Ubisoft goes completely Insane - Starts new harsh DRM Initiative

[eRe4s3r]

http://support.uk.ubi.com/online-services-platform/

Snippets with remarks

Is there an "off-line" option?
No. The added services to the game (unlimited installs, online storage of saved games and the fact that you don’t need the game disc to play) require you to have an online connection while playing the game.

Will I need to be online the whole time when I play the game? Including for single player?
Yes. You will need to have an active Internet connection to play the game, for all game modes.

Will this affect the performance of my PC?
No. The (Background) services that we offer Force upon you run only when you start the game and there are no background services. continue to run until the game finishes.

Can I resell my game?
Not at this time. <-- (Classic)

So yeah, Ubisoft.. goes insane? Thats the only explanation for this.

So scratch Ubisoft from companies that i do business with.

[HellishFiend]

 

[eRe4s3r]

According to further posts it appears that if you loose connection to the Internet while playing the game will stop, exit, and wait till connection is re-established to sync up.

If thats true, then thats beyond insane, that would be hilarious

I am guessing AC2 and Silent Hunter 5 are the first PC Games to carry this protection.

[x4000]

I wouldn't call this "insane," just supremely misinformed.  It's easy to see why this might come up:

Exec: "PC Sales stink!  And piracy is up!  We must do something, or shareholders will be angry."

Peon: "Well, we already invested in DRM to no effect...  There is not much more that we can do, and what we are doing seems to have no effect except angering some of our customers on forums."

Exec: "I was talking to my friends over at Blizzard a while back, and they don't have much of a piracy problem with World of Warcraft.  If they managed it, so should we -- do what they do."

Peon: "But... that's an MMO.  That only works for WoW because all of the players have to be connected to their game servers all the time, and all of the persisted game data is on their servers.  If this stuff is on player computers, people will just find ways to hack it out.  It's the community online that creates the anti-piracy measures for WoW."

Exec: "Brilliant!  We'll take that to the next level and do it for single-player games, too.  The board is going to love me."

Peon: "Um...  We'll get on it."



This is one of those things that everyone should have seen coming.  I mean, half of the suggestions to me when I complain about piracy are "Make it more MMO-like, that's the only way to thwart pirates."  The fact that Ubisoft is now trying that very tack is likely pissing off the very same people who suggested it to me.  It's the sort of thing that, when viewed in a certain light, sounds good on paper.  But when it really comes down to it, it's full, full, of problems.  WoW works because there is no game without the online community aspects of it.  So the "DRM" in that case is also the primary feature of the game, and thus isn't exactly onerous (not that I play WoW or any MMOs, because I find the subscriptions to be onerous).  With single-player games, it's really easy to see this for what it is: DRM without much of a value-add (the only slight value being in terms of online saves, which is better implemented with something like Steam Cloud, as an optional value add).  My thoughts, anyway.

[eRe4s3r]

Actually, the idea sounds bad on paper too (Cloud Computed Gaming, bleh) One needn't be a sage to see where this leads. You rent access to a game on a cloud where everything is stored in the cloud, and nothing on your pc except graphic/model/sound/movies. And then pay for time played. And for features (oh you want to keep these savegames longer than 1 month = 2$).

Its the ultimate dream of publishers - they would be able to control, market and monetize everything around a game and not JUST the sale of a game. Add to this advertising revenues and its clear why they play with the thought (but i find it funny that they think a disc in the drive is somehow MORE a hassle than having 15 accounts for 15 different publisher social networks .. bleh)

I think i will really consider dropping these publishers like flies. EA is the same, CnC4 is supposed to be fully online as well and not support offline play at all.

[x4000]

I meant on paper to certain sorts.  Obviously, those who are hardcore gamers and very anti-DRM will sniff this out before anyone else realizes it stinks.

[eRe4s3r]

Yeah.. which is all the more depressing because, as if with anything where the goal is clearly visible to some, the vast majority will run blindly into it, and think its better than having a disc check. That is, until they wonder what of the stuff they bought, they actually physically own.

Maybe i am getting old but i would rather own something in a physical form than own "access rights" to my game. And even though i have some games on steam.. its not like one can't get an.. ehm.. "steam cleansed" *cough* version someplace, for safety should steam ever go down ;p.

