Future Ubisoft Games Will Need Internet Access To Play

Post by trog @ 12:15pm 28/01/10 | 44 Comments

Ubisoft recently announced the details of a new system called the "Online Services Platform" and have provided a Q&A which reveals the following interesting tidbit:

Is there an "off-line" option?
No. The added services to the game (unlimited installs, online storage of saved games and the fact that you don�t need the game disc to play) require you to have an online connection while playing the game.

The Q&A reads like a Bill of Un-rights for gamers. Clearly a piracy protection measure, this move simply makes it harder for legitimate gamers to play games they've bought, makes it harder for them to sell them in the second hand market - and presumably will do absolutely nothing to stop pirates anyway.

ubisoft piracy

Latest Comments

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Trauma
Posted 12:42pm 28/1/10

So this is what they had in the oven while alot of their games had no protection at all, not surprised or phased, this is how it's all going.

P.S I'm not phased because I know if it's annoying I will just get rid of it.

P.S.S This 'in-justice' does not compare to IWnet.

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Scooter
Posted 12:51pm 28/1/10

I'm kind of in 2 minds about this one. Yeah it sucks that you need internet connection... and there are still some places (In Asutralia at least) where a decent, solid, reliable connection is hard to come by. We are getting at a stage (especially for 'Gammers') where they have an internet connection wherever they go.

So in theory, if you have the game, you'll have an internet connection and you'll have no problems. Sadly that isn't the case though. If your net goes down for some reason you would still like to be able to play games that you legitimatly own. It would suck the big one if you couldn't play anything just because some tech at Telsra stuffed up or some trench digger rips up a cable.

If there is an easy and legit way to buy/sell games for secondhand use I dont think I would have any major objections to this system. I dont think it's ideal, but I can understand why such as system would be implemented.

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mrmatt
Posted 02:51pm 28/1/10

Seems like legitimate consumers keep getting treated worse, this will only give some gamers another reason to consider pirating games instead of purchasing them, imo.

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ViscoS
Posted 03:07pm 28/1/10

Pirates win!

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ctd
Posted 03:40pm 28/1/10

lol pirates will always find a way. Even steam has an offline mode.

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Hogfather
Posted 03:44pm 28/1/10

So Ubisoft games are on Steam, right?

Are they deliberately channelling their customers to Valve, or will they drop Steam?

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trog
Posted 03:56pm 28/1/10

So Ubisoft games are on Steam, right?

Are they deliberately channelling their customers to Valve, or will they drop Steam?

I suspect they'll use Steam but still apply the same restrictions (on top of Steam restrictions). That is a total guess though.

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Hogfather
Posted 04:07pm 28/1/10

Yeh I guess, which is kind of s*****. How many f*****g DRMs do you need to wade through to get to the game these days?

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demon
Posted 04:12pm 28/1/10

i really have no problems with these overly protective games... i just don't play them! 90% of the time i wouldn't even consider getting a cracked version coz there are just heeeeaaps of decent games out there to play.

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Storm
Posted 06:33pm 28/1/10

I can't say I'm surprised about Ubi's ineptitude here.

Back in the day when I was trying to get their HQ guys to understand how progressive some publishers were becoming WRT anti-piracy methods (ie the introduction of serial keys, one off online checks or what not), there was never any understanding of it; despite the fact that they were playing the games I was talking to them about (predominantly things like Half Life and the Starcraft games).

Of course, when I went over there in person (for other things) and asked to see their copy of said games above, the reason they didn't understand how user friendly that copy protection was became clear. They were playing pirated copies.

gg.

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whoop
Posted 06:39pm 28/1/10

Considering most software these days requires an internet connection for activation including Windows & Photoshop to name just 2, it shouldn't be any surprise that games would be the next thing to use it.

Personally I only play online multiplayer games anyway, I'm not one for single player experiences so I doubt this move will affect me much apart from maybe one day not having install media and making me download it all through steam which will suck fat c*** on BPA.

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Geyejoe
Posted 08:00pm 01/2/10

if aus broadband was like it is in some third world country's i wouldn't have a problem but i currently live in a place that was built only 5 years ago and is not dsl capable because of telstra be cheap basturds and running a pair gained line. only mobile broadband for me. i'm seriously considering moving the get dsl. whats crap is i actually checked with them before moving in to check if it was available and they said yes, muppets. Pirates will still get around it, they have for every other security feature in games. hell look at mw2 that didn't stop the wooden legged parrot wearing muppets who keep destroying it for the people laying down the hard earned cash. surely they can see if they keep going down this road more and more people are going to pirate. this piracy thing is almost as pathetic as the R18 saga.

