Ubisoft's DRM Servers Attacked Again
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
The best part is that, as you recall, Ubisoft pretty much stood by their ground by getting one of their myriad Price of Persia games to have no DRM.
So when it's out and Ubisoft says 'See! This game with no DRM was more pirated than AC2!' we'll be able to say 'Yeah, but both legitimate costumers and pirates are playing it. In AC2, only pirates were playing it.'
So when it's out and Ubisoft says 'See! This game with no DRM was more pirated than AC2!' we'll be able to say 'Yeah, but both legitimate costumers and pirates are playing it. In AC2, only pirates were playing it.'
So, here are the terms:
M = Estimated gross revenue from sales of non-defective product (no copy-protection)
M' = Actual gross revenue from sales of defective product (copy-protected)
Ubisoft "management" has doubtless quaffed enough Kool-Aid to believe that M' > M.
Now, two more variables:
CP = Gross cost of copy protection suite (almost certainly not developed in-house, probably licensed from Macrovision), including normal ongoing server operation
CP' = Additional copy protection server maintenance costs from alleged "attack".
Now then, make the accountants dig out the above numbers at the next shareholders meeting and see if the following expression is true:
M' - CP - CP' > M
My guess: [em]Extremely[/em] not true.
M = Estimated gross revenue from sales of non-defective product (no copy-protection)
M' = Actual gross revenue from sales of defective product (copy-protected)
Ubisoft "management" has doubtless quaffed enough Kool-Aid to believe that M' > M.
Now, two more variables:
CP = Gross cost of copy protection suite (almost certainly not developed in-house, probably licensed from Macrovision), including normal ongoing server operation
CP' = Additional copy protection server maintenance costs from alleged "attack".
Now then, make the accountants dig out the above numbers at the next shareholders meeting and see if the following expression is true:
M' - CP - CP' > M
My guess: [em]Extremely[/em] not true.
Assuming attacks, and I have every reason to believe it is given the responses in this thread and across the internet, this is one of the most counter-intuitive protests ever.
So since this is most likely an attack on Ubisoft servers, who exactly should I be blaming here? You can go on and on and on about how "Ubi should have expected this" but that doesn't matter at all. It is not Ubisoft that is stopping people from playing their games.
So since this is most likely an attack on Ubisoft servers, who exactly should I be blaming here? You can go on and on and on about how "Ubi should have expected this" but that doesn't matter at all. It is not Ubisoft that is stopping people from playing their games.
I was looking on that post, and people are supporting Ubi! How? How in the flying fuck can they support this DRM that has failed within a fucking week. And then claim anyone who is against the DRM and complaining about it a pirate, what the fuck is wrong with people?PhunkyPhazon said:
As others have pointed out we only have the word of Ubisoft's PR department that they are under "attack." Companies are notorious for lying their asses off about their own failures. I find it far more likely that Ubi's DRM system simply sucks balls and can't handle the stress due to being badly designed and poorly implemented.
It looks better for them (and has less chance of triggering class action lawsuits) if they claim the failures are the results of mysterious attacks from evil conglomerates of capitalism-hating uberpirates than their own incompetence.
It looks better for them (and has less chance of triggering class action lawsuits) if they claim the failures are the results of mysterious attacks from evil conglomerates of capitalism-hating uberpirates than their own incompetence.
Ubi Exec: Another DOS attack? What did we do to deserve this?
Ubi Tech: It could be that the DRM has caused some negative feelings, maybe we should patch it out?
Ubi Exec: No that wont be needed, people are usually connected to the internet, so they wont mind.
Ubi Tech: It could be that the DRM has caused some negative feelings, maybe we should patch it out?
Ubi Exec: No that wont be needed, people are usually connected to the internet, so they wont mind.
I got a 3 day ban for mentioning that I hacked my 360 while never mentioning that I actually pirated anything. So if I were you, I'd just remove that post mentioning cracking.Bretty said:
And why the hell is my new avatar not displaying the .gif properly?
