That's right, according to the legalese, if you use a cheat code, a cheat device, cheat software EA reserves the right to revoke access to all of your EA games. Tell someone how to cheat or post that cheat code online and EA reserves the right to revoke access to all of your EA games.
Of course this isn't the first time a major publisher has gone on the offensive against cheat software. Nintendo famously sued to prevent the NES compatible Game Genie from being sold in the US in Galoob vs. Nintendo.
From EA:
Full copy of the EA/Origin Terms of Service.
Relevant sections quoted:
3. Entitlements
"Entitlements" are licensed rights granted, awarded, provided and/or purchased by you to access and/or use online or off-line elements or features of EA Services and/or products. Entitlements include but are not limited to paid and free downloadable content, unlockable content, digital and/or virtual assets, rights of use tied to unlock keys or codes, serial codes and/or online authentication of any kind, in-game achievements and virtual or fictional currency not otherwise governed by a Digital Services Agreement.
The Entitlements section defines any content, including full game licenses, that requires an Internet conntect or EA/Origin account as an Entitlement.
9. Termination of EA Services
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In response to a violation of these Terms of Service or any other agreement applicable to EA Services accessed by you, EA may issue you a warning, suspend your Account, selectively remove, revoke or garnish Entitlements at an Account and/or device level , immediately terminate any and all Accounts that you have established and/or temporarily or permanently ban your device and/or machine from accessing all EA Services or certain EA Services. You acknowledge that in such an instance EA is not required to provide you notice before taking action to suspend or terminate your Account, temporarily or permanently banning your device from some or all EA Services or selectively removing, revoking or garnishing Entitlements associated with your Account.
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This section grants EA the right, in its sole discretion, to revoke or garnish Entitlements if it believes you have violated any of the Terms of Service. This includes full game access due to the definition of Entitlements in section 3.
11. Rules of Conduct
You may violate the Terms of Service if, as determined by EA in its sole discretion, you:
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- Use or distribute unauthorized "auto" software programs, "macro" software programs or other "cheat utility" software program or applications.
- Use any game hacking/altering/cheating software or tools.
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- Use and communicate exploits and/or cheats.
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- Abuse or exploit bugs, undocumented features, design errors or problems in the game.
The rules of conduct define things that you are not allowed to do. Violating any of these rules allows EA to revoke your game licenses as detailed in section nine. As written the rules cover everything from third party software, to user created mods to simple cheat codes published in FAQs and game magazines. Discover a cool way to get through a particularly tough area that the designers didn't consider? According to the above text, if you post that information online you could also be in violation of the Terms of Service and have your games revoked. The Konami Code is turning over in its grave.