Ubisoft Online DRM: It's Worse Than Expected

[1066]

Excuse me? It sounds like a testing ground for subscription-based gaming.. this is worse than any sort of DRM to date! Imagine the inability to play games you like again years down the road if they require this.

This is beyond unreasonable for paying customers

GO PIRATES! GO PIRATES! GO GO PIRATES!

This is probably going to bring fire down on my head, but how is this different from, say, Portal? Not a rhetorical question.

To play that game (I got the stand alone, not the Orange box) requires that I be connected to Steam; or did, I don't play it anymore for exactly that reason. Maybe something's changed since. And, granted, I never tested if it would crap out on me if the connection died.

Point being, when I mentioned this before in a different DRM thread, Valve was generally defended for putting that in. As I see it, this kind of DRM is far from new; and yes, it irritates me too.

 

[the1ultimate]

Well gee, that's a rather hard line to take, considering that I can't see any way that this would stop people pirating a game a single ounce.
If there is one thing we know, it's that people have pirated every game out there.
Batman: Arkham Asylum staved off piracy for a fraction longer by hiding some of the checks from the people who pirated the game, but here... Well, it's going to be a bit obvious isn't it? The game will cut to the main menu and the pirate will know where to look.
This only hurts legitimate buyers. But what else is new?

Also they sound a bit arrogant saying that most people have access to internet. What about the people who don't? What about the people who have an internet limit? I personally have my gaming computer in my room, and have to move the whole setup when I need to do important things like computer updates.

 

[FoolKiller]

That is a terrible idea. Simply terrible. And the worst part is that the only people who will have to deal with it are those who legally purchase the game.

The saddest part is that people who would normally buy the game may start to resort to piracy just for the sake of being able to play the game without hassles.

 

[LeonLethality]

I really like the concept as it is a great idea and has many plus sides but they HAVE to fix that.

 

[aaron552]

That said, what the fuck Ubisoft? You guys used to be cool! If you guys do this to Beyond Good and Evil 2 I'll fucking weep

+1

And Beyond Good an Evil is one of 2 not-yet-released games I am guaranteed to buy (the other being Mass Effect 3). I'll just download a crack, thanks.

I noticed that on the FAQ for AC2 PC, they plan to release a patch to remove the online server requirement at an unspecified time in the future (when they bring the servers down). I'd be surprised if it took more than a day for it to be cracked to allow offline play, and amazed if it took more than a week.

 

[1066]

That is a terrible idea. Simply terrible. And the worst part is that the only people who will have to deal with it are those who legally purchase the game.

The saddest part is that people who would normally buy the game may start to resort to piracy just for the sake of being able to play the game without hassles.

Sadly, also not a new thing. I speak only for myself, but I've had to find no-CD patches for more games than I care to admit just to be able to play them.

 

[Void(null)]

Excuse me? It sounds like a testing ground for subscription-based gaming.. this is worse than any sort of DRM to date! Imagine the inability to play games you like again years down the road if they require this.

This is beyond unreasonable for paying customers

GO PIRATES! GO PIRATES! GO GO PIRATES!

This is probably going to bring fire down on my head, but how is this different from, say, Portal? Not a rhetorical question.

To play that game (I got the stand alone, not the Orange box) requires that I be connected to Steam; or did, I don't play it anymore for exactly that reason. Maybe something's changed since. And, granted, I never tested if it would crap out on me if the connection died.

Point being, when I mentioned this before in a different DRM thread, Valve was generally defended for putting that in. As I see it, this kind of DRM is far from new; and yes, it irritates me too.

Steam has an offline mode. [https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555]

 

[aaron552]

This is probably going to bring fire down on my head, but how is this different from, say, Portal? Not a rhetorical question.

To play that game (I got the stand alone, not the Orange box) requires that I be connected to Steam; or did, I don't play it anymore for exactly that reason. Maybe something's changed since. And, granted, I never tested if it would crap out on me if the connection died.

I believe that if you start Steam in offline mode, you can play Portal all you like without an Internet connection.

EDIT: Just tried it and it works fine.

 

[Weaver]

I just can't believe that Ubisoft isn't LEARNING from all the other companies that tried excessive DRM (themselves included). EA had the whole SecuROM fiasco and they've more or less decided to give SecuROM the finger and just stop using it; or at least remove it's install limits. A wise decision.