Man, Ubisoft is has lost so much credibility just in the last 24hours its amazing. I'd laugh if some of the employees at Ubisoft are dragging their feet on fixing the problem because they too don't think the DRM is viable. Also, I hope this keeps happening, and that not just Ubisoft learns a lesson but the industry as a whole. Don't F*** with the people that pay you money.
With you all the way until that last sentence - the notion that 10% of your player base would suddenly become pirates because the DRM was scaled back is just silly!Matt_LRR said:
But seriously, scaling back DRM would have no negative impact on the legitimate player base, as they're the folks who bought your game now, DRM and all. If anything, removing this particularly loathsome DRM from Assassin's Creed 2 would drive up the player base by a fair bit, as there are a lot of pissed off nerds who didn't buy the game on principle once the DRM came to light.
Releasing a title with no protection at all may indeed see a higher rate of piracy, but the number of people pirating your game is pretty much irrelevant, as an exponential increase in piracy rates would still not impact the revenue stream from legitimate sales - unless of course you're seeing an increase in piracy because you've designed a system so onerous it makes customers who would otherwise happily pay you want to pirate it out of spite (piracy not traditionally coming at the expense of real sales so much as in addition to them).
Which is pretty much exactly what Ubisoft did. There aren't words for just how badly they need to remove it and never try to implement it again - the most nightmarish scenario one can reasonably envision with no DRM couldn't possibly be worse than the one they're already in, and really, ignoring pirates and using the money you'd throw away on DRM technology is the best approach to 'combating' piracy anyways. Things can only improve if they just admit they made a mistake and fix it.
I'm tempted to torrent AS2 when the crack's all working just to see what Ubi thought was so important that they should do their very best to alienate PC gamers in order to protect.
I mean, if they've gone to these lengths, it must be awesome, right? Game of the year? Game of the decade, all the effort they've put in to protecting it. Though if I'm going to have a look at it, there's no way I'm going to put up with that system!
I mean, if they've gone to these lengths, it must be awesome, right? Game of the year? Game of the decade, all the effort they've put in to protecting it. Though if I'm going to have a look at it, there's no way I'm going to put up with that system!
Game developers will copy protect their crap games just as soon as they will protect a good game. The whole needing a connection to play single player is bogus, and I hope the folks behind this move against ubisoft keep it up as long as possible.
Man, Ubisoft could be doing so much more to screw thier customers in style.
Why don't they implement a device that sets peoples' PCs on fire if they install the game? That way the paying customer definitely won't pirate the game they already payed for!
It'll also stop them pirating any other Ubi games in the future because they'll have no fucking PC!
Or why don't they send out a virus with every copy that shuts down the entire Internet? NO Internet means no pirates! Yay!
If they hate their customers this much, they should find better ways of expressing it, this DRM thing is awfully quaint.
Why don't they implement a device that sets peoples' PCs on fire if they install the game? That way the paying customer definitely won't pirate the game they already payed for!
It'll also stop them pirating any other Ubi games in the future because they'll have no fucking PC!
Or why don't they send out a virus with every copy that shuts down the entire Internet? NO Internet means no pirates! Yay!
If they hate their customers this much, they should find better ways of expressing it, this DRM thing is awfully quaint.
To echo the posts above mine: LOL@Ubi
Also, dear Ubi: if your servers get attacked repeatedly, you've clearly pissed off a good chunk of your customers, as the sort of nerds to do that sort of thing can usually never be arsed to get off their presumably fat asses for anything other than grabbing more Red Bull or Cheetos.
Anyway, Ubi absolutely deserved that, and more. There is no excuse for providing an inferior copy than a pirated one
Also, dear Ubi: if your servers get attacked repeatedly, you've clearly pissed off a good chunk of your customers, as the sort of nerds to do that sort of thing can usually never be arsed to get off their presumably fat asses for anything other than grabbing more Red Bull or Cheetos.
Anyway, Ubi absolutely deserved that, and more. There is no excuse for providing an inferior copy than a pirated one
