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Ubisoft Has Windows-Style Hardware-Based DRM For Games
New submitter Man Eating Duck writes "Guru3D describes how the activation system in Ubisoft's RTS game Anno 2070 also tracks hardware changes: 'So yesterday I started working on a performance review. We know (well, at least we figured we knew), that the game key can be used on three systems. That's fair; the first activation is used on my personal game rig. The second we installed on the AMD Radeon graphics test PC and the 3rd on our NVIDIA graphics test PC. ... For the NVIDIA setup I take out the GTX 580, and insert a GTX 590. When I now startup the game, 'BAM', again an activation is required. Once again I fill out the key, and now Ubisoft is thanking me with the message that I ran out of activations.' Guru3D subsequently discovered that Ubisoft was less than helpful: 'Sorry to disappoint you — the game is indeed restricted to 3 hardware changes and there simply is no way to bypass that.' I, and many with me, will never buy games with such a draconian DRM scheme, as it's very likely that I'll swap out enough components to run into this issue. Even the Steam version includes this nice 'feature.' It's probably a good idea to let Ubisoft know why we'll pass on this title."
At least we don't have to put up with too much of this activation DRM hassle on the console versions...for now anyway. Of course, consoles do tend to follow on the heels of PC developments. And you can bet Ubisoft and other developers would love nothing more than killing off the secondary and rental market for consoles the same way they've killed them off for the PC market. I don't look forward to a day when I start up and console game and it saying "Sorry, you need an internet connection to activate this game," or the day when I can't loan a game to a friend or sell it (or buy it) used.
I'm not a pirate, but I can definitely understand why some otherwise honest people might turn to it (in light of the way honest people get screwed these days).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I really have to wonder the point of bothering with PC gaming anymore. Most PC games today are now just unoptimized console ports, and there is restrictive DRM from companies like EA and Ubisoft. I do consider Steam to be a bright spot, and its DRM is so invisible that I've never actually encountered it in practice, but then again, Steam is already moving to consoles as well, and Blizzard seems to be dipping its toes in the water.
I just think integrated platforms, like consoles and mobile devices, always win out in the long-term. I certainly don't want to maintain graphics card drivers or other PC-related issues anymore. It's boring and takes time away from playing games. Consoles today practically are PCs, but without all the headaches.
This is really insane! 3 times, and that's it? Can you even buy the same game on Steam twice with one account? Hah!
When some idiot from ubisoft execs or something told that 'Game demos are a thing of the past' a year or so ago - when ubisoft was again throwing around drm stuff and accusing demos for piracy or this or that :
"As long as razor1911 has anything to say about it, we will have game demos..."
i think that applies to this situation as well.
Read radical news here
the effort to control game piracy through DRM is futile.
The only thing that might work is if you keep the game online either by not releasing the server code for a multiplayer game or keep the the whole thing on line by using a system like OnLive to keep the whole game code in the cloud.
Short of that... it will be pirated.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
When I pirated the game, it didn't have that restriction.
If this isn't made clear to consumers before purchasing -- or licensing, I guess -- the game, this is a great opportunity to make DRM even less profitable for Ubisoft:
1) Buy game. Keep receipt and copy of terms.
2) (Legitimately) Update/change your hardware more than 3 times over the course of a a year or two
3) When the game stops working, ask for an activation
4) When they decline, ask for a refund
5) When they decline, sue in your local small claims court. It's usually free to do
6) Let Ubisoft either issue thousands of refunds or defend thousands of small claims cases
(Note that if the issue is described but is buried in fine print or displayed as grey-on-black, it's likely still arguable as such a material condition that hiding it is itself deceptive).
I am so glad I did not buy that game. I got steam so I could play MY games on ANY OF MY computers. Then again. If you legally purchased it once. You can then pirate it beyond the 3 hardware changes.
This was where ImpulseDriven (Steam competitor started by Stardock) was nice, it would show the DRM used prior to purchase. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be case since GameStop bought them out.
Personally I don't buy DRM'd games, which unfortunately means most PC games.
