Ubisoft's new PC DRM set up kicks you out of game if internet is not on

Posted Feb 17th 2010 6:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Action, Strategy, Assassin's Creed 2

When publisher Ubisoft announced that their future PC games would have a new DRM set up we though it might have some potiential. Ubisoft said their set up would allow people to install their PC games on as many PCs as you wanted and that with their Ubi.com account sign-ups would eliminate the need for owning a CD disk of the game. Well, now we know the ugly truth and it really is bad news for PC gamers hoping to buy future Ubisoft products.

As reported on the UK PC Gamer web site, they have found that while testing review copies of the PC port of Assassin's Creed 2 they got kicked out of playing the game whenever they happen to lose their internet connection. Not only that, but they report, "All your progress since the last checkpoint or savegame is lost, and your only options are to quit to Windows or wait until you're reconnected."

This is, quite frankly, an affront to PC gaming consumers. Having a single player game like Assassin's Creed 2 have this kind of set-up just doesn't give off the right kind of vibe. This kind of DRM also cuts off people from playing a game like this if Ubisoft's servers go down. We hope to get a response from Ubisoft to see if they would at least allow single player games to be free of this requirement.

Tags: assassins-creed-2, The-Settlers-7-Paths-to-a-Kingdom, ubisoft, ubisoft-drm

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

It's like they WANT people to pirate their games.Posted at 6:27PM on Feb 17th 2010 by asfm

It's like they WANT people to pirate their games. [2]

Since i Learned that the next settlers would come with something like this i just don't care about the game anymore. Well, guess what , now i just don't care about any game that has ubisoft on it, until i hear some news on the matter..Posted at 6:54PM on Feb 17th 2010 by jonnyd

I don't see anything really wrong with this, they are just trying to protect they're product from the probability (or inevitability) of getting pirated.
They way to stop game developers to stop discriminating against PC gamers is to chill out with the PIRATING!! Posted at 6:51PM on Feb 17th 2010 by Yoshimatsu414

We'll they might be trying to protect the game, but either they're failing completelly or they are trying to protect the game from being brought.

I see several problems with approach...
i'm forced to pay a service that has nothing to do with the game.

if my internet provider / my telephone/cable provider or my networking equipment for once fail, i will have my game disrupted.

I can't play the game when i'm offline , on a trip, at a restricted network or in the goddarn amazon forest, its my fridging problem where i go.

now if that's not enought, i hope suffice to say, IT'S GOING TO FAIL, adobe has tried this and didn't work. and worst, it will most likely turn some costumers away
Posted at 7:38PM on Feb 17th 2010 by jonathan

@Yoshimatsu414
yes, but everyone knows that it DEFINITELY will be cracked really quickly.

what they're doing here is screwing over the people actually buying the game, because what if you lose your connection, or your router is broken, or your ISP is going through problems, or you want to play on the go (laptop) where there is no wi-fi?

on the other hand, the people pirating the game will be able to play offline, without DRM installed on their computers and slowing it down + adding more clutter to their hard drives.

you tell me, which sounds better?Posted at 7:54PM on Feb 17th 2010 by jimmy

You could still purchase the game AND download the crack to bypass this DRM and play with a clean conscience.Posted at 8:26PM on Feb 17th 2010 by Spallit

So basically you either pirate it or get it on Steam.Posted at 11:26PM on Feb 17th 2010 by CL4P-TP (Interplanetary Ninja assassin)

Damnit, Ubisoft, what are you doing? Steam already exists, stop trying to do your own thing. It's going to crash and burn and only encourage more pirates to crack your code.

Your only option is to tough it out. There will be pirates no matter what... how bout thinking of other ways to attract people buying a PC version of your game? I don't know... maybe free DLC/other games in the form of a code you get when buying it?Posted at 11:38PM on Feb 17th 2010 by ZaxCG2

I'm sorry Spallit but your logic is completely wrong. Buying a DRM'd game then pirating only enforces the worst parts of both actions. Buying a game that has DRM like this gives companies like Ubi the green light to continue screwing their customers with heavy handed DRM. The only signal that sends is that the consumer doesn't mind the DRM as they paid for it anyway. And then going out and pirating the game ups the torrent count even more giving these companies the impression that DRM is indeed necessary or worse that PC gaming isn't worth it in the first place. Buying then pirating game doesn't give you a clean conscious, it's actually the worst course of action. The only solution I see is to not buy or download the game at all then send a letter (letter, not e-mail) to Ubisoft explaining why. And yeah, that means not getting to play AC2 but those are the breaks.

...bysmittyPosted at 7:59AM on Feb 18th 2010 by bysmitty

Why are companies so stupid? I honestly just don't get it. Why would you want to make your game more difficult to play ONLY for paying customers?

Pirates will strip out this DRM and have a better experience than paying customers. Oh, and they also get the game for free. If Ubisoft is making piracy the better option then they have no right to complain about piracy.

They need to wake up and realize that rewarding paying customers is what they should be doing, not screwing them over.Posted at 7:37PM on Feb 18th 2010 by sorensilk

For the people blaming the pirates,

75% of pirates are one of two things:

1. Under 18 and unemployed/underemployed and without rich parents

2. In a third world country where 50 dollars is the entirety of a month's pay. I.E. China.

As a 21 year old, I can tell you that I knew plenty of friends that pirated before I was 18. As soon as I hit that age though, even amongst my college friends, piracy is very rare.

Saying "If you stop pirating they'll stop screwing you" Is ridiculous logic. It's like saying "If you become muslim in a very specific way, you'll both be legal and most likely won't be killed by your own government in a middle eastern country."

I'm sorry, but the logical thing to do is to pirate the games that use this copy protection to avoid being denied access to your money in the future. The smart thing to do is to not buy games from companies that make titles not tailored to drooling idiots with a desire for violence. ( Console gamers ) and try to find a company that respects both the intelligence of its consumers, and the integrity of its customers.

Pirates do not ever have to reinstall a game, they can put it on a flash drive and play it on any computer. Pirates do not pay money for their games. Pirates can play offline. Pirates can play multiplayer with each other.

Consumers have to reinstall each game if they reformat. They cannot play their games portably. They have a very real likelihood of losing access to their game when they update operating systems until the company patches it. They will soon have to have an internet connection. They can play multiplayer with each other, the same as pirates.

These companies are making it logical to pirate. It is ridiculous. I've taken up CGI modeling in blender 3D using all non pirated software, as I cannot force myself to both do something stupid and throw money out the window, and I cannot force myself to steal.

My gaming hobby is dead. Thank you Ubisoft, I hope you rot in hell.Posted at 3:56PM on Feb 24th 2010 by Wolvenmoon