Ubisoft Says Always-On DRM, "A Success"

[Reaper195]

This is why I like to get certain games for console. Sure, you loose out on modding and so forth, but when my router busts a tit, or our net company shuts us down for some reason, I can keep playing.


That, and considering the few games I like of Ubisoft, I like enough to buy. I also don't think that piracy has gone down; I am certain someone figured out ages ago how to bypass the need for internet.

 

[Wrds]

Its seriously just because no one bought the games. Even in my own circle of friends and list of aquaintances many people chose not to buy assassin's creed 2/brotherhood until long after they mattered, and were greatly discounted.

Ubisoft needs to get their heads on straight.

 

[FalloutJack]

unenthusiastic.

TRANSLATION: Ubisoft fails at business, marketing, and economics.

In other news: Pirates around the world dance around and shout "Yarrr!" because of the success of the new job security which Ubisoft as provided them.

 

[gunner1905]

wtf are you smoking ubisoft
yeah it's a success... for a month then the games get cracked
potential costumers are scared away and during that month your real costumers feels like they've been fucked
I love your games ubisoft but this kind of shit is just leaving a bad taste in my mouth, it's not doing your reputation any good ubisoft
stop fumigating your offices with weed ubisoft

 

[ewhac]

Ubisoft hasn't detailed exactly where it's getting its numbers regarding game piracy [ ... ] so it's hard to make any judgement calls regarding the "success" of the system, at least from a numerical standpoint.

They are pulling them out of their ass. No "study" attempting to quantify the economic impact of unsanctioned copying is credible, because you can't measure events (sales) that never happened. It is precisely analogous to asking the question, "How many times didn't you beat your wife last week?"

 

[Babitz]

I hate games with DRM so much I refuse to even pirate them. Even if I did buy a game with DRM, I would feel no guilt upon cracking it.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

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]

But, generally, if you buy a product, it is seen as rude, crass, unhelpful and irritating for you to continually prove that you've not stolen it.

Especially if this means that you are unable to use the product you've bought unless the manufacturer says so. And they make little effort to say anything.

In a nutshell: If a product is easier, cheaper and more effective to pirate - than to acquire legally - DRM is working in reverse.

Effective DRM, like Steam, provides bonuses for the constant "receipt-carrying", but it's still a trade-off. Ubisoft's insane DRM doesn't even work for legitimate customers. It's better if you pirate it - in every way.

(Note: Root does not condone piracy. Just leave them alone and play something decent like Witcher 2)

 

[somonels]

Sorry, Chahi, Ubisoft is just too...
I'll play Another World (MS-DOS) instead. $10 on GoG.com :|

 

[newwiseman]

What your failing to understand is they look at game sales like Golf. The less you make the better your doing.

 

[JackJL]

My paranoid theory: They're getting their piracy numbers from THE SAME FREAKING PEOPLE who sold them the DRM. Some executive needs a slap upside the head if they think they got more sales because of this crap.

 

[koroem]

It probably means it forces people to buy the console versions instead of dealing with epic bullshit to play a game you paid money for. Gotta love these companies that just want to destroy PC gaming and its player base. We are all thieving scumbags who deserved to be punished while playing games we paid for. Thanks ass.

Somebody should design a system that electrocutes the people who make this decision every time they look away from the people from who they bought their food, sold them their clothes, or built their house. Lets see how they like that.

 

[Archaeology Hat]

So. Are there any sales statistics relating to this? Is there a fall in sales? I certainly haven't bought the Settlers 7 because of Always-On DRM despite loving previous offerings from the franchise. Given that the majority of serious pirates aren't lost revenue as they wouldn't have bought what they pirate even if piracy was impossible I feel that it would be interesting to see how Ubisofts sales figures went.

You could take into account different outlets and consoles, indicating people choosing to avoid a draconian DRM system by simply buying a version of the product that does not have it. Would be interesting and a more accurate depiction of whether or not it was a success.

