Some Of Ubisoft’s PC Games Won’t Work Next Week. Not Even Singleplayer.

12 years ago

February 3, 2012 at 5:00 pm

Next week, Ubisoft will be moving around some of its PC authentication servers. What this means for those of you saddled with Ubisoft PC (and Mac!) games that have restrictive DRM is that, in many cases, your games won’t work while the move takes place. At all.

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]

Comments

54 responses to “Some Of Ubisoft’s PC Games Won’t Work Next Week. Not Even Singleplayer.”

READ THE COMMENTS

Raazel

February 3, 2012 at 6:20 pm

What a cluster ****!

Reply
1. wheres_
  
  February 4, 2012 at 4:12 pm
  
  Guess im gonna have to pirate shit I already own AGAIN.
  
  Reply
Mitch Bus

February 3, 2012 at 6:28 pm

Screw you, Ubisoft.

Reply
Marathon

February 3, 2012 at 6:29 pm

Um, 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.

Reply
1. Zparks
  
  February 3, 2012 at 6:38 pm
  
  ^ This. That said this is also why I lothe DRM.
  
  Reply
2. Aliasalpha
  
  February 3, 2012 at 6:49 pm
  
  Why 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
  
  Reply
3. Ash
  
  February 3, 2012 at 7:04 pm
  
  Totally 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?
  
  Reply
jimbo

February 3, 2012 at 6:36 pm

Why I dont buy Ubisoft games anymore. their restrictive drm

Reply
AussieSniper

February 3, 2012 at 6:39 pm

People still play Ubisoft games?

Reply
1. Pioneer
  
  February 3, 2012 at 8:06 pm
  
  This. This right here.
  
  Reply
  1. Thrade
    
    February 4, 2012 at 12:10 am
    
    Indeed.
    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.
    
    Reply
2. Ty
  
  February 4, 2012 at 3:14 am
  
  I 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.
  
  Reply
David

February 3, 2012 at 6:41 pm

Ahh, remember the good old days, when you bought a game, and then you played it? Pretty sure piracy was rampant back then too.

Reply
rantOclock

February 3, 2012 at 6:47 pm

I bet those pirates sure feel silly now.

Reply
1. Aliasalpha
  
  February 3, 2012 at 6:50 pm
  
  Yeah 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?
  
  Reply
Joshy206

February 3, 2012 at 6:54 pm

Wow. This is just… wow.

Reply
Pariah

February 3, 2012 at 7:10 pm

Time to get cracking then.

Reply
somedude

February 3, 2012 at 7:11 pm

so, just don’t play those games during that time. big whoop.

Reply
1. Snacuum
  
  February 3, 2012 at 11:00 pm
  
  Seriously? So we should only use the legitimate functions of things we own when other people tell us it’s ok?
  
  Reply
  1. somedude
    
    February 4, 2012 at 1:32 am
    
    Hey, 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”.
    
    Reply
    1. PiratePete1911
      
      February 4, 2012 at 1:57 pm
      
      Its 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?
      
      Reply
      1. somedude
        
        February 4, 2012 at 2:29 pm
        
        Of 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

February 3, 2012 at 7:14 pm

Yet another reason for me to wish I’d pirated AC:R rather than bought it legit

Reply
Stephen

February 3, 2012 at 7:17 pm

Master race my ass, suck it PC gamers.

Reply
1. Pariah
  
  February 3, 2012 at 7:58 pm
  
  If you read the last part, multiplayer on the console versions will be impacted too.
  
  Reply
  1. somedude
    
    February 3, 2012 at 8:16 pm
    
    sigleplayer however, will not be all complicated all up in that grill.
    
    Reply
    1. Pariah
      
      February 3, 2012 at 9:02 pm
      
      What? Try speaking English.
      
      Reply
      1. somedude
        
        February 4, 2012 at 1:26 am
        
        onconles the singleplayer version/ part of games will not be taken down or interrupted due to the server stuff that uni are doing.
      2. somedude
        
        February 4, 2012 at 2:00 am
        
        on consoles
      3. Chazz
        
        February 4, 2012 at 2:54 am
        
        On 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.
      4. somedude
        
        February 4, 2012 at 2:33 pm
        
        If 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.
      5. Pariah
        
        February 4, 2012 at 2:52 pm
        
        It’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.
      6. El Kapitan
        
        February 6, 2012 at 9:00 am
        
        Except 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…
2. Chazz
  
  February 4, 2012 at 12:54 am
  
  That’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.
  
  Reply
  1. link
    
    February 4, 2012 at 4:22 pm
    
    PC FTW!!! i’ve got PS3 and xbox 360 on an hdmi switch to my monitor meaning i get the best of both worlds.
    
    Reply
pressplayontape

February 3, 2012 at 7:31 pm

This is why i didn’t buy splinter cell conviction when it was on sale at OGS recently.

Reply
Toasty Fresh

February 3, 2012 at 7:37 pm

Take away Ubisoft’s big franchises and they’re nothing but dirt.

Absolutely pathetic.

Reply
james

February 3, 2012 at 7:38 pm

oh no i cant play a game for a week, however will i go on… curse you Ubisoft, my life is over!

Reply
1. PiratePete1911
  
  February 4, 2012 at 2:00 pm
  
  It 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.
  
  Reply
Thermal Ions

February 3, 2012 at 7:57 pm

What, 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.

Reply
Mr Waffle

February 3, 2012 at 8:05 pm

lol. Just lol.

Reply
weresmurf

February 3, 2012 at 8:10 pm

You know who’s not affected…

Pirates.

Know who is?

Legitimate users..

Piracy ftw I guess.

Reply
bjg

February 3, 2012 at 8:52 pm

thank god and coders for cracks.

Reply
1. Pariah
  
  February 3, 2012 at 9:02 pm
  
  For Ubisoft’s games, this.
  
  Reply
[Razor]

February 3, 2012 at 9:03 pm

Piracy wins again. I swear Ubisoft are really incompetent sometimes.

Reply
1. Pariah
  
  February 4, 2012 at 2:53 pm
  
  “Our games are good, but our DRM sucks ass”
  
  Should be the slogan.
  
  Reply
Robbo2332

February 3, 2012 at 9:06 pm

This 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.

Reply
tg674

February 3, 2012 at 9:33 pm

Oh but going completly digital is the way of the future, yeah right.

Reply
p tear griffin

February 3, 2012 at 9:43 pm

thats wy consoles are good ps3 ftw

Reply
1. PiratePete1911
  
  February 3, 2012 at 11:12 pm
  
  If 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.
  
  Reply
Dancemachine55

February 3, 2012 at 10:40 pm

I 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!!!

Reply
1. Dancemachine55
  
  February 3, 2012 at 10:43 pm
  
  Just 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!!!
  
  Reply
Ben

February 3, 2012 at 11:37 pm

As 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.

Reply
Lolwut

February 4, 2012 at 9:22 am

Hahahaahaha ubisoft
Even im reluctant to pirate their games now, how bad that can be?

Reply

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Some Of Ubisoft’s PC Games Won’t Work Next Week. Not Even Singleplayer.

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54 responses to “Some Of Ubisoft’s PC Games Won’t Work Next Week. Not Even Singleplayer.”

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