Some AC IV Single-Player Content Unavailable Without Online Pass

[roseofbattle]

Some AC IV Single-Player Content Unavailable Without Online Pass

Ubisoft's Uplay Passport is required for access to your fleet in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

The fleet system in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is unavailable for players who buy a used copy of the game or borrow the game from a friend if a game-specific code has already been redeemed. Ubisoft's Uplay Passport gates the content, GameInformer confirmed yesterday.

The Uplay Passport is different from being a registered Uplay user. Membership is free, but the Passport is a game-specific code included in new copies. The passport grants online access to multiplayer content, but it is also needed for fleet building in single-player content. Ubisoft states on its Uplay page [http://uplay.ubi.com/en-GB/about ] that players can purchase a new Uplay Passport code online within the game. The Uplay Passport costs $9.99. Players using an Xbox 360 alternatively can spend 800 Microsoft Points. Activating a free trial gives temporary access to content that needs the Uplay passport.

Fleet building in the single-player campaign grants several benefits. When protagonist Edward Kenway conquers an enemy ship, he has a few options. One is adding the ship to the fleet. Similar to the assassin recruitment feature in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, ships will return from missions after a number of minutes in real time with spoils. However, in Brotherhood, this feature had an offline version. Players who want to take advantage of the fleet system will need the UPlay Passport and will also need to be online.

Online passes have gated off multiplayer content before, but the single-player experience is usually left alone. Those who buy used games generally do so to save money, but in Black Flag's case, that saved money would have to go toward buying an online pass if players want to use the fleet.

Source: GameInformer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/10/29/online-pass-required-for-some-assassin-s-creed-iv-single_2d00_player-content.aspx]

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[Ferisar]

That... Kind of seems a bit bullshit? What's the point of limiting it? I get the multiplayer bit, but... This isn't like, DLC, it's a part of the game. On release. As a feature. You don't lock off features when your game has a 60$ price-tag attached already.

Ubisoft, y.

 

[Klagermeister]

Whatever, that section of the game isn't fun or interesting anyway.
Watching 2D sprites have a turn based combat battle while I watch doesn't pique my interest, and that's all it is.

 

[PiercedMonk]

When did Ubisoft start to covet EA's reputation for being the most evil, obnoxious company in gaming?

Their DRM policies have been pretty egregious since the first Assassin's Creed, but this is beyond the pale.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

One of the many reasons I stopped playing AC for a couple of years now.

I knew they'd try to pull some dirty, underhanded tricks hoping that the fact it's a highly anticipated game will work as a smokescreen so people don't notice.

I can only imagine the shit they're going to do with Watchdogs.

 

[Strazdas]

And ubisoft once again confirms why i stopped vuying everything they publish - DRM mostrocities. Seriuosly, why people still buy their stuff?

 

[sid]

Wow, guess the AC franchise is dead for me. I was originally going to get it after a few weeks, probably used, but I'm not forking 10 extra bucks and I refuse to play without what was literally the best selling point in AC Brotherhood

 

[StraightToHeck]

the biggest, floppiest, and least-pleasingest of dick moves

 

[sid]

literally the best selling point in AC Brotherhood

... Are you being serious? Yeah, ban me for a short post, but I seriously need to know.

it would've been the assassinating, but you know. And it's not like ACB has anything else going for it

 

[bandit0802]

Seriously?! Have you learned NOTHING from EA, Ubi?! These online passes are nothing more than a giant middle finger to people who can't afford buy your games new, and now you've taken the same middle finger and poked them in the eye with it!

Why do you hate gamers so much?!

 

[RJ 17]

Seriuosly, why people still buy their stuff?

I was actually going to ask the same thing "Wait...people are actually planning on BUYING this game?" Granted, this news does indeed show what a giant sack of dicks Ubisoft is, but it also implies that people are actually buying this game and would thus have a true reason to be upset about this.

