Ubisoft Kills Ghost Recon: Future Soldier on PC

[Amnestic]

The fuck? A reduction in the rate of piracy is a success for DRM, not the total stopping of all piracy.

Except if every game has been cracked, then there has been no reduction in the rate of piracy, and indeed the inclusion of obnoxious DRM has - or so people claim - caused them to pirate the game out of sheer spite at the developer/publisher for trying to punish their legitimate customers.

 

[Domehammer]

I know what developer to only buy used copies of there games if I have any interest now. Used games are compared to piracy right? So maybe if we buy Ubisoft games used they will stop making for consoles too and go for handhelds or smartphones! I'll tell any friends I know of thinking to get any of there games that they should get them used or not all. Sure it won't make them not get game most likely but when they go to try a new game that has ubisoft on it they might change mind and buy something else.

 

[-|-]

They just called 19 out of 20 PC gamers dirty thieves. Are you seriously going to try to defend that? I don't even play on the PC and that is an outright lie and a real low blow.

I don't know the actual number so how can I comment on it? I certainly can't refute or confirm their claim; I assume they have done some analysis and that is what they think. Are they wrong? Probably, but I don't know for certain and I don't actually care one way or the other anyway.

Here is the thing you, and others too, are missing. I don't need to refute their numbers - I don't need to defend them or attack them. They have stated a position and are backing that position with a lot of money - they will either win or lose that bet. If they win, then it will turn out that they were at least partly right, if they lose then they lose something real and tangible to them - cash.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

They just called 19 out of 20 PC gamers dirty thieves. Are you seriously going to try to defend that? I don't even play on the PC and that is an outright lie and a real low blow.

I don't know the actual number so how can I comment on it? I certainly can't refute or confirm their claim; I assume they have done some analysis and that is what they think. Are they wrong? Probably, but I don't know for certain and I don't actually care one way or the other anyway.

Here is the thing you, and others too, are missing. I don't need to refute their numbers - I don't need to defend them or attack them. They have stated a position and are backing that position with a lot of money - they will either win or lose that bet. If they win, then it will turn out that they were at least partly right, if they lose then they lose something real and tangible to them - cash.

Again, you want to stop developing for the PC? Fine. But don't insult your consumer base on the way out. It is unprofessional and disrespectful.

 

[Anaphyis]

And here we go again with the pointless piracy debate. We sure made a lot of progress the last 10 years its been going on. We gamers sure are a creative bunch when we can get this flamewar rolling for this long without even the slightest hint of something insightful, interesting or even half true to add to it. One side is preaching morality, partly to people who buy their games and feel insulted partly to people who won't give a fuck anyway. Another side is using this as an extension for the console wars to get rid of their buyers remorse and to feel superior because their gaming system is apparently the only way to define themselves. On the other side we have the stick it to the man idiots.

This is so tedious and boring, like watching a pound full of fat dogs yap all day about absolutely nothing for years and years ad nauseam.

 

[Versuvius]

They just called 19 out of 20 PC gamers dirty thieves. Are you seriously going to try to defend that? I don't even play on the PC and that is an outright lie and a real low blow.

I don't know the actual number so how can I comment on it? I certainly can't refute or confirm their claim; I assume they have done some analysis and that is what they think. Are they wrong? Probably, but I don't know for certain and I don't actually care one way or the other anyway.

Here is the thing you, and others too, are missing. I don't need to refute their numbers - I don't need to defend them or attack them. They have stated a position and are backing that position with a lot of money - they will either win or lose that bet. If they win, then it will turn out that they were at least partly right, if they lose then they lose something real and tangible to them - cash.

Again, you want to stop developing for the PC? Fine. But don't insult your consumer base on the way out. It is unprofessional and disrespectful.

