Last week it was discovered Ubisoft is launching one of the most draconian Digital Rights Management systems yet seen for the PC. Given the demands of constant live connectivity throughout even solo play, we queried Ubisoft on how they are aiming to ensure Australians aren’t going to be really stung if living with less than stellar broadband. Here’s what they had to say.
In what is very much a ‘bad news’ situation, the closest thing to good news Ubisoft had to offer is that the system will have “worldwide coverage including Australia.” The system was created with consideration to “sometimes unreliable Internet connections” in various parts of the world, and we have been told specific testing has been done in Australia and they feel the system works fine.
An interesting technical point is that the maximum bandwidth required for the system will be 50kbit/s. Fine for those with any sort of reliable broadband connection. Definitely out of the question should you be stuck on dial-up which is somewhat unimaginable for someone interested in playing a spanking new copy of AC2 on a recent spec PC?
The official line on what happens in the event of lost connectivity is that the game will pause and automatically try to reconnect once your connection is restored. However, with Assassin’s Creed II this will actually drop you back to your previous checkpoint. For Settlers 7, the game will pause at current state and continue from that point when you resume.
Words still fail to describe how hard this DRM concept punches devoted PC gamers in the throat.
This is Ubisoft’s ultimate gambit in the war on PC piracy. What is the ultimate aim? To sure up the security of their PC titles? Or perhaps to drive console-owning PC gamers over to the couch for good?
Remember, just last year Ubisoft released Prince of Persia for PC completely DRM free. We asked whether this latest DRM move was a response to a severe case of piracy around that title, but Ubisoft states this new platform has been in development “for some time” and it is not a direct reaction to the last Prince of Persia release.
Hamish
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 4:05 PMI guess it’s unanimous….. every single comment is against this plan. I think Ubisoft is making a terrible mistake here, if they bring this in then they’re gonna shoot themselves in the foot as no-one will buy the games. Plain and simple.
Aliasalpha
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 5:39 PMA friend and I were saying the other day that it’d be nice to force these developers to live in rural Australia for 6 months and then see how their definition of “even the slowest connection” changes
Even though I have PS3AC2, I was sort of interested to see how they implement it on pc but this permanent connection thing has killed the curiosity. Or at least I’ll wait 10-15 years until it shows up on GOG.com
Aliasalpha
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 5:51 PMThe other important consideration is that not only are there many places where you still can’t get broadband (flats with a single phone line split into several in much the same way broadband works are a notable example) but there’s the issue of caps & throttling.
Say your pervert little brother has wasted most of your monthly bandwidth downloading porn that you don’t like (probably those 2 girls and their cup). Because of this you go over your limit in the first or second week of the month and are capped which kills your single player possibilites since you no longer meet the speed requirements, you’re locked out of your single player game for 2-3 WEEKS until your limits reset and to top it all you don’t even have any good porn to entertain yourself with in the meantime.
That would induce 3 likely results, firstly you kill your brother, secondly you get pissed off with the company and not buy their stuff again, third you search for a way to prevent that situation happening again, perhaps bypassing the system entirely with some sort of download…
Maybe ubi are trying to explore temporal theory, this is like the start of a predestination paradox.
Aliasalpha
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 5:57 PMUbiExec1: “We’ve seen the future, the PC market is destroyed by piracy!”
UbiExec2: “What? Why would they pirate stuff if it will destroy the market?”
UbiExec1: “Oh there was some bullshit ‘sticking it to the man because of restrictive business practices’ excuse but they’re pirates, who cares why they do things?”
UbiExec2: “Good point! We have to stop them”
UbiExec1: “Perhaps some kind of system that puts excessive restrictions on them…”
Dave Plint
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 7:21 PMthis game will be cracked like just about every other game. the pirates will always win.
I think Ubi and other developers need to change the way they see pirates. they need to see that pirates arent the enemy. they’re the competition. the paid experience needs to be the best experience.
Brewski
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 8:58 PMAre they going to refund me my money if I return the product due to my internet connection not being stable enough to play their game? This is a hypothetical question.
What happens if I don’t have a broadband connection due to Australia’s backwater telephone network being shoddy? I may not be able to get Cable as it is not in my area? I may not be able to get ADSL as well due to my telephone line being on Pair Gain System (or too far from the telephone exchange)? and what if I am in a 3G wireless black spot or not in a coverage area? I am not going to get a satellite internet connection just to play a PC game. Unfortunately the majority of Australia’s land area is not covered by financially affordable broadband solutions.
Plus, the game will only be cracked, or some sort of work around created, within a week of its release. Not that I that I condone piracy. I have always been one to buy the product if I deemed the product worthwhile.
To be honest, it doesn’t really bother me as I don’t buy PC games any more. Too many problems getting them to run without software conflicts etc. Just get a console and be done with it. I buy about 1 PS3 or XBOX 360 game every month. I would rather buy a console game and know it works, than buy a PC game and get all excited until it installs and doesn’t run. Then to get a refund, you have to return it immediately. No point trying to get help from the companies web site when it takes days to get a response.
Half the time the game is not worth purchasing any way. Assassins Creed 1 was a waste of time. So much hype for a game, that would have had to be the most repetitive, boring game released in a long time. MAG is looking to be rubbish as well.
Yeebok Shu'in
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 9:13 PMMy birthday’s in 2 weeks. The wife asked me which one I wanted – Mass Effect 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, or Bioshock 2. Since I have the first one of each for my PC. I told her I’d prefer a case of beer due to their DRM. She asked me if I had to ring Disney each time one of the kids put one of their movies on..
