Ubisoft Apologies for DRM Breaking Games, Again

Post by trog @ 06:24am 09/03/10 | 27 Comments

The Intertubes are abuzz with the latest DRM debacle as gamers around the world struggle with Ubisoft's new invasive system that requires regular online authentication. Ubisoft have apologised for the issues in a forum post:

Due to exceptional demand, we are currently experiencing difficulties with the Online Service Platform. This does not affect customers who are currently playing, but customers attempting to start a game may experience difficulty in accessing our servers. We are currently working to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience.

While the problem only apparently affected around 5% of users, it is a good reminder as to the problems suffered when you try to do the right thing and buy a game, only to get an inferior experience to the pirated version.

It seems pretty amazing they'd press forward with such a system after the absolute beat-up they suffered after the StarForce debacle, but... here we are. While we at AusGamers always encourage people to buy their games, we also encourage them to be aware of DRM systems that games might have - so do your research before shelling out your hard-earned dollars! As someone that was forced to reformat a PC because of StarForce in an Ubisoft game, I learned that lesson the hard way.

starforce ubisoft drm

Latest Comments

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dranged
Posted 06:54am 09/3/10

Oh, Ubisoft..

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Raven
Posted 08:12am 09/3/10

So basically, "sorry, we'll make sure that does happen again."

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euphoria
Posted 08:17am 09/3/10

It is a joke that pirated games and movies provide a better experience than the legal versions. I always buy my games and movies, but I have to wonder why honest consumers have to deal with all the warnings about not pirating the material. Don't publishers get the concept that those messages are the first thing removed by pirates? At least I've ditched the buying of dvds (and their unskippable warnings and menus) by buying movies on Apple TV.

Steam DRM is the only DRM system I've encountered that doesn't annoy me. It just works. Thank goodness many publishers have removed or disabled their own DRM systems for the steam versions of their games.

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Twisted
Posted 09:10am 09/3/10

This is like buying a DVD and getting that f*****g don't pirate you're helping terrorists ad that you can't skip...

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Dazhel
Posted 09:33am 09/3/10

except that in this case once the terrorist ad finishes the movie comes up and just says "can't contact 20th century fox...please wait"

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dazedandconfused
Posted 10:25am 09/3/10

Never buying a Ubisoft game again. They have lost the plot.

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Twisted
Posted 10:55am 09/3/10

Never buying a Ubisoft game again. They have lost the plot.

This. Going to suck not getting Assassins Creed 3. But I had issues with AC2 and that s*** online service thing they have in AC2. I've been able to connect once. Otherwise the service/servers are 100% always unavailable...

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kappa
Posted 11:00am 09/3/10

If it's on Steam why does it need extra DRM?

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bulldog
Posted 11:26am 09/3/10

That's pathetic Twisted, never thought it would be that bad, ,some speculation over on the Ubi forums that a DoS attack is the cause

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ravn0s
Posted 11:36am 09/3/10

cant you get a refund twisted?

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ctd
Posted 11:37am 09/3/10

The funny thing is that once you finally get it working you'll realise the game isn't even that good.

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DM
Posted 11:41am 09/3/10

This is like buying a DVD and getting that f*****g don't pirate you're helping terrorists ad that you can't skip...

Yeah I f*****g hate those ads too. I bought your god damn dvd so why are you b****ing at me about not buying ENOUGH dvds? Even worse than that are the ones that force you to sit through ads for other movies. I ran into a movie once (can't remember which) that if you pushed chapter skip, menu or anything it would return you to the FIRST of 5 movie ads. That is just bulls***.

The funny thing is that once you finally get it working you'll realise the game isn't even that good

It is pretty decent but I have 1 major problem with the whole series that they have seemed to totally ignore. When it comes to assassinating a target, you never seem to be able to get a stealth kill on them. You can wipe out an entire army on your own without being seen but the second you get near that fat guy who is talking to someone else, he notices you and runs away or something.

last edited by DM at 11:41:11 09/Mar/10

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Dazhel
Posted 12:12pm 09/3/10

You can wipe out an entire army on your own without being seen but the second you get near that fat guy who is talking to someone else, he notices you and runs away or something.