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parabol
Posted 08:21pm 01/2/10

I suspect they'll use Steam but still apply the same restrictions (on top of Steam restrictions). That is a total guess though.

Frown face.

On a related note, I bought a couple of NVIDIA graphics cards that came with Batman Arkham Asylum coupons. You enter the code in Steam, it succeeds and downloads the game. You go to run it for the first time and it has to "Activate" with some external program (you'd think Steam activation was enough!), on top of that you have to do some Windows Live accounting crap to actually play the game.

Not sure who comes up with this stuff, but I'm quite sure they don't give a s*** how the end-user feels.

last edited by parabol at 20:21:17 01/Feb/10

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darth3pio
Posted 08:40pm 01/2/10

What so they've been working on that while my legitimate purchases don't sodding work in Windows 7 properly, unable to download maps in Far Cry 2, DX10 glitches in Assassin's Creed. What a load of f***wits.

And they go and post on the sales page, works in Windows 7 while in the support forums they say, oh sorry we can't fix your problem because we don't support Windows 7.

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3dee
Posted 09:00pm 01/2/10

Is this for consoles? What if you don't have the net hooked up to your Xbox or whatever.

Lame games publisher is lame.

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protit
Posted 09:06pm 01/2/10

relic did a good job with the online registration stuff for coh, but it sucks major balls when their servers are down.

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whoop
Posted 09:10pm 01/2/10

Not sure who comes up with this stuff, but I'm quite sure they don't give a s*** how the end-user feels.

It's because time and time again end users eat up this s*** like it's the best cake in the world. If people simply didn't buy the games that employed these kinds of restrictions the companies would have to rethink their strategy.

Unfortunately nerds must have their games no matter what the price (come on US$99 for a game?) and no matter how retarded the copy protection is.

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Seven
Posted 09:21pm 01/2/10

I don't get it. They're trying to stop pirates, yeah?

Anyone competent enough to get around serial keys and DVD requirements is able to download a solution to get around this same problem - presumably included in the same download. How do they think they are helping themselves?

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greazy
Posted 09:23pm 01/2/10

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the whole point is to reduce the number of pirated copies in the first few weeks of sale because that's when the majority of sales are made.

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Hogfather
Posted 10:10pm 01/2/10

Yeh but this won't stop that, really. It will just increase competition among the release groups to be first for mad epic props. I'd be applauding them if it was a good way to reduce piracy, but its not; so the net result is just that the legit consumer cops it sweet.

At the moment Steam is on the sweet spot IMO. Good prices, lots of specials, relatively non-obnoxious DRM (offline mode etc).

Considering most software these days requires an internet connection for activation including Windows & Photoshop to name just 2

You don't need to activate Windows every time you log in. Its not the same.

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darth3pio
Posted 11:25pm 01/2/10

I would say it is just for PC

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greazy
Posted 11:46pm 01/2/10

Yeh but this won't stop that, really. It will just increase competition among the release groups to be first for mad epic props. I'd be applauding them if it was a good way to reduce piracy, but its not; so the net result is just that the legit consumer cops it sweet.

how do you know this

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Seven
Posted 11:49pm 01/2/10

I <3 Steam. It's easy to buy games through Steam, they're usually cheaper (I'm looking at you modern Warfare 2), and it's really easy to keep your games library intact - all the files are right there, no installations required after the initial download.

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Hogfather
Posted 12:31am 02/2/10

how do you know this

As a software developer I have a professional interest in piracy and protection.

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whoop
Posted 01:09am 02/2/10

You don't need to activate Windows every time you log in. Its not the same.

No but it does do periodic activation checks online.

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greazy
Posted 01:28am 02/2/10

ill rephrase the question

how do you know THIS particular and s***** protection isn't going to reduce piracy when it matters most (the first few weeks)?

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Hogfather
Posted 02:00am 02/2/10

What evidence is there to suggest that Ubisoft's new copy protection will be more effective than those used in the past?

No but it does do periodic activation checks online.

So not like the announced Ubisoft copy protection, which is gatekeeper per use, can't use the software at all if your internet is down.

last edited by Hogfather at 02:00:27 02/Feb/10

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ctd
Posted 02:57am 02/2/10

people will be playing ubi games off pirate bay on day1.

