Ubisoft Says Always-On DRM, "A Success"

[Blackpapa]

Orbit really is working great. Nobody has successfully cracked it and nobody ever will. DRM is good for the customer and good for business.

Suggested reading for mr. Yves Guillemot:

(moar like Yves Guilleble amirite?)

 

[Aeshi]

Isn't it interesting that most of the people who whine that they can't play games with this DRM due to a "faulty internet connection" have no problems staying connected to a torrent site to pirate it?

 

[Blackpapa]

Isn't it interesting that most of the people who whine that they can't play games with this DRM die to a "faulty internet connection" have no problems staying connecting to a torrent site to pirate it?

It is. It's an interesting example of how open, distributed networks are more resilient than a centralized, locked-down system.

 

[Aesthetical Quietus]

Ubisoft, congratulations, you just talked yourself out of a pre-sale/sale of Driver: San Francisco. You've also convinced me not to buy any of your upcoming games.
I was literally going to pre-order tomorrow, now I won't be.

I honestly can't see why they are doing this. You aren't hurting the pirates in the least, remember this problem Ubisoft? http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.179422-Ubisoft-DRM-Authentication-Servers-Go-Down

Pirates were playing your game when your legitimate customers couldn't [I checked when I saw that story, one of my trusted torrent sites had a working cracked copy at this time. [Mods: I only checked, I didn't download; no need for a warning or ban-hammer use]]. That if nothing else should scream to you that this is a failure.
You are losing sales to try and stop people from illegimately playing your game. If people want it enough, they will get it for free. You should be instead focusing on making buying your game more appetising, not less.

 

[BRex21]

Isn't it interesting that most of the people who whine that they can't play games with this DRM due to a "faulty internet connection" have no problems staying connected to a torrent site to pirate it?

I would be one of those people who has internet that is of low enough quality I couldn't play assassins creed 2 with its DRM intact but could easily torrent it in a couple hours, in fact I find bit torrent to be faster and more reliable than steam. This is because bittorrent is designed to download to the best of its abilities while ubisoft (and steam to a lesser extent) requires a constant stable and uninterrupted connection. Ironically playing an MMO requires less bandwidth and stability than playing AC2 offline Did.

 

[Zenn3k]

If by success, you mean, nobody will buy your games...then sure.

 

[Olrod]

Ubisoft's controversial "Always-On" DRM scheme has been dubbed "a success" by an Ubisoft representative.

I see they're taking GLaDOS's approach to "enhancing the truth".

 

[BGH122]

I want to know why people keep blasting DRM and why stories keep getting put it.

Well, Shamus has already explained it far better than I can. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/5930-The-Impossible-DRM]

To be fair, if you're going to bring up that, then you should probably also bring up the sequel article about the one kind of DRM he felt might actually work: Ubisoft's [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7467-Experienced-Points-Impossible-to-beat-DRM].

I'm still unwilling to completely bash Ubisoft's DRM system. Sure, it didn't work for long. But it may just have worked for long enough. And it's got a better record of actually working than any other form out there. Yes, it's horrible, and that's why we should hate it, but we can't haul out the usual 'And it doesn't even work!' arguments here unless we can back them up.

GAMES PUBLISHER Ubisoft was left with egg on its face after its pitiful attempt at digital rights management was cracked within 24 hours. [http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1595262/ubisoft-drm-cracked#ixzz1TsdwR7zN]

24 hours is enough? Once the Rowdies figured out how to crack it once they knew how to crack every other iteration too. I see Shamus' logic in saying the Ubi DRM could work, but he's mistaking this constant verification for pure server-hosted content. The assets still exist on the user's PC, as do all the algorithms for movement etc, it's just the locations for the memory addresses (i.e. the variable data types) that are bound to the server. The second Skidrow found out how to make the executable reference to a custom dynamic link library that did all that stuff instead of the server the DRM was cracked.

Unless Ubisoft wants to have server-run content, like an MMO, where nothing but graphics assets are present on the user end then they have no chance of stopping intrepid cracking groups. If Ubisoft starts going that route it'll need to charge sub-fees for the painfully expensive server costs, as per usual MMOs.