Why not just pay Valve the extra few dollars and make it a steamworks game to handle the DRM issues. Sure, it's not foolproof but it would technically provide the piece of mind the investors want while being tolerable to PC Gamers
These guys are walking billboards highlighting the value of Steam vs the crap DRM-ware of Ubi, Origin, MS Games, etc.
I was stuck at the office very, very late one night. Nothing to do. So I logged into Steam, downloaded a game I owned ("Bloody Good Time", excellent FWIW), and played a while until I could get of there.
The MBA's at Ubu/EA/MS would explode at the very concept. And it is why I will be spending my money at Steam.
(And Gabe, if you read this, I can haz HL2e3/HL3 now plz?)
People bitch about Windows activation, but on the few occasions I've experienced where Windows needed to be re-activated because of a hardware change, the process was completely painless. As in, "I'm helping out my mom on Christmas Eve and dinner is going to be served in a half hour" painless.
The first couple of times I called, I spoke to an Indian man who asked me a few questions and gave me a code. More recently, it was a fully automated system. I don't think the process has ever taken as much as five minutes from beginning to end. It seems to me the for individual users, Windows Activation is more of a way to scold you than anything else: "You do know you're only allowed to use this copy of Windows on one computer... right?"
Now, if Ubisoft is really claiming that you get three activations and after that your software is useless, well, that seems like something else entirely.
Breakfast served all day!
Sorry but you had it coming for not boycotting Ubisoft already.
So rather then dealing with the easily cracked DRM of the PC, you accept the complete and total DRM of the console? That is like saying you hate the eroding freedom in the west and move to North-Korea.
Ah but you are trolling because you suddenly draw in drivers which have nothing to do with DRM anyway. Oh and if consoles are PC's now, you don't mind donating your PC and reading the net from your console from now on do you? Oh, thought so.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Anyone who thought the idiotic DRM schemes from Ubisoft were really going to stop was delusional. I've been boycotting Ubisoft ever since their "always on Internet connection" DRM for Assassin's Creed 2 was introduced. Once they pulled that move I trashed all my Ubisoft products (of which I had many) and haven't so much as touched a demo from them ever since.
I suggest any of you who like to play your legally purchased games how/when you want to should do the same. And to those of you who say to just go pirate the game, you're simply treating the symptom & not the problem. Let them know that they can't pull these sorts of things or it'll catch on to other developers soon enough (I'm looking at you EA).
"Sadly, all four games from Ubisoft used in our benchmark failed to work on six out of our nine configurations."
Ezekiel 23:20
I'm so happy I gave the finger to the videogames industry 6-7 years ago.
Couldn't care less nowadays how they fuck their customers to be honest. I've got over 60 games not one of which requires internet or hardware based drm. No remote kill switch of any kind. I can enjoy those classics for decades to comes, I can install them on virtual machines etc... Its all good.
lol. how do you explain my pirated copy? i can install it as many times as i want without calling anyone, for free. if a semi-professional hardware and game review website can't even get Ubisoft to bend the rules for THEM, then why the fuck should I even think about buying a game from these idiots?
Did the submitter mean to type "Annoy 2007"?
"there simply is no way to bypass that"
Here we go again...
The worst is they never seem to respond to the customers needs. I have Heroes VI (one of the games with the always networked DRM of horribleness). I bought it for christmas and there was a period of 36 hours straight where the server was down. There were three separate days where it was down for at least an hour. And this primarily a single player game. The reviews for Heroes VI on Amazon almost all complain about the DRM and it has 2.5 stars as a result. At this point, there seems to be nothing to do except to refrain from purchasing from them until they go belly up.
I dont bother with ubisoft games anymore, I wont even waste my time pirating them because THEY NO LONGER EXIST outside of the fact that people should know that Nazisoft is a worthless shit company who blames all their problems on piracy and not the fact that 99% of their games suck donkey dick.
The article has an update:
Update monday Jan 16 - 2012: We have been contacted by bluebyte over the weekend, the company that developed the Anno series. Our key has been pretty much unlocked allowing us to properly work on this article. To be continued ....