And shoots yourself in the foot because more often than not people have both consoles and PC games. I believe quite rightly no one likes being insulted. How do they categorise multi platform gamers? PC-thieves? Maybe they are only thieves when tempted by the devilish Demonoid? It's absurd. I am a multi-platform gamer and i say, fuck you Ubisoft and your excuse ridden wank, it will not be missed. Also in response to calling me a thief: You are a liar, a piss merchant and lots of other nasty names. Lets have a libel off! Maybe a slander match if they want to meet me face to face. Ho ho ho

 

[Vhite]

Ubisoft ragequit with PC gaming so let them go ahead and cry, its their money lost because of their stupid mistakes.

 

[Amnestic]

The fuck? A reduction in the rate of piracy is a success for DRM, not the total stopping of all piracy.

Except if every game has been cracked, then there has been no reduction in the rate of piracy, and indeed the inclusion of obnoxious DRM has - or so people claim - caused them to pirate the game out of sheer spite at the developer/publisher for trying to punish their legitimate customers.

Okay, but thats just a defeatist attitutde. "People are never gonna stop trying to steal our games, so don't even try to stop them". What if other people took that attitude? "Criminals are never gonna stop trying to find ways to kill people, so why even bother trying to protect myself?" "Diseases are never gonna stop trying to make me sick, so why bother keeping healthy?". The actual solution there? Stop supporting the PC. And here they are implementing that.

Just because it can't be stopped doesn't mean that it can't be fought. The problem is that some developers/publishers seem to be fighting it in the wrong way. They seem to think that obnoxious DRM and treating their legitimate customers like thieves (and indeed, outright stating it in Ubisoft's case here) will help their sales somehow. This has been proven to not be true.

So what has shown to be a good way to combat piracy? Three things really.
-Quality titles
-At reasonable prices
-From a company which has a fair amount of goodwill towards it.

Pirates will always exist, so the best way for developers/publishers to fight piracy is to offer a better product than the pirates do. This is a hard fought battle (since it's hard to argue with something which is free) but it can be done. It's why over a million people bought the Witcher 2 (despite there being a DRM-free version from GOG that I'm sure was on torrent sites almost immediately), why millions bought Skyrim, and New Vegas, Mass Effect 2 and all the other PC games that people know and love.

Because as it turns out, many gamers actually don't mind supporting the developers of games which they love. I don't. I could pirate Skyrim right this second if I wanted, but I won't, because I want to reward Bethesda for their work. At least 3.5 million people agreed with me for the first 48 hours after its release.

It's harder to justify rewarding a developer for their work when they treat you like shit.

 

[-|-]

Again, you want to stop developing for the PC? Fine. But don't insult your consumer base on the way out. It is unprofessional and disrespectful.

Yes, I agree, it is both those things. But as things to rage about go, this is quite low down my list.

I guess I see too many threads raging about games publishers and developers etc, because when I look back at how good the output from the industry as a whole has been for the last couple of years I can cut them some slack for making the occasional faux pas.

 

[Slayer_2]

Or they could just release the game the normal way, DRM free and see if that works. Guess what Ubisoft, if you didn't shove so much crap down our throats people might be able to not only play your game, but lose the frustration of trying to get it to start up in the first place. DRM is like a mall cop who goes out of the way to piss of real customers, then ignores actual thieves.

Is that why World of Good had a 90% piracy rate despite no DRM?

No idea what that game is, but here is a fact for you. People are gonna pirate. It doesn't matter how tight your security, one day, someone will crack it. Then distribute it. Once it's out there, it's out there. Doesn't matter if it's one person in the world that hacks it, or a million, all it takes is one upload. I don't know exact rates, but I'm sure piracy figures are higher than sales figures for most games. Show me the game that has never been pirated, and I'll retract my statements about DRM.

So unless DRM manages to stop alp piracy completely, you say its a failure. The fuck? A reduction in the rate of piracy is a success for DRM, not the total stopping of all piracy.