If anything, this'll push even more people into hardcore piracy and then the publisher can play the blame game all over again. Its like they are at war with their customers and in an attempt to hurt pirates, they kill 50% of their customers as well. Sounds.. like a really bad idea to do when one is in the business of selling things   Ah well.. this'll be amazing to watch the nuclear fall-out once this hits the mainstream gaming sites.

(By the way, i am not anti-drm, i am just anti abuse - And forcing this kind of control on me is abusive drm, how to do it right? Mass Effect 2 - works fine with just a serial and without logging in, if you log-in (optional) you get extra stuff. thats how it should work. To think that this is an EA Game, it makes my minds boggle.. EA is the evil, how can they do it right and Ubisoft now starts doing Evil? Its like.. a bad comedy

[x4000]

RPS and Slashdot had some writeups on it today.  But yes, I am a big believer in game ownership, too.

[Dathknight]

Did you miss Universe at War or GTA 4 or Red Faction 3?
You have to be connected to Windows Live the hole time or you can't save. In GTA 4  you have to be connected to a Rockstar service too.
I've bought GTA and RF at steam (I love their offers ) so I have to be online anyway.

This is sad reality. Both games are great enough to live with that but I don't think I will buy any other games with that. (when I know there is some thing like that)

Oh! and in Star Craft 2 is no LAN-mode so you have to be connected to the BattleNet.

[eRe4s3r]

Actually, games for windows live allows offline gaming (and saving on a offline profile) so that is far less annoying. Especially if you, like me, never used a online profile on that to begin with ,p

As for GTA IV, i bought it.. nowadays theres a way to skip the rsc stuff with a launcher. Theres also game for windows live removers.

With that i just meant to say, this will be cracked.. of course. There is no DRM that can't be cracked, even WoW has reverse engineered servers (which are totally inferior to the real deal, but they exist).

My point is just that these DRM requirements, .. well they are not acceptable. ^^

[Spikey00]

IMO, with my own knowledge I can say that hackers/crackers/etc. will always find a way to bypass DRM/etc.; what DRM offers is only a minor inconvenience to the hardcore teams--when they release it, it is seen as another achievement and can boast about it.  Distrust fuels this relation.

Server-side games such as MMOs can also be broken--server emulation.


I don't know--generally most software and such scripted to obstruct piracy eventually is cracked and bypassed. 

[AcidWeb]

Heh another protection: Lets-screw-our-customer-day.-Pirates-cracked-that-3-weeks-before-release-anyway.

[quickstix]

Pirates: The game will eventually be cracked. Situation doesn't change.

Legitimate consumer: The consumer is treated as guilty until proven innocent by the company. Even more hoops to jump through. People without internet or unreliable connections can't play. Potential sales loss due to annoyed customers and refusal to buy from gamers sick of being treated as pirates. Only benefit is the cloud, but the negatives outweigh the positives.

This kind of attitude only hurts the consumer. Like it's been said a million times before, prevention is better than cure. If companies actually looked at the reasons people pirated games and addressed those concerns, they wouldn't need to worry about stopping piracy after it's already happened.

[V22 Osprey]

This sucks.

I like my PC, and I'm not too fond of consoles.PC gaming is going bye-bye, because there is no way I'm getting a game where I have to be online to play.Especially since I take my laptop on weekends and I'm usually someplace with no Internet.

Steam is very good to me, because I can run games in offline mode.This new Ubisoft DRM is a joke.Sadly there is even worse DRM than that, like the ones that have limited installs.What is this world coming to?

I think Indie companies are going to start becoming popular.Indie games usually have no DRM, better support, and overall better quality games.(If strip away the fancy graphics, some of these games are crap and full of bugs. *cough* Empire Total War *cough*)

[HellishFiend]

I think Indie companies are going to start becoming popular.Indie games usually have no DRM, better support, and overall better quality games.(If strip away the fancy graphics, some of these games are crap and full of bugs. *cough* Empire Total War *cough*)

I agree. I think something like this may eventually sort itself out. After all, a broken business model can only survive for so long.