I mean after Brotherhood's poor reception, Revelation's insult of a game, and ACIII's utter failure, I just can't wrap my head around the thought of more than a couple thousand people buying this game. This franchise should be dead, plain and simple.

I mean look at this game, they were so desperate to try and get fans back that they based it around the only mechanic that people actually liked from ACIII: the naval combat. Throw in pirates because they're still popular...right? RIGHT?! And POOF! Here's your new AC game!

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Seriuosly, why people still buy their stuff?

I was actually going to ask the same thing "Wait...people are actually planning on BUYING this game?" Granted, this news does indeed show what a giant sack of dicks Ubisoft is, but it also implies that people are actually buying this game and would thus have a true reason to be upset about this.

I mean after Brotherhood's poor reception, Revelation's insult of a game, and ACIII's utter failure, I just can't wrap my head around the thought of more than a couple thousand people buying this game. This franchise should be dead, plain and simple.

I mean look at this game, they were so desperate to try and get fans back that they based it around the only mechanic that people actually liked from ACIII: the naval combat. Throw in pirates because they're still popular...right? RIGHT?! And POOF! Here's your new AC game!

Poor reception? Utter failure? As far as I know both games are pretty well regarded.

OT: It doesn't matter because the locked content sucks ass anyways.

 

[jurnag12]

Aaaaaaaaaaand there it is. Was thinking about getting this, but nope.

And thus Ubisoft have managed to lose all my future expenditures.

 

[MatParker116]

Mass Effect 2 (Zaeed), Rage (Sewers) already did something similar.

 

[mechalynx]

I hate Uplay even more than Origin at this point. So while I buy 99% of my games brand new, Ubisoft can eat shit with a rusty spoon for this move, plus forcing me to log on to Uplay when I want to play Blood Dragon and FFVII, which I bought on Steam.

 

[RJ 17]

Seriuosly, why people still buy their stuff?

I was actually going to ask the same thing "Wait...people are actually planning on BUYING this game?" Granted, this news does indeed show what a giant sack of dicks Ubisoft is, but it also implies that people are actually buying this game and would thus have a true reason to be upset about this.

I mean after Brotherhood's poor reception, Revelation's insult of a game, and ACIII's utter failure, I just can't wrap my head around the thought of more than a couple thousand people buying this game. This franchise should be dead, plain and simple.

I mean look at this game, they were so desperate to try and get fans back that they based it around the only mechanic that people actually liked from ACIII: the naval combat. Throw in pirates because they're still popular...right? RIGHT?! And POOF! Here's your new AC game!

Poor reception? Utter failure? As far as I know both games are pretty well regarded.

OT: It doesn't matter because the locked content sucks ass anyways.

Then we must travel in different circles, my friend. Everyone that I've talked to said that ACIII was terrible along with Revelations, with the only truly interesting parts being the bits with Altair. As for Brotherhood, I enjoyed it, but again the people that I've spoken with about the game said that they didn't like it.

 

[Seracen]

Seriously, Ubisoft: fuck off. Shit like this makes me worried about the games they put out, like South Park, that I'm still interested in buying. I'm half expecting them to lock off levels above five if you don't preorder the super, bullshit, 300 dollar legacy edition of the game.

You know, only to stop pirates. Totally.

When I first used UPlay, I thought it was a cool throwback to the unlockables of old. Then, of course, I realized the unlocks were in the game (which is fine as it was free), and that I'd never have unlocked it without online connectivity (which is not fine at all).

As such, I saw this coming from a mile away, and it isn't as if Ubisoft has had some amazing fidelity to the fans. So, I don't know what I was expecting. What concerns me, however, is what kind of BS they are going to pull with Watch Dogs. They've already got a bunch of pre-order exclusives in place that diminish the quality of the game otherwise.

I wouldn't be surprise if they did "Day One DLC" crap like what EA did to all Bioware games (yes, ALL: DA's Warden Keep, DA2's Exiled Prince, ME2's Zaeed [technically], ME3's Prothean).