Uh, NO, NO, NO! Ubisoft and other vendors will continue this trend of archaic stupid DRM until it hits them in the wallet. The 'review' industry should take a stance - no reviews, no press, nothing, until Ubisoft (and any other vendors that do this kind of shit) stop the excessive DRM.
Do you really think the developer of the game will give out an 'unlocked' code to anyone OTHER than a high-profile website reviewer? What if you ran into this at home, which with a grand total of 3 registration attempts, is easy to do over the course of a short period of time: "When contacting Ubisoft marketing here in the Netherlands, their reply goes like this: 'Sorry to disappoint you - the game is indeed restricted to 3 hardware changes and there simply is no way to bypass that. We also do not have 7 copies of the game for you'.:"
THATS what average joe-user will get, a simple 'tough shit'. STOP REVIEWING THEIR GAMES
Pirates don't have to deal with that stinky DRM shit, they just bypass it. Why'd you pay money for something that's crippled? Was your brain turned off?
And I doubt I'll be purchasing any Ubisoft game in the near future.
You can live without the game. If a company acts like this, stop buying their products. I will no longer buy Eidos games after they stuck Star Wars blu-ray advertisements in Dues Ex. Likewise I will not buy Ubisoft games because of the DRM. I am staunchly against piracy since I write software for a living and am not a hypocrite, if companies see no sales and no torrents of a title they may start to wonder why that is.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
"...that the game key can be used on three systems. That's fair; ..."
and he is surprised?
That to me screams do NOT purchase this game.....
THIS. This shit right here is what _creates_ people who pirate software. Not because it is "free", but because it is FREE OF RESTRICTIONS on what I can do with the software that I (would have) legally paid for and own.
Hey, Ubisoft employees! Start thanking your bosses now for the loss of your jobs, especially those in the PC gaming section. I have a business idea for you: Start a new gaming company with the best and brightest among you and put out your games for the PC market WITHOUT DRM of any kind. Skip the major distributor route (no EA, no Ubisoft, no Company X). Put it on Steam. Put it out at a good price (_not_ $59.99 US). Put in GOOD game play with replayability. We will fill your coffers with gold and jewels.
Those that ultimately pirate your title? Well, fuck em because they were never going to pay for it anyway. They aren't a lost sale, they are just lost.
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
So now Ubisoft is adding their own DRM activation restriction overtop of Steam DRM activation? I can't imagine that's going to make the folk at Steam very happy.. They've worked very very hard to be known as the on-line store with DRM done right (as in, doesn't get in legitimate customer's way.)
Everyone around here knows that Ubisoft has draconian DRM. So the solution is simple: don't buy the games. It probably isn't worth the time to review their games either, after all it is just giving them undeserved advertising. (Remember, the biggest problem for any business is brand recognition. Some people will still buy stuff that receives bad reviews, but they won't buy stuff that they never heard of.)
This game was actually on my radar (on my Steam "Wish List" and all). I was planning on picking it up when the price had gone down a bit or when Steam had a special on it. Now no. Never. You lost a sale. Hell, I'm not even going to pirate it. Fuck. You.
So I had to google search a list of Ubisoft games to find out what the last one I bought was. I had to go all the way to the M's before I found one I owned. Funny enough once i got past the Myst series I didn't see any more games that I bought. So you just keep in spitting in to the wind Ubisoft.
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
I bought one game that had a restricted number of installs and that game was Bioshock back in the day. Much as I had fun going through it I've not bought anymore games that have restricted installs. I've also avoided companies that have a reputation for nasty DRM in their games. Ubisoft is at the top of my "Don't Buy" list.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
I gave up buying their games years ago because of their odiotic behaviour. I will not stand this kind of invasive DRM. And i do not pirate games. Ever. So to have the false sense of protecting yourself against pirates Ubisoft, you will not see the colour of my money.
Rant and rave about Windows DRM all you want, but the way Windows activation was designed, it actually appears intended to stop piracy. You activate once, and store that hardware key on their validation servers. It doesn't repeatedly poll the server to ensure validation, it only gets used during updates, and it will only block a new update until you re-activate. If you change hardware after a certain amount of time, it will allow you to validate a new install, invalidating and blocking updates on the old install. If you do so before that certain amount of time, all you have to do is call a number, claim you replaced hardware, and replace the existing validation. They're not going to care unless you start doing that multiple times each month.
