Today’s article, I’m afraid, is a little different. I had hoped to be bringing you a new Mass Effect post, but something got in the way. Just minutes ago I looked at my twitter feed and came across this PC Gamer piece, breaking the news about Ubisoft’s new DRM. That effort will have to be postponed, this isn’t the kind of piece I usually write, and I’m going to have to put my pretty screenshots away for a second, but this is the most important thing happening in PC Gaming right now, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t cover it.
For those of you that didn’t read the article, here, in plainest possible terms, is the situation. A little while ago Ubisoft announced that all their new games would use an online link up system, describing something similar to Steam when asked for details. A lot of people started to get alarmed at the time, but I personally advocated caution, after all, we all put up with Steam (a system which often gets off rather easily in the DRM rant wars) and while there was no guarantee that this system would be as good, it was also entirely possible it might be fine. Well, people got their hands on the review code for Assassin’s Creed 2 recently, and it seems that the doomsayers were not only right, they didn’t know the half of it.
The bald facts are these. If you attempt to launch an Ubisoft game without an internet connection, you will get an error message and the game will not start. If your internet disconnects (or their servers go down) while you are playing an Ubisoft game you will get an error message and be forced back to the menu screen, your progress will not be saved.
I’ve never been put off from buying a game because of DRM, I thought the furore over activation limits was a little overdone, I always figured that by the time I needed to install it on a new PC I’d be able to crack it or something. I don’t like Games For Windows Live one bit, it’s fiddly, it’s poorly made and it breaks often, but I’ve never not bought a game because of it, but this is too far.
My internet connection is largely pretty good, I could probably complete even a big game like Assassin’s Creed without much trouble, assuming Ubisoft’s servers are up to the task and the software doesn’t malfunction (which GFWL has shown me is not the safest of assumptions) nevertheless I simply cannot bring myself to go through with this. There has been a lot of talk during previous DRM controversies about not owning the game you paid for, I never felt like this was the case, I just felt that it might have a few kinks I’d inevitably have to fix over the years, this however, has made the game feel like it is no longer mine.
I don’t morally agree with Piracy, but nor can I ignore the fact that for those who do not have this problem, piracy offers a far better service than retail in this case. While previously it may have made the game less annoying, now it makes it playable for some who could not play it at all before.
I’m no good at outraged ranting, I’ll leave that the comments, but this scheme cannot be sustainable, whilst previous DRM outrage was confined to the gaming community, this is something that will clearly render a fair section of casual gamers unable to play the games they purchase. The line has been crossed, and if it does not stop here, then who knows how much further they can go?
Editors Note:
In light of this, Gaming Daily is regretfully joining the inevitable boycott on Ubisoft products, as outlined in the below comments. Pc gaming should be treated with far more respect than what Ubisoft is now giving it.
This is a stupid, stupid idea. The stupidest, even. There’s not much more to say, besides hopefully consumer backlash will be swift and brutal.
Jesus H. Christ.
Yeah, when I saw the twitter buzz…oh man. Just. Holy crap.
This plan is going to fail so hard…
I wonder if there’s an association or board for PC gamers? Advocates? You know, people who the developers and publishers will LISTEN to?
Here’s hoping that Ubisoft ends this crap. This is ridiculous. I fear for Beyond Good and Evil 2.
I’m actually in the PC Gamer office this week, but I had my head down reiewing something this afternoons when Tom penned his blog piece on Ubisoft’s remarkable new DRM system. It’s a good piece, giving you the (bad) news straight away in clear terms, and then giving you the reasons why it’s such a godawful idea without resorting to the frothing polemic I’m working quite hard to contain.
It’s so terribly disappointing. I find it hard to believe that the paranoia surrounding piracy has grown to the extent that a publisher as large and experienced as Ubisoft actually consider this system to be a valid solution. Piracy is, of course, a very real and serious issue. It costs developers and publishers an awful lot of money and it’s only natural that they look for a technological remedy. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that time the DRM requirements are unnaceptable.
There was a dramatic outcry when Ubisoft initially announced these plans a couple of months ago. I can only assume that they dismissed this outrage as the babbling of overactive forumites, rather than the genuine anger of paying customers. If that was their assumption then the next few months should prove to be an unpleasant surprise.
