• Ubisoft: Our Always-Online DRM is a Success

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    Cabalo
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    Published on 08-08-2011 12:15 PM    
    7 Comments Comments
    DRM is the cost of PC gaming.

    Legit PC gamers sometimes have it pretty rough when games publishers decide to lace their products with DRM schemes that are quite strict.
    Gamers who have purchased Ubisoft games Settlers 7, Silent Hunter V, Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood know that a constant and reliable internet connection is required in order to play.

    While this does make things harder for pirates, legit gamers who have a flakey internet connection or wish to play their games on a gaming laptop when away from a Wi-Fi hotspot are totally out of luck. Conversely, if Ubisoft's servers go down, that's also game over for players.
    Despite all that, Ubisoft still sees its DRM scheme a success, and will be implementing it in its Driver: San Francisco that releases on August 30 in the US, and September 2 in Europe.

    An Ubisoft representative told PC Gamer that the DRM scheme head led to “a clear reduction in piracy of our titles which required a persistent online connection, and from that point of view the requirement is a success.”
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    2. Gaming
    Comments 7 Comments
    1. unclemilty74's Avatar
      unclemilty74 - 08-08-2011, 01:22 PM
      So punish the legitimate users, who by the way, would have purchased the game, by merely making it more difficult for those who never would have purchased it. This methodology does not transform pirates into legitimate users, but instead transforms legitimate users into pirates who don't want to spend their money, in this economy, for a game that only works part of the time. Good for you Ubisoft - well done!
    1. mjmacky's Avatar
      mjmacky - 08-08-2011, 02:45 PM
      The only time I buy a game is through Steam's DRM system, and I'm able to play the game offline (e.g. with my gaming laptop), and travelling is pretty much the only time I PC game. I've pirated games, now I can add Ubisoft to the same list as EA, the never purchase/only pirate list.

      So success, I don't even have to debate whether or not I'll spend money on your games.
    1. bobbintb's Avatar
      bobbintb - 08-08-2011, 03:25 PM
      While this does make things harder for pirates
      erm... not really.
    1. Tarom's Avatar
      Tarom - 08-08-2011, 03:51 PM
      I avoid all Ubisoft games
    1. evilscouse's Avatar
      evilscouse - 08-08-2011, 06:31 PM
      All it took was the purchase of assassins creed 2 hand in hand with a new home and not having an internet connection for 2 weeks for me to Sinkhole ubisoft as an official software distributer.
    1. Sporkk's Avatar
      Sporkk - 08-08-2011, 07:42 PM
      Doesn't steam have some sort of offline mode? I use them for almost everything except for blizzard games. Something that always requires a net connection will only drive people to consoles.
    1. Homer_S's Avatar
      Homer_S - 08-11-2011, 12:38 AM
      Pirates will run a crack so what exactly is this stopping? Casual piracy from people who can't find/won't look for/don't know any better.
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