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Xion
Posted 01:24pm 02/2/10

people will be playing ubi games off pirate bay on day1.

I have to agree with ctd here. If the average hacker is smart enough to get around DRM, I'm sure they could create a patch for the game which circumvents the periodic check. I'd get the patch just so that I could play my legitimate game offline, to heck with Ubersoft.

I bought my game and have a right to play it any way i see fit.

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Hogfather
Posted 01:31pm 02/2/10

Day 1? I'm pretty sure I heard people talking about ME2 on trackers at day -7?

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dranged
Posted 02:00pm 02/2/10

hahah, ubisoft??

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Geyejoe
Posted 09:47pm 02/2/10

Whoop - Unfortunately nerds must have their games no matter what the price (come on US$99 for a game?) and no matter how retarded the copy protection is.

CDWOW! most new games and preorders are $40-55AU, have ordered 5 games so far with no dramas, only con is you have to wait a extra few weeks from release date.

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darkjedi
Posted 12:15pm 18/2/10

Go Ubisoft go!.

This is awesome. Ubisoft's solution = your internet connect drops out mid-game, it kicks you back to a "connection lost: restart from last checkpoint or exit to Windows?" screen. The above article doesn't show the actual screen of this (as UBisoft have asked them not to publish photos of the PC build of Assassin's Creed 2), but the MSPaint version they did up looks thusly:

Why do they hate PC gamers so much?

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Dazhel
Posted 12:54pm 18/2/10

So much lol. They expect people to buy that bulls***?

www.defectivebydesign.org

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ravn0s
Posted 01:26pm 18/2/10

not sure if i will buy ac2 now. i just hate how they are punishing the people who buy legitimate copies of games.

edit: probably wont get it since i will be too busy playing ff13

last edited by ravn0s at 13:26:14 18/Feb/10

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deadlyf
Posted 01:37pm 18/2/10

And I was looking forward to AC2.

Most game publishers have some sort of sign-up for their games now don't they? I know EA and MS do which has got to cover a big chunk of the market. It's not as bad but I really wish they could integrate these systems into Steam better, it's a pain in the ass to buy a special edition of a Steam game and have to sign up to some other site and paste in your cd keys in order to get the extras you paid for.

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whoop
Posted 06:54pm 18/2/10

Silly question but what happens if you lose your connection to the server mid game in World Of Warcraft?

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koopz
Posted 08:48pm 18/2/10

Not sure who comes up with this stuff, but I'm quite sure they don't give a s*** how the end-user feels.

parabol can you dump your steam folder over to another pc (or fresh install on your gaming box) then delete the .blob and just play the game after you log in to Steam?

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darkjedi
Posted 09:21pm 18/2/10

Silly question but what happens if you lose your connection to the server mid game in World Of Warcraft?

The game world moves on and your toon will freeze in place. So if you're in combat, generally ends with you getting splattered unless you can log back in real quick-like. Works that way to stop people exploiting by disconnecting intentionally to avoid deaths etc.

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ravn0s
Posted 09:31pm 18/2/10

i find it funny that they just keep giving people more reasons to pirate games.

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DM
Posted 09:53pm 18/2/10

They do this to stop piracy but it only drives people to it. Who the f*** wants to connect to a central game server like an MMO to play a single player game? What a dumb f*****g idea.

Silly question but what happens if you lose your connection to the server mid game in World Of Warcraft?

The world continues to go on. When you log back in you are in the exact spot you left (if you didn't die from a mob). In AC2 you can lose a ton of play time and have to do s*** all over again. Horrible idea.

Then again if you wanted to play AC2 you prolly would of already.

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Crakaveli
Posted 12:23am 19/2/10

This isn't a move to stop piracy, it's a move to stop PC games. Developers only want to develop for consoles but they still want to come off as the good guys supporting PC's! It's a conspiracy i tell you.

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DM
Posted 01:03am 19/2/10

It's a conspiracy i tell you

A believable one. Slowly PC games are dying with only a tiny handful of games every year that are worth the markup they try and force on us.

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parabol
Posted 01:18am 19/2/10

parabol can you dump your steam folder over to another pc (or fresh install on your gaming box) then delete the .blob and just play the game after you log in to Steam?

Actually I've been planning to move my Steam games off my OS drive. I know that it will magically work for all Valve games, not so sure what will happen with Batman and its I-put-some-DRM-inside-your-DRM shenanigans.

Will find out!

last edited by parabol at 01:18:10 19/Feb/10

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