What’s new about this system, the thing that makes it such a spectacularly bad idea, is that it’s so intrusive that it has a direct affect on your ability to play the game. Being arbitrarily thrown out of a single player experience because your wireless connection has flaked out (as they so often do), is an effect akin to that of a severe bug. The game is essentially crashing for reasons outside of your control. The only difference is that in this instance it’s thanks to a system the Publisher has intentionally implemented.
I feel sorry for the honest customers who purchase Ubisoft products, but I almost feel worse for developers who will be working so hard on a game destined to be marred with this horrible piece of software. I can only hope that we’ll see a U turn on this in the wake of consumer pressure.
I was going to post about this myself, but I’ll just shove what I have to add here:
I, for one, will not stand for PC Gaming to be treated the way Ubisoft is treating it. If they think for one second that I will support their company in any way until this is rectified: they are sadly mistaken.
It’s with great dissapointment that I announce this, but I feel I have to for the sake of standing up for that one thing we all love and want to preserve – pc gaming. Gaming Daily is officially boycotting Ubisoft and it’s products until this DRM fiasco is lifted. We will not review or discuss any of their games, or the company (outside of this comment thread) – they are blacklisted.
Of course though I only speak for gaming daily as a site and myself – not for our writers. Each is free to make up their own mind if they want to play Ubi’s games or not, but I can say with absoute certainty that they wont be posting about them here.
I’m totally with you.
I just hope they lift this ridiculous piece of shit before Beyond Good and Evil 2.
If they don’t, well, fuck, I’m boycotting. Fuck off, Ubisoft. Fuck off.
Were I more unstable, vitriolic person, I would literally be planning…not so great things. How dare you put up a middle finger to your customer base? It’s already bad enough that we get the leftovers of console games, with some DRM, Steam or otherwise. I can’t care to even think about working for you, so take this as an open, angry letter.
Make sure you add my name to that letter, pal
Ugh, there is a part of me saying ‘pirate,pirate,pirate’ but the last time I gave in to the nagging I felt awful afterwords, as a result I am not prepared to do so again. :(
They knew what the backlash would be, how could they do this anway?! I am willing to put money on them coming out and saying “we made no money from AC2 on pc, therefor we are cutting back on pc development”
Pc gaming will only suffer from this. Consumers get rear-ended, pirates get the better experience and the challenge of a hack, ubisoft gets all the money from joe blogs who doesnt understand DRM. Its not like we can go to console versions either! That way they get even more money from us.
Goodbye splinter cell, silent hunter, I am alive, RUSE…
This, too.
This is freakin’ ridiculous. It’s literally a Catch 22, without someone to influence all gamers.
Situation 1: We put up with it, we submit and previous pirates buy their games. It only promotes them to continue with this madness. You want to lose your rights? This is the quickest way to do it. Console people have probably given up their souls (some of them, only some). Unlikely.
Situation 2: People buy it, but download and play the pirated version (BECAUSE IT WILL BE CRACKED YOU DOLTS), Ubisoft blames piracy, PC gamers give the message that they’re still okay with this crap, other publishers follow suit with retardedness. PC gamers lose BOTH rights and games. Somewhat likely.
Situation 3: Piracy. We know how this will turn out. Fairly likely.
Situation 4: Ubisoft takes down some of the restrictions, but the DRM stays in place, the uninformed public and backlash dies out. Shit, it’ll be terrible, both for games and rights. Somewhat likely.
Situation 5: Boycott works. Ubisoft reverts to previous activation/Steam style DRM. Much better, but nonetheless, DRM still exists, especially redundant in some places (hello Steam). We must still fight the good fight, as our rights are still being trampled on by jackasses who want several more imagined pennies (yes, imagined, because DRM costs development time and money).
I think I’m going to diagram this out better, especially with a timeline.
“Its not like we can go to console versions either! That way they get even more money from us.”
There’s a simple solution to that at least, console games you can buy used. Perfectly legal, yet Ubisoft don’t get a penny. Unlike EA they haven’t taken any steps against used sales either.
Or rent, as well. Pretty much the same thing.
Well noticed, shame for me that I left my 360 at home when I came to uni. :(
http://drugcrazed.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/oh-dear-oh-dear/ is my view. /shameless plug
I’ve never been one for boycotting, but I have a feeling I will be joining a boycott. I can’t believe that they think this viable.
