PC games affected include Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6 and The Settlers 7. Mac games similarly going all busted will be Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell Conviction and The Settlers.
Those games above will be completely inaccessible while the move takes place. Worryingly, there’s no ETA on how long the move will take place.
In addition, the multiplayer components of many Ubisoft games, both on PC and console, will be “impacted” as well.
Assassin’s Creed, Might and Magic, Settlers unplayable during Ubisoft server switch [Eurogamer]
Raazel
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:20 PMWhat a cluster ****!
wheres_
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 4:12 PMGuess im gonna have to pirate shit I already own AGAIN.
Mitch Bus
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:28 PMScrew you, Ubisoft.
Marathon
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:29 PMUm, then send out a patch to disable DRM for a short period while you move the servers around. Don’t punish your customers for internal company changes. I thought that would be basic business sense.
Zparks
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:38 PM^ This. That said this is also why I lothe DRM.
Aliasalpha
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:49 PMWhy would they bother? They’ve already got your money and for every person that swears of their games because of this shit, there’s another sucker who buys without researching
Ash
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:04 PMTotally agree. Or even just a DNS redirect to a server that automatically allows access to the game for the outage period.
So… in the EULA (cause we all read those things), does it say anything about the lifecycle of the games? When are we expecting to see the point where Ubisoft turn around and say “Well shucks, it’s been fun guys but we’re retiring DRM services for the following games: x, y & z.” as per recent MMRPG fatalities? Is public expectation that they remove protection enough to get distributors to do so?
jimbo
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:36 PMWhy I dont buy Ubisoft games anymore. their restrictive drm
AussieSniper
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:39 PMPeople still play Ubisoft games?
Pioneer
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8:06 PMThis. This right here.
Thrade
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 12:10 AMIndeed.
I’ve stopped playing Ubisoft games. Which in some ways is sad, because back in the day I loved HOMM3, and wasn’t entirely upset by AC1 … but something drastic would have to happen for them to get any money from me after what they’ve been doing.
And to all of the rest of you also boycotting them, you aren’t going to be affected by this! Kinda gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Those of you not yet boycotting are welcome to join us.
Ty
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 3:14 AMI haven’t bought one since Assassin’s Creed 2. The market is flooded with AAA titles, I need a good reason to go out of the way to buy more games. Ubisoft cut themselves off the list, sadly, even though they’ve got some talented teams.
David
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:41 PMAhh, remember the good old days, when you bought a game, and then you played it? Pretty sure piracy was rampant back then too.
rantOclock
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:47 PMI bet those pirates sure feel silly now.
Aliasalpha
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:50 PMYeah I mean if legitimate customers are going through this crap, imagine how bad gthe pirates have it
Because this DRM system DEFINITELY works, doesn’t it ubi?
Joshy206
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6:54 PMWow. This is just… wow.
Pariah
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:10 PMTime to get cracking then.
somedude
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:11 PMso, just don’t play those games during that time. big whoop.
Snacuum
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:00 PMSeriously? So we should only use the legitimate functions of things we own when other people tell us it’s ok?
somedude
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 1:32 AMHey, man, I just don’t think that it’s a super big deal or anything. Just look at any of the comments in any ubisoft related article. They’re always along the lines of “screw ubisoft”, “I don’t buy ubisoft games”. Personally I like Ubisoft but hey, they can’t please anyone else apparently.
to me it seems that people just hate on ubisoft for the sole reason of “because ubisoft”.
PiratePete1911
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 1:57 PMIts not that the service is down that’s the issue.
Would you think Sony was an OK company if they came round to your house and took away your PS3 for a week which is working fine, just because they were doing some work in their data center?
somedude
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2:29 PMOf course I’d have a problem with that, but I think the two situations are completely different. Preventing the playability of some games doesn’t render your Pc or console useless- you can still play other games and complain about ubisoft.
Allanon10101
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:14 PMYet another reason for me to wish I’d pirated AC:R rather than bought it legit
Stephen
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:17 PMMaster race my ass, suck it PC gamers.
Pariah
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:58 PMIf you read the last part, multiplayer on the console versions will be impacted too.
somedude
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8:16 PMsigleplayer however, will not be all complicated all up in that grill.