That's because the princess is in another castle Mario! :)

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Bah
Posted 02:28pm 09/3/10

I saw someone say on slashdot the other day that drm costs publishers about $5-10 per game sold, is this right? And if so, why the f*** would anyone pay that for DRM that doesn't work, I mean if the game gets cracked before release can publishers go to securom and say "You suck c****, we aren't paying?"

Now this ubi drm seems to be working atm, but drm that doesnt work seems to be a huge rort on everyone concerned.

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Trauma
Posted 02:29pm 09/3/10

Of course it was cracked on day 1, I'm still waiting for my AC2 to arrive, will have the crack before I have the game.

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Dazhel
Posted 02:43pm 09/3/10

And if so, why the f*** would anyone pay that for DRM that doesn't work, I mean if the game gets cracked before release can publishers go to securom and say "You suck c****, we aren't paying?"

All games get cracked so if the above was the case nobody would get paid.

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Bah
Posted 02:48pm 09/3/10

Well thats my point Dazhel, why do companies pay for drm that gets cracked on day zero? How does a company like securom continue to sell the same version of it's drm once pirates have shown they know how to defeat it?

Of course it was cracked on day 1,

AC2 wasn't, still isn't properly afaik.

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Dazhel
Posted 03:00pm 09/3/10

Well thats my point Dazhel, why do companies pay for drm that gets cracked on day zero?

* Because the suits want it
* Because the investors want it
* Because tech solutions to PC piracy sound attractive
* Because publishers seem to not give a f*** about their customers
* Because publishers are scared that releasing with no DRM would be worse
* Because it might prevent some casual piracy
* Because it might slow second hand sales
* Any or all of the above

Edit:

How does a company like securom continue to sell the same version of it's drm once pirates have shown they know how to defeat it?

They don't sell the same version, Securom and the like continually create new versions of their DRM like an escalating arms race.

last edited by Dazhel at 15:00:02 09/Mar/10

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Bah
Posted 03:06pm 09/3/10

All the obvious answers, which winds up at my original question, why don't companies put a clause in saying if the game is cracked before release they only pay 10% or whatever and theres a sliding scale the longer the game isnt cracked.(maybe they do, i don't know)

Oh and does anyone know how much companies charge for something like securom, just that random post on slashdot quoting $5 per game sold seemed ridiculously high in context of zero day cracks.

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Methz
Posted 03:39pm 09/3/10

f*** what are we Ubisoft? howbout you email and ask em.

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Dazhel
Posted 03:53pm 09/3/10

random post on slashdot

Ahh, I think I've found the problem

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pARODY
Posted 04:06pm 09/3/10

I wonder if the creators of the DRM have some guarantee for time it remains uncracked. The upper executives at ubisoft can't be so stupid as to buy into someones marketing that copy protection or DRM will be uncrackable.

Maybe the DRM server isn't under an actual DDoS but just suffering cause it's hosted at the same site as the BFBC2 server browser? :P

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re so
Posted 04:07pm 09/3/10

Before all this I was pretty close to buying the new Splinter Cell for sure. Now, probably not.

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ravn0s
Posted 06:16pm 09/3/10

I wonder if the creators of the DRM have some guarantee for time it remains uncracked

its ubisofts own drm

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Dazhel
Posted 06:29pm 09/3/10

its ubisofts own drm

Heh, Securom and Starforce must be in awe at how quickly Ubisoft have cornered the market on technology that stops unauthorised people from playing games.

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Bah
Posted 06:32pm 09/3/10

Ubisoft have cornered the market on technology that stops unauthorised people from playing games.

Fixed.

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Dazhel
Posted 06:37pm 09/3/10

That too, but when the servers are down authorised users are just a perfect subset!

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