Ubisoft themselves released Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory with Starforce, which besides it's rumored connection with the Russian mafia, was far worse than securom. And how did that turn out? People were fucking pissed! WHY can't they learn?

There is one GOLDEN rule of business that every business needs to abide by: You can't tell your customers what they want, you have to give them what they want.

Steam has an offline mode. [https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555]

I wish more people would realize this. I feel steam gets unwarranted negative press. Yes it IS a DRM system, but at the very least it works WITH me to play my games. It keeps stuff up to date for me, it has awesome deals, I can play single player games offline, it has built in friends, groups, chatrooms, profiles, achievements - everything. Christ, I can download any game I've bought anywhere on any computer. Steam is not ONLY a DRM system; it's a platform to play games on. And best of all it doesn't cost you a damn penny. Microsoft charges you 60 CAD a year for this shit, except implemented with an atrocious UI.

In short, other DRM systems seem to take what I call "the wall" approach. There's you, there's your game - now lets put a big fucking wall that the user has to leap over to get to the game. With steam, the game and the DRM are intertwined, there's no wall to climb.

 

[Void(null)]

I just had a frightful thought... This is Ubisofts version of the NGE Patch.

 

[1066]

Excuse me? It sounds like a testing ground for subscription-based gaming.. this is worse than any sort of DRM to date! Imagine the inability to play games you like again years down the road if they require this.

This is beyond unreasonable for paying customers

GO PIRATES! GO PIRATES! GO GO PIRATES!

This is probably going to bring fire down on my head, but how is this different from, say, Portal? Not a rhetorical question.

To play that game (I got the stand alone, not the Orange box) requires that I be connected to Steam; or did, I don't play it anymore for exactly that reason. Maybe something's changed since. And, granted, I never tested if it would crap out on me if the connection died.

Point being, when I mentioned this before in a different DRM thread, Valve was generally defended for putting that in. As I see it, this kind of DRM is far from new; and yes, it irritates me too.

Steam has an offline mode. [https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555]

Huh... didn't know that. Thanks.

Though it still does seem like a rigamarole, and I also worry being able to play/install the game if and when Steam goes out of business. Moot point, really. The advent of DRMs more or less finished my conversion from PC gamer to Console gamer.

 

[boholikeu]

Funny, they turned a really good idea (storing saved games on their servers if you have an Internet-validated copy of the game), and turned it into crap by making it mandatory.

Way to become the new EA, Ubisoft.

 

[CrysisMcGee]

I believe the words that sum up Every ones feelings are: Fuck This.

ARE THEY TRYING to encourage piracy!?!? For the love of fucking god this is like replacing the water you're selling by shooting yourself in the foot then asking people to drink the blood.

Pirates (ARRR!) will always find a way. They will remove whatever they have from the game to to be able to play it offline. They will simulate a server.

They are crafty devils. They have already cracked every game that requires an online activation. What makes Ubisoft think this will stop them? I can guarantee you there you'll see their games on The Pirate Bay.

 

[Void(null)]

Huh... didn't know that. Thanks.

Though it still does seem like a rigamarole, and I also worry being able to play/install the game if and when Steam goes out of business.

Valve have stated numerous times that they keep a Activation Free version of their Steam Client with every patch. So that should Steam ever go out of business you will receive a small patch that will allow you to play all of your Steam games without needing to ever connect to Valves servers again.

You can then back up all of your Games yourself onto DVD using the backup utility built into Steam. [http://supportwiki.steampowered.com/wiki/Using_the_Steam_Backup_Feature]

 

[chronobreak]

Damn, Ubisoft really doesn't want my money. My money is actually no good in a consumer market. Well, too bad for them, if my money isn't good enough for them, their games aren't good enough for me, and I will tell everyone I know who games about this. Sure, they won't care about me, or the 15 or so people I can tell, but maybe they will tell others, and so on and so forth.

Gamers are sick of this bullshit. It's bad enough we have whole governments against being able to play a game, we don't need the developers in on it too.

Well, they lost my will to purchase it. I'll get it for my 360 now, where I don't feel like I'm being accused of being a pirate.

So you're going to give them your money anyways?

 

[Snotnarok]

snip

I had exactly the same reaction

I give it a week tops before there is a work-around crack courtesy of those magnificent pirates.

I bet it'll be less than a day

Please wasn't Bioshock 2 out a week before the game came out?

