EME doesn't define the critical CDM component required for it to actually work. It's like a spec for `<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash">` tag saying it defines Flash.
So in practice you still have to license CDM integration from Google (for Chrome's CDM only) and Microsoft (for IE's CDM only) and Apple (for Safari's CDM only) and Adobe (for Firefox's CDM only).
It doesn't even define how the browser communicates with the CDM, which makes it strictly less good than NPAPI and the Pepper API, because at least they have a definition that allows you to get Flash working with your browser (well, assuming they provide a binary for your platform—or you pay to license it to port it yourself).
EME doesn't define the critical CDM component required for it to actually work. It's like a spec for `<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash">` tag saying it defines Flash.
So in practice you still have to license CDM integration from Google (for Chrome's CDM only) and Microsoft (for IE's CDM only) and Apple (for Safari's CDM only) and Adobe (for Firefox's CDM only).