Ubisoft Apologizes for DRM Server Switch Screwup

[RA92]

I have two permanent solutions for this problem. One is to not use the DRM (haha, I know, it's a ridiculous idea). The other is to stop making PC games altogether (something you are constantly threatening to pull out of anyway). There are so man good studios that don't stick us with terrible DRM that doesn't stop piracy anyway and don't just give the PC terrible ports that were optimized by rhesus monkeys on heroine.

It's kinda funny... despite calling all PC gamers pirates and attaching atrocious DRM, Ubisoft has a raft of great PC exclusives - Anno, Trackmania, Heroes of Might & Magic, Silent Hunter, The Settlers... All these have seen frequent and recent well-made sequels, so the PC market is obviously profitable to them. So yeah, I don't see them leaving the PC space in some time.

 

[isometry]

Maybe "Ubisoft" is just a weird experiment by the other publishers, to test how far they can push us with DRM until they loose all their customers.

 

[Sprinal]

Maybe "Ubisoft" is just a weird experiment by the other publishers, to test how far they can push us with DRM until they loose all their customers.

I like your thinking.

But seriously the DRM fight is just giving me more reasons to pirate. I am actually running out of reasons not to. Sure I'd buy the game. But then I would Pirate it to simply avoid this crap.

 

[shintakie10]

So this is kind of a dick thing to do, but meh. Excuse me while I laugh at every single person who bought a Ubisoft game with this bullshit DRM on it and is now unable to play it. Hah...hah...hah

Seriously. At this point in the game I cant even feel sorry for the people who are locked out of the game they legitimately bought. Everyone at this point knows how god awful Ubisoft DRM is and they bought it anyway. Does Ubisoft still deserve hate for doin it? Totally and I plan to continue hatin on them for it and refusin to buy their games, but anyone who willingly buys their crap at this point deserves it.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Whats funny, not "ha-ha" funny, is that Ooziesoft won't take the hint and disable the always on connection required to play the game. They will continue to behave like that odd kid in the back of the class who holds his hat tightly, crying "I am a good boy! I am a good boy! I am a good boy!"

 

[Beryl77]

Do you even have to pirate those games to play them? Can't you just download a crack?

 

[Jodah]

... you pirate the games, [...] you can just go ahead and play whenever you like.

Lol, I thought advocating piracy was against the forum rules?

But yeah, way to go Ubisoft. You've sure shown everyone how you deal with copyright infringement! I'm sure you're customers are very pleased that your system is in place to do... well, whatever you think it's meant to do.

Contributors can say pretty much anything in regards to piracy short of "GO PIRATE ALL THE THINGS!" Plus it isn't really advocating piracy, just saying pirated copies are a better product.

 

[Rad Party God]

I just hope that Rayman Origins for PC will be abscent from this DRM bullshit. I hope :S

 

[kurokenshi]

Thanks for the e-mail informing me of the downtime Ubisoft....Oh wait that never happened!

 

[Sartan0]

This is exactly why I don't play Ubisoft games. AT ALL.

 

[Freechoice]

Just for reference, I happened to play Splinter Cell: Conviction last night. It wouldn't connect to the server, but here's something cool.

The game still worked. I just played it offline and the fun times were had for about 30 minutes before I got bored.

 

[lacktheknack]

Ubisoft is quickly becoming the main point-to on how DRM only hurts paying customers.

I'm sure that by "quickly becoming", you meant "reinforcing the the status they earned a couple years ago that"?

I bet that about 15% of the pirated copies of the game floating around are held by people who paid for the game and just sidestepped the DRM.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I just hope that Rayman Origins for PC will be abscent from this DRM bullshit. I hope :S

Wait a week or two before buying to CONFIRM that it doesn't have DRM, they stated Anno 2070 wouldn't have any but guess what happened?

Spoiler

 

[Twilight_guy]

The Escapist, not an advocate of piracy, except when its implied in its own articles that piracy is acceptable. (Seriously, let's be a bit more discreet with opinions that contradict official stances).

SO anyways, Ubisoft screws up, apologizes, DRM gets another black eye and a select group of Escapist members get to continue to beat this dead horse into powder. Ubisoft should just change their names and try to reinvent themselves because the image is not looking good anymore.

 

[lancar]

Oh, Ubisoft... will the funnies ever end?

 

[Vidiot]

this is exactly the reason that I haven't played the retail copy of any PC game since Spore... aside from Steam, of course, because they actually respect their consumers and provide a service BETTER than the pirate copies. Any game not on Steam, I pay for the game, then pirate the DRM free version. I'm not doing anything illegal; I'm only playing games I hold the rights to play. I just choose to play the superior, more stable, better optimized version.


Remember Publishers: Consumers are like putty: you can mold them into doing what you want through carefully applied pressure, but the harder you squeeze, the more will slip through your fingers.

I can't wait to see how quick Diablo3 gets cracked.

 

[A-D.]

The Escapist, not an advocate of piracy, except when its implied in its own articles that piracy is acceptable. (Seriously, let's be a bit more discreet with opinions that contradict official stances).

Dont think its as much advocating Piracy as pointing out a Fact. Advocating would be basicly anyone telling the rest of the Community "Go pirate this Game" or something of the sort.

I mean by now, everyone with a couple Braincells to rub together knows that the always-on DRM is one of the worst kinds of DRM in existence, so of course Games unaffected by it, mainly due to a Crack, which can be applied to a pirated OR legal Copy, well they are superior on the fact that they sidestep it, course most Games dont get all the features for it, like no Multiplayer or some other weird stuff thats in the Game.


OT:I kinda wish we would go back to CD-Keys and the like, i mean it has worked, granted not perfectly but when the always-on DRM and such gets cracked too, whats the point of having the fancy new high-tech hardware to prevent it thats about as effective as putting in a 16 digit Code 10 years ago? Dont even get me started on how shitty ME2 was with that weird Method they had for authorizing my DLCs that were tied to my Account and paid for and it threw a hissy fit because apparently it doesnt like the way i connect to the bloody Internet. So this happening? You know, i think alot of People saw this coming. Hell when in say another 5 Years the servers get taken offline for good, and you cant play all those old Games anymore? Yeah..thats gonna be fun.

 

[Jumwa]

I'm glad Ubisoft's games are so unappealing. It makes not buying them a lot easier.

No kidding.

The ridiculousness of this all would be upsetting to me instead of just an outrageous, eye-roll-worthy news moment if they made a single game that seemed worth buying.

 

[Jumwa]

OT:I kinda wish we would go back to CD-Keys and the like, i mean it has worked, granted not perfectly but when the always-on DRM and such gets cracked too, whats the point of having the fancy new high-tech hardware to prevent it thats about as effective as putting in a 16 digit Code 10 years ago? Dont even get me started on how shitty ME2 was with that weird Method they had for authorizing my DLCs that were tied to my Account and paid for and it threw a hissy fit because apparently it doesnt like the way i connect to the bloody Internet. So this happening? You know, i think alot of People saw this coming. Hell when in say another 5 Years the servers get taken offline for good, and you cant play all those old Games anymore? Yeah..thats gonna be fun.

CD Keys aren't good for consumers either.

There was a big mess in the news recently where TOR launched without the needed keys in many collectors editions. They were apparently misplaced in packaging or something.

Personally, I spent two days trying to find workarounds to the fact that the TWO copies of Neverwinter Nights 2 I bought for my partner and I each came with improper CD keys. One turned out to have the keys improperly listed out of order, and a series of switching them around (with an uninstall/reinstall/reboot required each time, thanks to the DRM) before I found the right order.

CD keys are just another pain in the rear for consumers at best.