Are you serious...

Well after it coming up nearly 48 hours with " no connection " crap i thought id try to get it to work through the phone.

Ok so as you can imagine im already really frustrated....

So yeah anyway ive entered a 100+ numbers into my phone to get the game activated and took just over 9 minutes.

Now that done excited and guess what...

Exact same f***** softanchor screen pops up asking me for my key so am back to were i was.

I feel your pain.

I am activated - however, I feel your pain.

I know how gutting it must be to be stuck in a queue of waiting to play what you paid for.

Its things like this that are going help piracy raise.

This issue should of been fixed already.

Man that sucks. Not to rub it in or anything, but the game is great. When you get it working all your frustration will change to joy.

Its things like this that are going help piracy raise.

That's exactly the thing. The pirates have been sitting and playing while people who actually bought the game can't play because of horribly-implemented measures to prevent pirates.

And if anything, some of those people might just not buy the game anymore and go to piracy.

I'm in the perpetually ignored region of North America, where they delay the initial release, make us wait longer for patches, and have a general "we'll get to you when we get to you" attitude about problems. I've bought the game and am still waiting for it.

It is...

Scenario: Install and activate with activation code on Steam and it works then launch the game, SoftAnchor asking to re-enter activation code.

Fix: You need to delete the certificates and re-activate the game

1) On receiving the error, please uninstall the game

2) Please navigate to the following directory:

XP users: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009 Certificate

Vista users: C:\Program Data\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009 Certificate

3) Please ensure that it is the \certificate directory you are located in

4) Delete all content

5) Reboot the machine

6) Re-run the installation programme and retry activation - ensuring you have 'verified' your key using the following website: http://keylookup.fm2009.softanchorinsight.com/

7) You should now be activated

You may have fixed it, but you shouldnt be posting these solutions, the game should work/activate/install without all this stuff.

The problems do exist though and the solution is given above.