This, you get three times, period. There is no expiry period. There is no way to call and flush out an old install. Three times, and then the product is dead. This sounds more like a mechanism to prevent resale of games, rather than a way to prevent piracy. How dare someone else get to play the game without paying them additional money! Just wait until they start requiring a webcam, so they can perform facial recognition and ensure you are the only one playing the game.
I've actually spent quite some money recently on games produced by EA and Ubisoft. When I learnt about the bad behaviour of the Ubisoft activation scheme, I stopped playing the game immediately and reinstalled my workstation to clean up. Shortly afterwards I wanted to sell an EA game and got told on the hotline that there is no way I can transfer the activation key to another Origin account (Steam à la EA, with lots of privacy issues). I told them they have just lost a customer who paid lots and lots of money for their games. Because of the privacy issues I again reinstalled my system and I will not buy games from large producers anymore. I will either choose DRM free indie games, or ... well you know what the other option is.
Video game industry, you can thank EA and Ubisoft for not getting any money from me anymore.
In the adult industry the trick of the trade is to show just enough free content to convert people who want to see more without giving them to much. The to much is very simple, if they "come" before they join, they don't join.
Conversion ratios are very low, 1% would make many an adult web site owner cream his pants. But the idea that you can get 100% if only you do X has yet to take hold although companies that sell anti-piracy scams sure are trying.
PC gaming has a LOT of "gamers" who want to try a game, or have zero budget. They are the equivelant of kiddies watching the scambled porn channel for just enough signal to "get off". People with ancient PC's downloading games they can't play or afford. There is no way to convert them to paying customers but the anti-piracy scam industry, the makers of DRM or the anti-piracy lawyers, sell the idea that those 1 million downloads from brazil where computers are 486's for the rich can be turned into paying customers for Crysis 2.
The proof? I got none EXCEPT that completely and utterly crap games or very early releases that barely work or 3D CAD software only people with engineering degrees can use are STILL downloaded in their millions. I am not saying piracy doesn't have an effect, I myself pirate games I once would have bought because the companies behavior disgusts me (Bethseda, fuck you and your horse armor) but its total effect is over-rated. A game like Anno 2070 has a niche appeal, a lot of the people downloading it just don't really want to play it, they are not even trying it out as a demo, they just want the "street cred" for having had it, played an hour or so and then discard it. Ubisoft might be having a wet dream that if there is no option to pirate it, then they would pay full price for it, but that just isn't there.
If piracy goes away, the sales might double, that sounds amazing but Ubisoft is dreaming of a 1000% increase, remember that they think every illegal download is a missed sale. But with DRM sales actually decrease because for a lot of people, they just got to many bad experiences. Like me and Betsheda game.I am not even bothering with a single player RPG anymore until it latest "expansion" pack has been announced and someone wrapped it all up with some user made bug fixes and released it. The pirate experience both in DRM and in getting the "whole" game has become fastly superior to the bought experience. Smart move Betsheda in limiting certain starter packs to certain regions, gods knows RPG players are not known for being completionists who want to experience everything and so you force them to pirate sides to get content already included in the game but withheld from them because they bought it at store X instead of store Y. That is like forcing a good kid to get his coca-cola from the coke dealer because you don't want them to know about drugs. No that makes no sense and neither does region restricted content in the modern age.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
You keep using this term "We". I do not think it means what you think it means.
Never ever buy Ubisoft games! The draconian DRM is getting worse and worse. Boycott Ubisoft!
I was talking about games that use Steam DRM, vs just the Steam store. The only two non-Steam games I have are Fallout 3 and Arkham Asylum. Past that, if you don't use Steam DRM, I don't buy it. Respect your customer, or you won't have customers.
The problem with all these games is what happens when the company stops selling the game. Even if Ubisoft would do manual activation if you ran out they would stop doing that when they stopped selling the game. This means that 10 years from now our games could be unplayable. I still have a lot of fun on Halo CE but that will probably be impossible with new DRM systems. As much as the games Ubisoft produces are high quality I am never buying anything from them again until they learn that all DRM does is drive away actual consumers.