The problem is, Ubisoft isn't going to learn from people pirating the game, they'll be just as fucking stupid and make a worse DRM next time

 

[1066]

Valve have stated numerous times that they keep a Activation Free version of their Steam Client with every patch. So that should Steam ever go out of business you will receive a small patch that will allow you to play all of your Steam games without needing to ever connect to Valves servers again.

You can then back up all of your Games yourself onto DVD using the backup utility built into Steam. [http://supportwiki.steampowered.com/wiki/Using_the_Steam_Backup_Feature]

It's probably obvious by now that I don't follow news like this often. So, kudos to them that there is a backup I didn't know about.

Herein lies my concern though: I don't have Steam installed on my computer. If, in five, ten years time I were to try to install the game, would it work? Or would any games not installed at time of Steam's shutdown be lost?

I guess where I'm going with a lot of this is that, even with workarounds and backups, I see what they did with Steam as setting something of a precident. This article didn't surprise me one bit.

 

[Yokai]

Does Ubisoft really think that gamers going to be "fine" with that?

They are anything but. The amount of rage over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun is almost tangible. I could feel it radiating in waves from my monitor screen. And I fully support it. Either way, I'm not buying AC2 and supporting this crap. I'll either play a friend's console copy or not at all. I suppose there's a third option--We all know DRM is useless and is cracked within a month, so there will no doubt be a pirate copy without this ridiculousness by April. I hate to resort to piracy, but why pay Ubi full price for something I won't own? They're cheating honest PC gamers, either denying them the game, forcing them to take actions that are generally frowned upon (piracy), or forcing them to accept that they just payed fifty bucks for something that can be taken from them at any time with no compensation whatsoever.

Nice work, Ubisoft, nice work.

 

[Void(null)]

The problem is, Ubisoft isn't going to learn from people pirating the game, they'll be just as fucking stupid and make a worse DRM next time

Ubisoft have demonstrated that they will not learn that DRM is bad from:

People buying Prince of Persia because of the lack of DRM.
People Boycotting Ubisofts games with SecuRom.
People Boycotting Ubisoft's games with Limited Install DRM.

Ubisoft will not learn from people boycotting Assassins Creed 2 because of this outrageous form of DRM, and I know I for one was very much interested in playing Assassins Creed 2, so if Buying and Boycotting haven't worked... why should people miss out on a game they were looking forward to playing and would have purchased had Ubisoft not pulled this ***** move?

Microsoft went on record this year saying:

"The Pirates are our biggest competitor, and they have one hell of a product at an unbeatable price."

At this point I am beginning to agree with them, if the Pirates are such a big deal then they must be offering one hell of a service and Ubisoft should be competing by offering me something that the Pirates can not.

Buying a game should be:

1: Easier to install and play than a Pirated version

At this point it seems easier to torrent and crack a game, than deal with the massive headache of DRM.

2: Run better than the Pirated version.

Cracked versions these days have superior performance and stability, bypassing or removing entirely things like TAGES, SecuRom and GFWL which have been known to cause instability and conflicts.

3: Be easy to Patch and update

Often times cracker groups will continue to provide patch and updated crack's in one easy to use package. Becoming more convenient than the tiered patches publishers are so fond of these days where you need to download and install 10 different patches in the correct order, or forcing you to use their service like the EA Downloader.

Piracy is cheaper, more convenient and provides a superior product. The downside being that it is that its illegal.

I want to buy Assassins Creed 2, I want to play it and enjoy it and I want to support the industry to ensure more games of such quality continue to be released on the PC.

But when I pay $50-60 for a game, I want to be able to play it when I want to, install it when I want to and play it on whatever computer I want to.

When I pay $50-60 for a game, I should not be limited on how many times I can reinstall it, nor should I be forced to be connected to the internet at all times to play it.

The war should be against Piracy, Ubisoft seem to have forgotten that the Pirates are the ones not paying for the product and their current protection schemes only serve to hurt the paying customer.

Piracy is wrong because it's theft on the part of the consumer.
DRM is wrong because its theft on the part of the publisher.

When placed into the position where as a consumer I can either be screwed over, or screw someone else over... I know which one I would prefer.

But I shouldn't be placed into that position in the first place.

 

[Valiance]

horrible, horrible, horrible.

and yes, I think a crack is in fact illegal.

I'm sorry, but I have no reason to support this at all.