 

[Saelune]

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

 

[Apollo45]

They're probably judging by the number of people playing their game at any one time; they figure 40% (random number) of people who are playing their game have pirated it, so now that the number of people playing is down by 50% (other random number), they figure a lot of pirates have left.

What they don't realize is that the reason the number is down is because fewer people are buying the game.

You know what I want to see? an actual discussion of what this DRM means. I've seen lots of people who instantly sputter a gut reaction and condemn it immediately but that's incredibly short sighted. There are lots of issues to discuss here, not the lest of which is why people hate it so much (and don't give me that crap about you just hate DRM or your internet connection sucks there is more to it and you know it). I want to know why people keep blasting DRM and why stories keep getting put it. Its not about simply hating the thing, this is on the level of a zealot crusade and I want to know why. As far as I'm concerned though, it's never going to happen because people are just too angry to talk all they can do is yell. Ah well, maybe DRM should treat use like means spirited children, we sure act like it.

There have been plenty of reasons put out there. In various cases, it has added backdoors to a system that have been neigh impossible to get rid of short of a hard drive reformat, it has prevents people from playing the game without a stable, constant internet connection, meaning that if you ever have internet troubles you can't play a game you paid for (and internet troubles are damned common), it's made the game nearly impossible to play due to bugs and whatever else, and so on. In the end, it's likely only prevented legitimate, paying users from playing their games instead of people who pirate them, especially since pirated versions are often out the day of release.

 

[Warrior Irme]

Since Ubisoft first introduced this, I've avoided their games. They may be cutting down on piracy, but they are also cutting down on profits too.

 

[MetroidNut]

You know what I want to see? an actual discussion of what this DRM means. I've seen lots of people who instantly sputter a gut reaction and condemn it immediately but that's incredibly short sighted. There are lots of issues to discuss here, not the lest of which is why people hate it so much (and don't give me that crap about you just hate DRM or your internet connection sucks there is more to it and you know it). I want to know why people keep blasting DRM and why stories keep getting put it. Its not about simply hating the thing, this is on the level of a zealot crusade and I want to know why. As far as I'm concerned though, it's never going to happen because people are just too angry to talk all they can do is yell. Ah well, maybe DRM should treat use like means spirited children, we sure act like it.

Well, uh, if you want to encourage rational, level-headed discussion on the topic, comparing the other side of the argument to mean-spirited children probably isn't the best way to do it.

At any rate. What bothers me, personally, about this sort of DRM? First of all, it's completely ineffective. Pirates don't see always-on DRM and say to themselves, "whoa, I'd better not mess with that." No, pirates figure out how to remove/circumvent the DRM in about a week and proceed with business as usual. So Ubisoft's DRM doesn't actually affect pirates in any meaningful way. It affects only legitimate users.

Furthermore, it means that users with weak or intermittent internet connections, or even the rare user without any connection whatsoever, suffer greatly. Their games are flawed, perhaps even made unplayable, for absolutely no reason, as noted in the above paragraph. I'm not affected personally, but there's something incredibly unjust about punishing users for having poor connections. Something that, honestly, makes me - and probably a lot of other people - angry.

Lastly, always-on DRM (perhaps DRM in general) just sort of feels like a spit in the eye. As if Ubisoft is saying that it doesn't trust any of its customers, and has to keep an eye on them at all times. It's not an entirely rational feeling, but that doesn't make it any less infuriating.

 

[Sartan0]

Funny. I have not picked up any of the games that use that 'system'. I wonder why that is?

 

[Spygon]

Ubisoft HQ "The Number of Pirates has gone down on our games also the amount of people playing the game have gone down aswell weird well at least we have lowered the amount of pirates".

Ubisoft when will you learn that if your hurting your customers trying to stop pirates you can not call it a success.

 

[ajofflight]

Here's an idea; why doesn't Ubisoft label the applicable games with an "Always-On DRM" sticker? THEN we'll find out (in form of sales) just how successful this idea of theirs is.