When they eventually stop making PC games because no one is buying them we all know what they will blame. Piracy.
You want to be sure that your users aren't copying the discs and only paying once? Include some sort of difficult Code Wheel device with a built in challange/response in game. It'll either take someone really dedicated to reverse engineer the code wheel or to duplicate it so you'll be able to recoup the cost.
it is your own damm faults fo continueing to buy this shit. I stopped buying games back in 1993. I stopped buying copies of Microsoft Windows in 1998. If I had known back then what I know now I wouldn't have touched propritary software to begin with.
Many pirates pirate because of DRM. Some also pirate out of an interest in trying the game before buying it, some because they feel entitled to their license even though the CD got scratched, some because they have no disposable income of their own (or no room in their budget for it), and some out of sheer sloth/greed.
But to say that DRM doesn't create pirates is to completely fail to grasp some of the most basic principles that drive human behavior.
Despite what the article says, a three machine activation limit for a game is NOT FAIR. It is an utterly unreasonable restriction of my use of the product, and I refuse to buy games that have such a restriction.
Of course, I don't pirate them either (out of a near OCD-level desire to keep my nose clean), I just buy other games instead.
I won't touch Ubisoft's products with a ten foot pole.
First off, thanks for calling me "stupid."
Second, the DRM of a console has never affected my ability to play its games. I never notice the DRM. I can even sell used console games without issue. Notice that I praised Steam on the PC for its non-intrusiveness.
Third, I mentioned drivers because I was explaining why PC gaming is a maintenance chore compared to consoles and why consoles are such an appealing target for both developers and gamers. That is not "trolling."
It sounds like you got extraordinarily angry over the idea over criticism of the PC platform and the suggestion that consoles might be better at something. Some people are so attached to their PCs, so bitter at the rising popularity of consoles and mobile devices, that they lash out at anyone making a valid point. As for reading the net, most people today do that from their mobile phones! Frankly, if you still think PCs are the paragon of consumer computing, you're living in some prior decade and refusing to accept the reality of the world around you.
I once had a DVD drive that didn't support the disc check that was done to ensure you had an authentic disc in the drive. I tried to fix this via Internet searches and posts on the game makers support site, but without success. I'm thankful for the people that cracked this kind of DRM because without it I wouldn't be able to play my legally purchased games. Plus, since I had opened the package, the stores wouldn't take it back and the game maker wouldn't help me either assuming that I was trying to do something nefarious. Saying this, the DRM for this game will be cracked and we will be free to play it on any computer we want without worrying about hardware changes. The worse the DRM, the harder the hacking community will work to bypass it. In my opinion, when DRM becomes noticeable to the consumer it has crossed the line.
The DRM free version that functions perfectly, quick and hassle free, or to purchase one with DRM that will hassle you.
As a consumer, I'm concerned with just getting the product. It's up to the distributors to ensure they're licensed to distribute the product. If given the choice to spend 50$ on the DRM free version that just works and gives me no problems versus 50$ for one that has special r-tard DRM in it..it's simple.
I'd buy the product that works without any problems - it's the superior product.
You would think the pirated version should be riddled with issues, not the legitimate purchased copy. Never mind the fact that the pirated version is free. Tough sell ubisoft.
Follow the link below to leave a review for the game. I never leave off-topic reviews for items on amazon, but this DRM issue should be brought to the forefront, and what better way than to make our voices heard on the Amazon reviews for the game.
http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=cm_cr_dp_wr_but_right?ie=UTF8&nodeID=468642&asin=B00657AVMO&store=videogames
If I give you money, fuck off, the game is mine.
If you say otherwise, then I'm going to pirate it.
That way, we both agree that the game isn't mine, but I'm playing it anyway.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Dude, what is wrong with you? You sound like every stereotypically angry PC gamer I've ever met. Drivers really are waste of time on PCs, and someday, the idea that people manually updated drivers and defragmented hard drives and all the other crap they do will seem as archaic as hand-cranking to start a Model T.
