Ubisoft Makes Tiny Tweak to Driver DRM

[Andy Chalk]

Ubisoft Makes Tiny Tweak to Driver DRM

Having heard the angry cries of PC gamers around the world, Ubisoft has changed the DRM in the upcoming Driver: San Francisco [http://www.amazon.com/Driver-San-Francisco-Pc/dp/B002I0HFBC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1313597371&sr=8-4] from "always on" to "always on."

Ubisoft revealed in July that it would be bringing its always-on DRM [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111915-Ubisofts-Always-On-DRM-Is-Back-In-Driver-San-Francisco] to the PC version of Driver: San Francisco, a decision that went over about as well as you'd expect. It wasn't exactly a tsunami of rage because, to be frank, I don't think there are all that many PC gamers who care about the new Driver game in the first place, but among those who do, or those who simply object to onerous DRM as a matter of principle, the news was irritating and frustrating.

But Ubisoft is nothing if not sensitive to the needs of its loyal customers and so, in response to the "extremely negative reaction" from the fans, it revealed to Rock, Paper, Shotgun [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/17/ubisoft-listens-barely-changes-driver-drm/] today that it has changed its mind about the DRM situation.

"We've heard your feedback regarding the permanent internet connection requirement for Driver and have made the decision to no longer include it," the company said. "So this means that Driver PC gamers will only need to sign in at game launch but can subsequently choose to play the game offline."

So to clarify, you'll still need to be connected each and every time you want to start the game, but you won't be punished if your internet connection happens to drop while you're playing. It's an improvement, I suppose, but only of the most minimal sort; you still can't play while you're away from the net and if your connection happens to drop while you're playing, you better be sure you don't quit the game until everything's fixed up. Call me hard to please if you will, but I don't think I'm going to throw Ubisoft a big "thank you" party for this.

Driver: San Francisco comes out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii on September 6, while the PC version hits on September 27.


Permalink

 

[Keava]

Baby steps, eh? Oh well, haven't played Driver since the first one on old, grey PlayStation...and not really looking forward to new one. Plenty of more interesting way to spend my money.

Still it doesn't solve my biggest issue with "always-on" DRM - why i can't play a game i bought right to play when my ISP decides to be herpderp me and do a maintenance in middle of day for 3-4 hours?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Ubisoft: Legitimate Customers are our Shields versus the Growing Pirate Menace.

 

[manythings]

I don't know if you can even call this a real change. Unless I read it wrong you have to be online in the first place and you can't save it properly without being online?

On the other hand, I'm not buying it so I guess I don't care yet. Maybe that is why it is driver they are using, a lesser brand to float the always-on stuff again to see if Ass'creed Revs will be that badly affected by it.

 

[James Crook]

Is Ubisoft completely goddamn stupid flying banans? Yes, it's a welcome improvement, but what about people wanting to just play a small game on their laptop or who just want some offline play when their net craps out when they're not already playing?
Just do what you did in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. It worked, and I liked it. Anyways, people will always find a way to pirate their game sooner or later...

 

[Inkidu]

Eh, I like this more than cordoning off single player parts.
Even I can get online for a bit to sign in. If I did get this game it would be for console and then it wouldn't be a problem. They just don't like PC people.

 

[Irridium]

Oh fuck you Ubisoft, you arrogant assholes.

This is not fixing the god damn problem, which is forcing us to ask you to play every time we start the game.

Pirates don't have to do it, so why the hell do paying customers have to?

 

[Rad Party God]

It's just as bad and stupid as Starcraft 2's DRM.

Seriously, I'm not even slightly interested in this game, but the way Ubisoft are doing things really concerns me.

 

[Irridium]

Here's an idea:

Make you sign into the internet for the first time you launch but allow you to play any time after that.

Is that too much to ask?!

That's... exactly what they're doing here. And it's still completely horrible and insane because, and I've said this so many damn times it's starting to cause physical pain, PIRATES NEVER HAVE TO DO IT! And it does nothing to stop pirates. And the people most affected by this, the people with crappy/no internet, are the least likely to pirate in the first place.

It's just so fucking stupid and pointless it gives me a headache to have to explain. It should be so stupidly obvious a child could understand.

Last part wasn't aimed at you, but at Ubisoft.

EDIT: Misread your post, you meant once then never again, not once every time you start, my mistake.

 

[Lurchibald]

Ninja'd

But lets face it, AC2 took what? only 5 weeks for pirates to make fully playable? then when Ubi released SC:C it took them only 3 days... Lets face it... DRM will never win.

 

[Jandau]

You know, when Ubisoft started this bullshit with always on DRM, I was angry. But since then, I've realized that the best thing I can do is not buy their games.

 

[Irridium]

Here's an idea:

Make you sign into the internet for the first time you launch but allow you to play any time after that.

Is that too much to ask?!

That's... exactly what they're doing here. And it's still completely horrible and insane because, and I've said this so many damn times it's starting to cause physical pain, PIRATES NEVER HAVE TO DO IT! And it does nothing to stop pirates. And the people most affected by this, the people with crappy/no internet, are the least likely to pirate in the first place.

It's just so fucking stupid and pointless it gives me a headache to have to explain. It should be so stupidly obvious a child could understand.

Last part wasn't aimed at you, but at Ubisoft.

I meant the first time you launch the game, not EVERY time you launch the game.

Although I agree, I get the feeling Ubisoft just likes DRM because it makes them feel better.

Ah, I understand. And yeah, while that method is still pretty stupid, it's still miles better than what they're doing now.

 

[Redout9122]

Baby steps, eh? Oh well, haven't played Driver since the first one on old, grey PlayStation...and not really looking forward to new one. Plenty of more interesting way to spend my money.

After careful consideration of E3 I have to call bullshit.

 

[Andy Chalk]

You know, when Ubisoft started this bullshit with always on DRM, I was angry. But since then, I've realized that the best thing I can do is not buy their games.

Same. Although I'm up for From Dust. But other than that, this is pretty much a Ubi-Free Zone. (Which is relatively easy since Ubi doesn't publish much of anything I care about anyway.)

 

[Doom972]

They already did this in the past to other games which had the "Always On DRM". There was an article about it on this site that made me decide it was time to get Assassin's Creed 2.

After getting very close to the end I decided it was a good time to take a break so I quit the game. After quitting I found out that my Internet connection disconnected and the next time I played I realized it simply didn't save my game (Why couldn't it have a backup on my hard rive for such an occasion?). I was very angry for losing 3 hours of gameplay, in which I completed some hard challenges.

I decided not to buy any more games that use this method.

 

[Something Amyss]

Isn't this basically Steam's DRM deal?

 

[Woodsey]

Isn't this basically Steam's DRM deal?

Steam has an offline mode so you only have to activate it once.

 

[Something Amyss]

Isn't this basically Steam's DRM deal?

Steam has an offline mode so you only have to activate it once.

How is this different?

I'm not being a jerk, it's just that on my laptop, I had to validate every time. At least, I think I did. Only used my laptop out of range a handful of times.