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Ubisoft Considers Always-Connected DRM "A Success"

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

Ubisoft made headlines a couple days ago for bringing back their restrictive DRM for an upcoming racing game. Speaking with PCGamer in response to the overwhelmingly negative feedback to this news, a Ubisoft representative said the company has seen "a clear reduction in piracy of our titles which required a persistent online connection," adding, "from that point of view the requirement is a success." One wonders how they measured this, and how they compare it to sales lost due to the bad press it's generated.

6 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. It is a sucess by Osgeld · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I spend much less on games now

    1. Re:It is a sucess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      But there's no sense crying over every mistake.
      You just keep on buying every game that they make.
      Even if they're not fun
      The corporations have won
      They own everyone who is alive.

  2. good for you Ubi by spidercoz · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope you succeed all the way to bankruptcy

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
  3. Game developer == Hollywood studio by Compaqt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While most software development companies (Microsoft as the biggest example) had long ago given up copy-protection for software, game development companies seemed to be a strange exception to the rule.

    But it's no anomaly: As games have drifted more toward the category of movies and away from the category of software, it's only natural that they've begun to see things the MAFIAA way.

    --
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
  4. It works! by Leslie43 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ubisoft has created the perfect DRM system.
    Combine horrible DRM with horrible gameplay and no one will pirate it. Of course no one will play it either, but hey, it's the perfect DRM system.

    I almost feel as though I should be thanking them for all the time and money they are saving me.

  5. Re:How does one measure the value of "nothing"? by Sancho · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I know so many people who used to pirate music before music became DRM-free. Then Apple got through to the studios, and people still pirated because they didn't want to deal with iTunes. Finally, when Amazon started offering mp3s and no crappy software to download, 8/11 of the people I still keep in touch with switched. There were two big changes: they'd all grown up and could now afford music, and the music was easy to buy, download, and use. No messing with bloated programs, no DRM restricting where you could play the songs, no problems.

    I feel largely the same way about movies and TV. Right now, I use Netflix and Hulu with smatterings of Redbox to get my video media, as well as OTA signals. I'd buy digital downloads of movies and TV shows from Amazon in a heartbeat if I could play them anywhere, any time, without an Internet connection. I've been tempted many times to buy them anyway, however because they won't play on my iPad or offline laptop, I won't. I could buy from Apple, but those videos won't play on my laptop at all. So I won't buy there, either.

    I genuinely want to give these people my money. They just don't (yet) offer a product I'm willing to pay for. So instead, I use free or cheap options that almost certainly don't help them.