I think the cause of reactions like yours is that some people don't have control in their lives, so they seek it in PCs, because mastering the upkeep required for a PC gives you that missing feeling of control. Having that feeling taken away from you by non-PCs threatens you on a core level, reminding you of the lack of control in your real life, so you snap back to protect it. Maybe that's not you, but damn, there are a lot of people like this.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Sadly, this should have been said Nov 15 2011. The game released nov 17, no one is going to buy the game anymore anyway, this business is a first, day, first week, first month sort of business, beyond that, no one cares unless a miracle occurs. Sure, it's a largely European game, with european audience, which might give it a slightly longer tail, but it's still 50 bucks, so I can't imagine they're moving a lot of copies. The damage has been done, and we've already bought it if we were going to get it.
It's still on the 'top sellers' page on steam, either because they're paying for a spot there (god forbid Ubisoft would ever do anything so dishonest), or because steam sales this week/day/hour whatever are so anemic it's a statistical anomaly.
A few Symantec products such as Norton Internet Security suite have this issue as well. Real world example: Hardware DRM doesn’t work for MacOS users running Parallels. In the Mac OS, Parallels can “temporally” virtualize the natively installed Windows (a.k.a. BootCamp) partition. A benefit of virtualizing hardware in this manner is faster disk access for Windows. The MacOS BIOS switches to legacy mode (133Mb/s hard drive access) when booted natively into a non-MacOS environment, rather than (3Gb/s drive access). Innovation is being stifled by hardware DRM. My advice is to not limit yourself and avoid all software with hardware DRM.
I'm pretty sure this new program will hurt pirates. In which way this new program will hurt pirates? UBISOFT?
Hilarious. Ubisoft and EA are both on my "verify exactly how the DRM works before spending the money".
It was an advertised feature. As such, yes, there probably were people for whom being able to run Linux on the console WAS a reason they bought it. Was it THE reason they bought it? Probably not, but have you ever heard of XBMC? It was originally written for the Xbox console to provide an HTPC interface to users' media that isn't necessarily delivered compliments of Redmond.
Given a choice beween, say, and Xbox on which you have to install third-party software to get this functionality, and a PS3 which allowed it right out of the box, the allowing it right out of the box was undoubtedly a big factor in several users purchasing a PS3 instead of an Xbox. And now, those users are not only screwed, but they would have been better off if they had just gotten an Xbox instead.
Maybe you don't think it was a big deal, but to a lot of users, it was a bait-and-switch. They sold them one thing, and then after the fact, deliberately gimped it so that it didn't suit their purposes.
ubsoft peeps-
I got connections all over the place. I know the Editor N Chief of Kotaku , IGN , Engadget I’ll be meeting them later today to discuss your situation. I'll get you attention you need pax east pax west , e3 , CES , Gamer Con , SSXW ,Comic Con, Germany I’m all over the place. I'll leverage my relationships with my main distribution arm landing us in GameStop , fry’s , Myers , Best buy , Activision , MLG , play N trade and a lot more.
Dont worry about those complete morons on slashdo tpissing and moaning about drm. I say Welcome to the Internet. I'm 38 I wwebsite as on the internet when they were a sperm in their daddys balls and before it was the internet. I'll get this shit straightened out...
Gimme a shout.
Paul Christoforo, Ocean Marketing
Do they offer a deactivation tool of any sort, or are you just shit out of luck?
The problem is that this licensing shit went to their heads. Instead of it just being, "This is a license for you to install this game and play it." it went to, "This is a license for you to install this game and play it, here are a bunch of terms you have to agree to above and beyond copyright laws.", and then, "This is a license for you to install this game and play it, here are a bunch of terms you have to agree to above and beyond copyright laws, and also you're limited to only a few activations and playing the game while you're online."
Some corporate software has been licensed and tied to specific hardware, and Ubisoft wants to get in on the action. Honestly, if it were up to software vendors, we'd be paying $10/hr just to play their games, and probably additional fees if we wanted to see the ending or use multiplayer.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
There has been a lot of discussion about only buying games with minimal or no DRM. When I see a game I might be interested in, how do I find out what DRM it has? It's generally not something that's advertised on the front of the box (physical or virtual). Is there a site / wiki / database I can consult? I have learned about the DRM scheme of quite a few games in these comments...
