer Service sends me activation codes for my new phone.
As I said I've never transfered any licenses but I do know that as for Nokia N-gage games are not the only issue when it comes to transfer licenses.
Mr. Steve at AAS had for instance trouble transferring his license for Nokia Maps, but that was also due to some program incompatibilities?
Anyway, I totally agree that if Nokia should provide us to transfer our software / game licenses they ought to do it in a better way.