Addendum : Since our wireless drops out every time the phone rings, the microwave is used, or a couple of trees lean the wrong way, from what I read here I won’t be able to play them unless I pirate them. 3 game sequels I’m looking forwards to after playing the first, and I am point blank refusing to buy them because their DRM will theoretically make the games unplayable. Way to go Ubisoft.
Benjamin Lind
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 9:56 PMGEH! Stupid, I know a lot of people, like me, who like to play PC games when they’re somewhere else on their laptop (eg at school) this is like a massive punch in the face for everyone, bye bye ubisoft, no support for you anymore
Graham
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 10:09 PMIt sounds like they dont care about the users who will be unable to access the game due to slow or unstable connections. My guess is they are fairly sure their system will be near impossible to crack and hence the number of additional sales they will pick up from those that would have previously attempted to pirate the game would far outweigh the losses from the “kids in the bush” who dont buy it as they are on dialup.
I havent read much about the DRM method but if its going to be truely unbreakable then my guess is they will likely be feeding you critical components of the game live via some sort of “on demand” system rather than just a simple check every minute to make sure you are still connected. Why else would they need a 50k a sec connection?
Hyperactive28
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 11:03 PMI seem to remember a boycott when splintercell had the worst DRM imaginable for it’s time, the one that refused to run if you had cd imaging software installed.
I don’t plan on buying this game, i was going to suggest it to friends for them to play on their PC, but i don’t think i can honestly say that it will be enjoyable, since some of them use 3g connections and those things drop out all the time.
Well done UBI, you’ve made your potential customers hate you again
Stephen Alexander
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 11:35 PMI’m very disappointed to see Ubisoft taking this utterly draconian approach to DRM. I have purchased many of their games on PC over the past decade.
Beyond Good and Evil, Splinter Cell 1-4, Rainbow Six Vegas 1 & 2, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Prince of Persia the Sands of Time Trilogy as well as the recent reboot of the series, and of course the first Assassin’s Creed. All of these games have a place on my shelf or steam account because I purchased them, knowing that it would be money well-spent.
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4688/myubigames.jpg
When Assassin’s Creed 2 hit the consoles, I contemplated simply borrowing my brother’s PS3 copy of the game, but I instead opted to wait for and buy the PC version, as I knew the graphics and overall experience would be superior on my PC. Apparently this is no longer true.
In my household, we have ADSL2, so our internet is plenty fast, however we are using a wireless network, which is frequently prone to dropouts. I have no desire to have my progress reset every time it happens, especially in a game where there is so much progress to be made, so I guess I’ll be borrowing my brother’s copy after all.
Congratulations Ubisoft, you screwed yourself out of a legitimate purchase.
hristinho18
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 8:13 AMSo… we have publishers making it, lets say ‘difficult’, to play legitimate games- ostensibly in reaction to the admittedly overwhelming piracy.
We have potential buyers complaining that the DRM is too much bother and unmanageable, so they will either NOT be buying the legitimate games at all, even boycotting all DRM titles, OR will be- lets be honest- stealing them.
And we have the same publishers and non-buying public complaining that the PC games market is going to shit. It’s all very chicken-and-egg to me…
Anonymous
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 10:51 AMI wont be buying. But that’s because I didn’t like the first game either :D But if I did, I probably still wouldn’t be buying. This is just unworkable with my internet connection.
RM
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 12:41 PMHere’s a crazy question.
What happens, if – for whatever reason, that access to Ubisoft is blocked by the internet filter? There’s already talk that if there are complaints about Steam (it’s selling/advertising banned games), access to it may be blocked.
I realise blocking access to Ubisoft/Steam isn’t as simple as blocking their website, but according to a few IT guys I know, it’s possible to block the games being able to communicate back to the servers.
Rappo
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 1:46 PMWow… a lot of hate for Ubisoft around these parts.
It seems simple to me. Ubisoft have unofficially left the PC market. It will be official in six months time when they tell us all how their latest games aren’t selling very well on PC, and there is all this piracy going on. Personally I’m over it and couldn’t care less. The majority of Ubisoft’s PC games recently have either been junk or dodgy console ports.
Eruaran
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 6:57 AMThe appropriate response is very simple: Don’t buy any Ubisoft game. Unless of course you appreciate a game company that treats you, the customer, like a criminal permanently on some form of virtual parole.
mark white
Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 12:44 AMI AM TELLING YOU PEOPLE THIS…It is not PIRACY THAT IS THE RESULT OF HIGH PRICES…but just the opposite.
From the first computer before piracy was anything, prices for software were huge. They were never on the cheaper side, always the most expensive side. I remember paying $50 for games that today would be given away for free. There are only a few games I DONT REGRET BUYING, THAT beign B-17 FLYING FORTRESS 2, THE MIGHTY EIGHT, and the Subsim variants, IV being my favorite. But most were bombs.
PRICES WERE ALWAYS TO HIGH, THUS, PIRACY AS AN ORGANIZED RELIGION GREW. Piracy has not led to high prices…just the opposite.
If Ubisoft made the game $30, you would decrease piracy 100 fold.
metalisticpain
Monday, March 1, 2010 at 11:57 AMThey punish the legal purchasers with these bloated rootkits and DRM’s that make life difficult…
GameOver
Friday, March 26, 2010 at 6:26 PMWell i have extreme cable but apparently thats not good enough for Settlers 7, 48 hrs after buying the game, still have no servers to connect too.