Ubisoft Ditches Always-On DRM

fix-the-spade

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TopazFusion said:
Will this open the floodgates of rampant piracy? Only time will tell ...
I'd say the floodgates were already well open. Silent Hunter 5 (the very first victim of the system) was cracked inside a couple of months.

Assassin's Creed 2 was cracked within a week, within a month it was not only cracked, you could download a tool to remove the DRM from the retail version. Modders, hackers and pirates did more for AC2's sales than Ubisoft can dream, I would never have bought it if I'd had to put up with the log in system and mid-play dump outs.
 

Louzerman102

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It's nice to know that always online DRM was the best thing to ever happen to PC gaming right up until it was dropped for being the worst thing that ever happened to PC gaming. Funny how press releases work.
 

4RM3D

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Metzeten said:
I wonder if the reason it only made up 7% of sales was because of the horrific and stupid DRM that actually made it preferable to be using a pirate copy.

This is almost certainly going to boost their PC sales.
DVS BSTrD said:
Though Ubisoft's DRM is no longer a PC problem, it's worth noting that - according to Ubisoft's figures - PC sales made up only 7% of the total in the last fiscal year. You do know WHY it was only 7% don't you Ubisoft?
I am not going to defend Ubisoft here. But PC games get pirated on a MASSIVE scale; not just Ubisoft, every publisher suffers from piracy. Consoles have far less piracy and thus are more popular for devs.

The overall piracy rate for a popular game is between 50% and 75% on the PC and less than 20% on consoles.

Actually, games get pirated less because of DRM. The loss of people not buying the game because of DRM is less than the loss of people who pirate the game (who were potential buyers). The DRM gets cracked eventually, but it is just to prevent the game from being pirated for as long as possible, usually a week or 2.
 

CardinalPiggles

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Maybe I'll buy Assassins Creed 3 on the PC then, assuming I can afford it.

What I've seen of it has shifted me towards buying it recently.
 

Aeshi

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Because why put in effort when you can just act like your laziness and incompetence make you morally superior amirite?
 

dangoball

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4RM3D said:
Metzeten said:
I wonder if the reason it only made up 7% of sales was because of the horrific and stupid DRM that actually made it preferable to be using a pirate copy.

This is almost certainly going to boost their PC sales.
DVS BSTrD said:
Though Ubisoft's DRM is no longer a PC problem, it's worth noting that - according to Ubisoft's figures - PC sales made up only 7% of the total in the last fiscal year. You do know WHY it was only 7% don't you Ubisoft?
I am not going to defend Ubisoft here. But PC games get pirated on a MASSIVE scale; not just Ubisoft, every publisher suffers from piracy. Consoles have far less piracy and thus are more popular for devs.

The overall piracy rate for a popular game is between 50% and 75% on the PC and less than 20% on consoles.

Actually, games get pirated less because of DRM. The loss of people not buying the game because of DRM is less than the loss of people who pirate the game (who were potential buyers). The DRM gets cracked eventually, but it is just to prevent the game from being pirated for as long as possible, usually a week or 2.
inb4 you being labeled as corporate sell-out :p

OT:
Well, this is good, right? So let's enjoy it while it lasts, for as we all know, big companies like to shoot themself in their feet. ;)
 

4RM3D

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dangoball said:
inb4 you being labeled as corporate sell-out :p

OT:
Well, this is good, right? So let's enjoy it while it lasts, for as we all know, big companies like to shoot themself in their feet. ;)
Meh, just explaining the situation.

You got two kinds of pirates:

1) People that don't CARE about the impact on the industry.
2) Poeple that don't KNOW about the impact on the industry.

The first group is hopeless to talk to, but I might be able to knock some sense into the second group ;)

I am not a fan of DRM. The usual ones, e.g. first time activation, are not so bad and I don't tend to have an issue with it. But Ubisoft went too far with the always online DRM. The install limit on some DRMs sucks also.
 

Covarr

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May 29, 2009
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Is this going to apply retroactively to older games? Will I be able to play my Steam copy of Might and Magic Heroes 6 without uplay?

P.S. Thanks
 

Two-A

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FelixG said:
The ground, it feels so cold...I think hell has frozen over!

Really though, I am thrilled to hear that Ubisoft are finally starting to take steps in the right direction.
In the next news report: "Flying Pigs Spotted Over Montreal's Skyline" XD

OT: Freaking finally, I guess. Glad they switched to a much less intrusive method.
 

2fish

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Ubisoft games upgraded from "avoid like plague" to "steam sale"(minimum of 75% off). Can they hold this upgrade or will it slip through their fingers? Find out next time on The Evil Mr. Bean of Publishers!

I wonder how much money it cost them to annoy their customers. Why don?t they release those figures?
 

GAunderrated

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4RM3D said:
Metzeten said:
I wonder if the reason it only made up 7% of sales was because of the horrific and stupid DRM that actually made it preferable to be using a pirate copy.

This is almost certainly going to boost their PC sales.
DVS BSTrD said:
Though Ubisoft's DRM is no longer a PC problem, it's worth noting that - according to Ubisoft's figures - PC sales made up only 7% of the total in the last fiscal year. You do know WHY it was only 7% don't you Ubisoft?
I am not going to defend Ubisoft here. But PC games get pirated on a MASSIVE scale; not just Ubisoft, every publisher suffers from piracy. Consoles have far less piracy and thus are more popular for devs.

The overall piracy rate for a popular game is between 50% and 75% on the PC and less than 20% on consoles.

Actually, games get pirated less because of DRM. The loss of people not buying the game because of DRM is less than the loss of people who pirate the game (who were potential buyers). The DRM gets cracked eventually, but it is just to prevent the game from being pirated for as long as possible, usually a week or 2.

Got the data for those statistics? If not please take those Fox News style stats to try and justify something that should never be justified in order to push an ignorant agenda and just go. Thanks
 

Steve the Pocket

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I'm not taking this seriously until they also patch it out of their older games. Which, admittedly, they are pretty likely to do since the alternative would require keeping the DRM servers online forever just to support older games. Or shutting them down and letting players suck it, but I'd like to think even Ubisoft isn't that stupid.
 

Harker067

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Hmm well they've made me reconsider getting Heroes of might and magic 6 but we'll see how things go...
 

disgruntledgamer

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LMAO that it took them this long to figure out that people don't like having to be connected online 24/7 to play single player games.

Also an LOL to the PC fanboys who say PC are taking over 7% sales LMAO.
 

llyrnion

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Oskuro said:
Is this retroactive? I never bought Assasins Creed 2 because of the DRM scheme. Will buying a copy now not require the system? 'Cause the game boxes at the retailer still carry the always-online warning.
Well, AC1 is on gog.com, with no DRM, naturally. Who knows, maybe we don't have to wait too much for AC2 being there, too.
 

Sartan0

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Hah! About time. It is going to take some time for me to look at any of their games again as I trained myself to just ignore anything with their name attached to it. It did not help that they made this announcement after Pax Prime when I had a chance to look at their games but did not.
 

llyrnion

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Anyway, it's a positive move. I have adjusted my attitude from "Ubi-who?" to "cautious optimism". Let's see what they do next.

OT: Happy birthday, Freddie!
 

Metalrocks

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well, thats at least something. was playing future soldier before. nice game. not great but nice. the good thing about uplay was, that i could get the whole soundtrack for free and some wallpapers. havent listened to the entire soundtrack yet, some are ok, some are crap but hey, it was for free.
 

Spygon

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I feel something is not right here i am very happy ubisoft have realized this was never the right solution.But it is to good to be true and i do not trust ubisoft there something is afoot here.