Pariah
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:02 PMWhat? Try speaking English.
somedude
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 1:26 AMonconles the singleplayer version/ part of games will not be taken down or interrupted due to the server stuff that uni are doing.
somedude
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2:00 AMon consoles
Chazz
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2:54 AMOn consoles you won’t be able to surf the net or handle any and every audio and video format nor will you be able to play thousands upon thousands of games or do multiple tasks all at once. All from the comfort of wherever you want; like at a desk or on a couch or in bed or on a plane.
It really sucks being a PC person.
somedude
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2:33 PMIf you get all that, I don’t see why you all complain about a very little inconvenience, personally I have both and as PC is very basic I prefer playing on my PS3.
Pariah
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2:52 PMIt’s not that it’s a minor inconvenience, it’s that it shouldn’t be this way.
Ubisoft has some of the worst (if not The worst) DRM scheme in video game history. Nobody else is stupid enough to limit their legitimate customers to staying connected to their servers for the entire time they play one of their games, knowing full well pirates have no problems with it whatsoever.
El Kapitan
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 9:00 AMExcept Blizzard, Bioware…
Don’t get me wrong, I hate Ubi too, but don’t blow it out of proportion here. What they’re doing here isn’t unique at all…
Chazz
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 12:54 AMThat’s okay. We’ll enjoy the game library that surpasses all consoles combined along with the access to mods for those games, better graphics for games and being able to do everything a console can plus so so so so so much more. Hell we can even get SP on these Ubi games with minimal effort whilst we watch a movie and browse the web. How’s your console multitasking going for you?
PS Have fun with your aim assist. :)
Master Race signing out.
link
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 4:22 PMPC FTW!!! i’ve got PS3 and xbox 360 on an hdmi switch to my monitor meaning i get the best of both worlds.
pressplayontape
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:31 PMThis is why i didn’t buy splinter cell conviction when it was on sale at OGS recently.
Toasty Fresh
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:37 PMTake away Ubisoft’s big franchises and they’re nothing but dirt.
Absolutely pathetic.
james
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:38 PMoh no i cant play a game for a week, however will i go on… curse you Ubisoft, my life is over!
PiratePete1911
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2:00 PMIt will be different if Ubisoft goes bankrupt or just decides they have had enough of supporting that game.
Then you can sarcastically say, Oh no I cant play my single-player game that I bought ever again.
Thermal Ions
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 7:57 PMWhat, they’ve never heard of getting the new server set up and then switching over with minimal downtime? Sure they may have to temporarily disable new registrations for half an hour while the latest database changes have replicated and been verified, but this just sounds lazy.
Mr Waffle
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8:05 PMlol. Just lol.
weresmurf
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8:10 PMYou know who’s not affected…
Pirates.
Know who is?
Legitimate users..
Piracy ftw I guess.
bjg
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8:52 PMthank god and coders for cracks.
Pariah
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:02 PMFor Ubisoft’s games, this.
[Razor]
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:03 PMPiracy wins again. I swear Ubisoft are really incompetent sometimes.
Pariah
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 2:53 PM“Our games are good, but our DRM sucks ass”
Should be the slogan.
Robbo2332
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:06 PMThis is what happens when corporations treat customers like criminals. It is only the paying customer that is affected by DRM, doesn’t worry the pirates at all.
tg674
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:33 PMOh but going completly digital is the way of the future, yeah right.
p tear griffin
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 9:43 PMthats wy consoles are good ps3 ftw
PiratePete1911
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:12 PMIf only there was some way to make PCs function without connection to the internet like a console can.
Its totally not a software issue at all.
Dancemachine55
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 10:40 PMI only buy Ubisoft games on consoles. The company’s treatment of PC gamers with some of the most restrictive DRM is almost criminal.
No wonder people prefer to pirate their games and play the single player offline. Like Gabe Newell from Valve said, people want a cheap and simple way to start up their game and play, and next to piracy, Gabe wants Steam to be that simple and effective service.
My respect for that man sky-rocketed upon hearing that.
As for single player being down because of online activation??? WTF??!?!?! Seriously, Ubisoft, stop with the DRM!!! It’s killing your business, not saving it!!!
Dancemachine55
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 10:43 PMJust want to add, if I ever want to buy a Ubisoft game on PC instead of console, I will pirate it. I will BUY a copy, yes, BUY a copy, of a PC Ubi game when they take away all that freakin DRM online activation crap!!!
Ben
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:37 PMAs a counter to mass histeria, I know at least brotherhood has the ability to run an offline mode. And while the downtime is bad, you may still be able to play some ubisoft games.