Okay, my question is, how do they think this is viable? When I pirate things, I’m always online anyway. Never stopped me before. This almost sounds like a ploy to shove cloud computing down everybody’s throats with all the grace and subtlety of a jackhammer homicide.
I have bought many Ubisoft titles over the years. In fact I have never had a problem with buying my games. Sure there have been a few that were too easy to complete, a day or two, but that didnt put me off from buying… Price went up from $20 to $40, no problem. Price goes up to $50/$60, I started buying and playing fewer games. Even skipping some of the most hyped games and waiting a year or two till they were on the discount racks. Ubisoft still got my money.
I travel a lot for work and many times I am sitting in my travel trailer in the middle of no where, not even cell service, and I fire up my laptop and play a game to kill some dead time. This new DRM means I wont be able to play any new games…
If I wont be able to play them how and when I want, then I wont waste money buying them. Congrats Ubisoft, for making your business model so infuriating that you are loosing a customer that was loyal and buying multiple titles (sometimes 5 or more in a year) over the past 10 years.
I speak for myself and thousands of others that are too afraid of what this might lead to. I was a huge fan of Ubisoft. No doubt!
They release great titles and there was nothing bad one could say about them. But this…. BUT THIS!!!!! Ubisoft, are you nuts?! How the hell could you do this to your fans??? Are you seriously thinking that you will get the support from them after what you have done here???
No, you will not!!! There are those that don’t give a shit about this DRM and then there are those that do! This is bullsh*t! If you think that this can continue, you are wrong! This is not a way to treat your fans!
You are just going to be another company that is going to fade into the darkness, and you will go down in the history books as being the worse company in the world to produce games. You truly and unconditionally EFFED your fans over, and there is nothing else that is going to fix this unless you get this stupid-piece of crap DRM lifted!
This is not the way to treat the people that put the bread in your mouth! Where the hell do you think your wages and flashy cars come from?? They come from the titles that we buy!! We are supporting you and your families. WE ARE – THE GAMERS OF THE WORLD!!!
Why didn’t you do this to the Xbox 360???!! There are millions of pirated machines out there with pirated versions of Assassin’s Creed 2! Why no DRM there, huh??!! Just remember one thing, UBISOFT, us PC GAMERS are the ones that gave birth to games. There were no XBOX 360 and PS3 before. There WERE ONLY us!
We made you to what you are!!!! We did!!
PC gamers, Xbox 360 gamers, PS3 gamers, we have to stand together! We are all into our games!!!! We are giving them our money– for what?? so that they can control us and our product?! We have to show them that we will not stand for this! Don’t buy their titles! They want to teach pirates a lesson. AH! Pirates are having a field day with this DRM. The same poeple that wrote that DRM for you, Ubisoft, are the same people that will crack it!
Rest In Peace Ubisoft, because without your fan base, you will vanish!
I wish I had read this before I pre-ordered. I bought a big pc to run this game (I bought and never managed to run IV!) but a three 2.7g core processor with 3gigs of memory and 1.5g of processor cache couldnt handle the opening scene! A 1g plug in video card fixed it but this game has now cost more than my ps3 and ds combined…
I noticed the rudder didnt work (well, it does cancel the current course, but only puts 1 degree of rudder on…1 degree!)
I also failed to man the big gun and couldnt get anyone else to (except on one occasions when I saw someone manning the gun immediatly after surfacing from periscope depth..sorry guys…
Also when you open the hatch on surfacing (and ps3s do ladders better than pcs) the crew are already up top waiting for you (weird) BUT if you are up top you cannot order periscope depth until you yourself have gone below..(but you dont have to shut the door)
The DRM is a pain – although there cant be many laptops that will run this monstrous game anyway – and the box specifically tells you that even if the right card is fitted they ‘wont support it’
I have now got the display on a 1080p tv in hi res = with lines down the side and a tiny bit missing from the bottom making speed changes a keyboard only thing.
The manual is beatifully made (I bought the collectors edition) but actually difficult to open fully because of the spine – and doesnt tell you how to do stuff)
Version 5? Really?
I suppose I should figure out how to get 1.1.5 now its been mentioned – Im lagging with 1.1 (why doesnt the DRM at LEAST keep the ruddy thing up to date?)
Hmm, seems like a good offer but are there any kittens involved?