Ubisoft Puts PC Piracy Rate at 93-95%

[kortin]

Did you read my whole post, or just that tidbit?

That depends, do you look at most of today's free to play games, or just the few that are horribly done?

 

[Two-A]

How do you even calculate the piracy rate?, If someone is playing a pirated game that means there is no way they are connected to your servers. Unless your security is THAT poor.

Besides, Ubisoft doesn't make games that are suitable for F2P, I shudder to think what will happen to AC if it goes free-to-play.

In the end, I feel sorry for the developers, Ubisoft consistently puts out some amazing games. Too bad the company is run by idiots. :/

 

[Pinkamena]

93% is pirated?
Ahahaha what? No.

 

[Ghonzor]

That depends, do you look at most of today's free to play games, or just the few that are horribly done?

I probably could have worded myself a little better, but seeing as its Ubisoft, FTP would be implemented terribly by them.

There is bad FTP. There is good FTP. The Pocket Planes devs are a wonderful example of doing FTP well. Games like Vindictus also do a fairly good job with FTP.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

If you buy the game then download a crack to remove the DRM is it still considered piracy? If so I need to get checked for scurvy.

 

[mattinkent]

Say that figure is even 10% right, the fact that 9.5% of players pirated their copies would not translate into a 9.5% increase in sales. If they were that tight to begin with they just wouldn't buy the games.

And another thing ::insert DRM rant here::

 

[lacktheknack]

I have no problem believing their piracy rate is that high.

None.

I'm surprised it's not higher.

I ask them one thing: Which had a higher rate of piracy, Assassin's Creed 2, or Rayman: Origins?

 

[bafrali]

I would believe it. Even i had to crack my copy of AC2 to play it properly. Imagine what would insufferable pirate scums would do?

 

[TotalerKrieger]

I am in favour of people pirating Ubisoft games solely for the purpose of undermining their profit margins eventually leading to bankruptcy.

 

[devotedsniper]

I wonder how many of those so called pirates cracked the game they brought so they could play offline? Either way there no way 95% of people are pirates. Once again some big head has gone and insulted more or less every pc gamer by calling them all pirates.

 

[GonzoGamer]

When I was in college, I knew quite a few gamers. Perhaps one in twenty obtained their games through piracy. In my experience, this guy has his statistics backward.

I would suggest that they run an experiment before going F2P: Remove their copy protection for a bit and see if things improve.

I was thinking that it sounded backwards too.
If it's true, me and a few friends better get to pirating. I can afford new games and all but I don't want to disappoint.

 

[babinro]

93-95% piracy seems like a misleading stat at first but the more I think about it the more it seems plausible.

Games may only sell about 2 million units and be considered a success in the long term.

Yet there's something like 300 million people in the U.S alone.
Seems likely that almost 2 million of them would pirate the game over time.

 

[Callate]

[link]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111951-Ubisoft-Says-Always-On-DRM-A-Success[/link]

*blink* *blink*

Words fail me.

I don't want to see Ubisoft die- despite some of their ham-handed tactics, I think they've made some excellent games, and are generally several shades less pale than EA and Activision- but maneuvers like always-on DRM that people hated even before it was revealed to set their computers up for exploit, combined with the self-contradictions that seem apparent in their statements... bring to mind two or more people all clutching at the same steering wheel as the car barrels down the road.

 

[nodlimax]

ill just leave this here and laugh a bit

from october 2011

However, Ubisoft provides a test-case. We are almost two years into its aggressive attack on PC piracy. Recently, Ubisoft called its ?always-on? DRM a success, claiming ?a clear reduction in piracy.?

In terms of actual sales, however, the results seem decidedly mixed. Michael Pachter told Eurogamer that Ubisoft?s ?PC game sales are down 90% without a corresponding lift in console sales.?

hes obviously assuming that the 90% loss in sales means people are just pirating the games rather than simply never touching ubisoft products

I remember a news about this and I had to laugh pretty hard.

Hey I haven't bought a single Ubisoft game since they switched to uplay(not)

 

[Sir Broccoli]

I actually think that's a pretty close guess.
After all, World of Goo (a very cheap game that's completely DRM-free) had a piracy rate of around 90%. I highly doubt whether Ubisoft's DRM does anything to decrease this number (in fact, it probably increases it.)
Anyway, it's nice to see that Ubisoft is trying something other than draconian DRM though I'm not quite certain how they are going to pull off a free-to-play model in games like Assassin's creed.

 

[Royas]

I can't take Ubisoft seriously any longer. As long as they keep making ridiculous claims like this, unsupported by any proof, they will continue to be the laughing stock of the gaming world. Yes, EA may be more evil. Yes, Activision is run by a real jerk. Ubisoft, however, is the most out there with their claims. 19 out of 20 PC gamers pirate their stuff, indeed. I doubt 19 out of 20 PC gamers can figure out how to get a torrent running if you held a gun to their head.

 

[Burst6]

Something tells me Mr. Ubisoft wants made an excuse for the investors so he can get into the F2P market.

Here's a puzzle for all of you. Nexon vs ubisoft. Who is the most evil?

 

[DrOswald]

I am pretty sure this is just Ubisoft trying to convince their investors that they are handling the problem, basically lying through their teeth to convince people who don't know any better that they are protecting their games from the nasty pirates.

You see, Ubisoft DRM was never about preventing piracy, they know as well as we do that it wont work and only hurts paying customers. It was meant to prevent investors from jumping ship when they learn that people can just go get the game for free any time they want. "No, see, it will be different this time because of our awesome DRM!" then "Our old DRM wasn't effective, but we got new, harder to hack DRM now!" But that old excuse is wearing thin. After 5 or 6 cycles, the investors have started to wonder why these progressively "better" DRM's keep on failing. This latest lie and F2P kick is just the most recent in the pattern. They probably already have their next step planned.

I will believe that 93% of PC games are pirated, but only from a very specific point of view and only if you manipulate the numbers really hard. It is probably not a lie, but they are twisting the truth so hard it isn't recognizable anymore. And why would they do that when it makes their customers hate them? Because they don't care about us, they care about investors. they know their games, which I will grudgingly admit are actually good, will turn a profit even if we all hate them so they spend their energy kissing up to the investors.

Their investors don't understand the industry, they don't understand why and when games get pirated, and they never will.

This is all just a guess on my part, but it is the only explanation I can give for this bizarre and moronic behavior. It all makes sense if you assume they are playing a different game.