You're thinking of this the wrong way. Think if it like a dam (DRM). People (pirates) are trying to sabotage the dam with jackhammers to get the water (software) on the other side. They don't want to pay the cost of the water bill (cost of the legit game), whatever. Does it matter if the dam is only cracked in one small area or if it is utterly destroyed by a massive horde of angry jackhammer-bearing construction workers? No, the end result is the same, the water is flooding out, and the dam is useless.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Dear Ubisoft,
hi, how're you doing? I'm great, thank you for asking! Now then, there is something I wanted to discuss with you. You see, I happen to own a gaming PC, and a fairly high end one at that. Admittedly, it was more of a coincidence that I ended up with such a tiny god sitting on the desk next to me! Silly me, I just needed a fast CPU (well, plural of course, who only runs 4 cores these days?) for study related things, but as I was putting everything together, I thought to myself: "you know, 8gb of RAM sure sounds tempting, and that ATI 6950...hmm...I'd be a fool not to buy it!" So this is how I ended up with Moneypit, my darling PC. While creating Moneypit, I pondered how I would fill its 1tb hdd. Porn? Well, maybe when my 250gb external overflows...some time around next Monday at the latest, probably. Movies? Well, not really my thing. Music? Why, when the internet has it all legally on places like Pandora (well, not here in Germany, thanks to some fuckhead organization, but I digress)! Programs and data? Well, that doesn't take up a whole lot of space. So, my poor hdd is starving for data, what should I feed it? Games? Why, of course! Skyrim...oh, how many hours I sank into you! And Civilization, Minecraft, Morrowind, Deus Ex, etc. But, alas, I see no Ubisoft games in my library. You see, I am a bit apprehensive about your always online DRM. I've had to live with shitty mobile internet for the better part of two months, and it really struck me how unfeasible such a thing is for people in my situation. Therefore I avoided your games. I admit, that Assassin's Greed thing piqued my interest, and Anno 2070 has as well. But alas, instead of trying to accommodate little old me (and Moneypit's amazing storage!), and what little spare change this poor grad student has left, you instead insult me, and people like me. Why? We like your games, some more than others, but we always resented the DRM and horrid treatment you gave us. So tell me, why should I buy YOUR products? I feel like arguing with a crazy homelss person (apologies to hobos everywhere, you're alright), who spits in my face after I gave him the change he asked for. Why, tell me why should I give crazy-hobo-you any more change?

Sincerely,
thethingthatlurks

Avid PC gamer

 

[Amnestic]

The fuck? A reduction in the rate of piracy is a success for DRM, not the total stopping of all piracy.

Except if every game has been cracked, then there has been no reduction in the rate of piracy, and indeed the inclusion of obnoxious DRM has - or so people claim - caused them to pirate the game out of sheer spite at the developer/publisher for trying to punish their legitimate customers.

Okay, but thats just a defeatist attitutde. "People are never gonna stop trying to steal our games, so don't even try to stop them". What if other people took that attitude? "Criminals are never gonna stop trying to find ways to kill people, so why even bother trying to protect myself?" "Diseases are never gonna stop trying to make me sick, so why bother keeping healthy?". The actual solution there? Stop supporting the PC. And here they are implementing that.

Just because it can't be stopped doesn't mean that it can't be fought. The problem is that some developers/publishers seem to be fighting it in the wrong way. They seem to think that obnoxious DRM and treating their legitimate customers like thieves (and indeed, outright stating it in Ubisoft's case here) will help their sales somehow. This has been proven to not be true.

So what has shown to be a good way to combat piracy? Three things really.
-Quality titles
-At reasonable prices
-From a company which has a fair amount of goodwill towards it.

The piracy rates for the Humble Indie Bundle disprove all three of these. Like, bashing its head against a rock disprove. Quality titles? 5 of them. Reasonable price? 1 cent. Fair amount of goodwill? 5 independent game developers with profits going towards a gaming charity. Piracy rate? 25%, and thats just people stealing the games directly from the website, torrent rates have got to push that astronomically higher.

So what's your method for combating piracy then? 'cos being a dick to your fanbase certainly doesn't work. The millions of sales of the games I quoted seems to imply that, despite the losses of World of Goo and the Humble Indie Bundle, people still want to reward developers who don't treat them like shit.

Apparently you think my method is flawed, so I ask you: What should developers/publishers do instead?