 

[Zefar]

GAMES PUBLISHER Ubisoft was left with egg on its face after its pitiful attempt at digital rights management was cracked within 24 hours. [http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1595262/ubisoft-drm-cracked#ixzz1TsdwR7zN]

24 hours is enough? Once the Rowdies figured out how to crack it once they knew how to crack every other iteration too. I see Shamus' logic in saying the Ubi DRM could work, but he's mistaking this constant verification for pure server-hosted content. The assets still exist on the user's PC, as do all the algorithms for movement etc, it's just the locations for the memory addresses (i.e. the variable data types) that are bound to the server. The second Skidrow found out how to make the executable reference to a custom dynamic link library that did all that stuff instead of the server the DRM was cracked.

Unless Ubisoft wants to have server-run content, like an MMO, where nothing but graphics assets are present on the user end then they have no chance of stopping intrepid cracking groups. If Ubisoft starts going that route it'll need to charge sub-fees for the painfully expensive server costs, as per usual MMOs.

It might have been first cracked in 24 hours but it took them like 2-3 months to finally crack the whole game. As they where stuck on the first or second level with the first crack.

As for people going "Yea, it's good at stopping us buying it". Have you guys ever thought that you're just a loud minority? Like really, every single game that has any sort of DRM of any kind except if it's just Steam as it supposedly doesn't count.
Even though it can cause a lot of problem.

But you guys might just be in the minority and where most buyers didn't actually have problem with the game.

You guys can still hate the DRM and the company as much as possible but there could be this where you're wrong on thinking it was bad for the company.

 

[BGH122]

It might have been first cracked in 24 hours but it took them like 2-3 months to finally crack the whole game. As they where stuck on the first or second level with the first crack.

No, that was Assassin's Creed, their first attempt at cracking this system. It was Monster Hunter (or whatever it's called) that was fully cracked within 24 hours.

But you guys might just be in the minority and where most buyers didn't actually have problem with the game.

You guys can still hate the DRM and the company as much as possible but there could be this where you're wrong on thinking it was bad for the company.

It's certainly a possibility, but the majority of forum members over here and at ArsTechnia are all saying that they avoid and/or boycott companies that do this. It's possible that gamers who don't visit forums don't really know what's going on, but I can't imagine they're going to be too happy with the company the first time their internet connection dropping kills their game.

 

[Farotsu]

With this going along with how horribly the Uplay turned out, Ubisoft really needs to rethink their approach to everything they do. This road they are currently on is just leading them nowhere and I'd be really sad to see them go. They used to be one of my favorite publishers.

 

[Slanzinger]

The Escapist appears full of loonies today. First the guy from Microsoft claiming Facebook was a console, and now this.

"Yeah guys, the DRM system that we left out of one of our biggest games of the last year due to negative backlash is totally a success"
...Idiots. (Then again, Ubi and DRM have always been fun times... Remember Prince of Persia: Two Thrones, which used the Starforce system; rumoured to completely brick certain DVD drives in PCs?)

 

[bushwhacker2k]

I find it hard to believe something that would piss off players en masse could ever really be labeled a success... but on the other hand, gamers in general have no shame, they pre-order games, they buy products that they have problems with, they don't boycott things which need to be boycotted, etc.

Oh, I see. Just basing success on stopping pirates. I guess stopping non pirates without online is unimportant.

This pretty much covers it, right? I have yet to hear of DRM that doesn't sound inconvenient for regular players.

 

[danintexas]

If by making sure I never buy another UBI game is a success - even though I love the AC series

Well I guess it was a success UBI.

UBI + EA = two companies that will not be getting my cash again. Shame too. Specially with EA - I have bought their products since my old C64 days back in the mid/early 80s

 

[Rawne1980]

The problem is it hasn't stopped the pirates.

The games that they are claiming a "success" on have all been pirated. It's just a case of getting around the DRM, it's more difficult to pirate but not impossible.

The only people it's hurting is the legitimate buyer that either doesn't have an internet connection or doesn't have full time access to one.

 

[Spyre2000]

They have succeed... in reducing sales!!

Long time Settlers fan but I refuse to buy Settlers 7 with this DRM. Also liked AC but not getting the sequels because of DRM. In fact not buying any more Ubisoft products.