That kid you knew in pre-school who, when the square peg didn't fit in the round hole, first tried to force it in until his fingers were bloodied and then finally hammered it in with his forehead? He grew up to be the CEO of Ubisoft.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Steam is notorious for not posting the 3rd party DRM disclosure until a good month or two after the game's release.
In some cases, they mention the DRM under "system requirements" instead, and never post it in the usual place.
This is part of why the CP game market is dying.
In the past I've completely replace my main PC about every three or four years, with small upgrades (more RAM, an extra drive, maybe a graphics card upgrade (though that is more rare)) in between as needed. The only upgrade I've made since the last rebuild is an extra drive. My little server is in need of replacement though (it has cut out under heavy load a couple of times, I suspect the CPU is about to burn something out) and so I'm planning a rebuild of the desktop and putting the server's drives into the old one.
Here is my quandary: a large part of the build cost is games related (a fancy pants graphics card and a Windows license: neither of which are cheap), and stories like this make me wonder why I'm bothering with that. I could just do without this sort of game (it isn't like I have much time to play them anyway at the moment) and spend that cash on something else entirely. I'm never likely to buy a console, so it isn't like companies like gaming related companies or Microsoft are going to make their money back off me that way. Without considering games I could get a far cheaper GFX card (I'm only planning on replacing the perfectly serviceable card I have now because I want something that supports three or more monitors, not because the current card isn't up to playing the games I have - there are far cheaper cards that have three independent outputs) and drop Windows completely at home.
Decisions decisions: drop Windows and my back catalogue of games now, or give in this time around and do that next time (by when hopefully games will have been forced to be more cross-platform, operating via browsers using WebGL instead of OS specific graphics stacks)...
I've been bitten by Ubisoft's DRM before. Never again am I buying Ubisoft products.
I bought Raving Rabbids once with a gift card, given to me by my girlfriend's family. I had a DVD writer in the cutting-edge (at the time) computer that I'd built. Nowhere on the box or any other literature including Ubisoft's website was it mentioned that DVD writers would trigger the DRM. It installed, but then wouldn't play. The startup error was caused by the DRM, as was stated by a great many forum posts around the Internet. No solutions were anywhere to be found other than removing the drive. The disc is required to be present in order to play. Writers are standard on most store-bought computers. So I spent an hour on hold then had a 45 minute phone call with a tech support guy who got progressively angrier with me (???!!!) as the problem turned out to be unfixable, who told me that next time I need to check the hardware requirements on the box before purchasing a product then hung up on me when I asked to talk to a manager. I never did get to play that game... and couldn't return it, because the store manager was very adamant that it was against the law to take returns on software.
With products and customer support like this, how are they still in business? Why must people perpetuate this mess by giving them money?
But they keep amazing me every time their managers come up with a new, even more insane DRM. Seriously, is there still a game behind all this crap? Well, if there is, I suggest that ubidroids do not ship any game next time, only DRM which will require your autopsy results for authentication. That's how they can keep piracy level at ZERO!
I liked the Anno 1404 series (Dawn of Discovery). Would play it a few hours each night with some friends. It was very disconnect tolerant too, unlike every other RTS out there.
2070 looked great but i was going to wait for the price to drop some. But now? I know i'd burn up the 3 installs in as many years :( Seems silly for an install limit on top of steam.
http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
While it may be admirable to see some reviewers give failing ratings due to DRM, what that really does is make them a single-point reviewer. That will be the place to go to find out if it has DRM. However, most people are actually looking for a review of how the game will perform on their hardware, and thus they will leave that reviewer and find one that does actually find a way to provide a review.
I certainly think the DRM should be called out, but I think that it shouldn't serve as a litmus test for the review.
Given Ubisoft name has over the last few years become synonymous with the worst kind of f**k-the-user DRM, I'm amazed there's still enough (uninformed) people buying Ubisoft products to keep them in business.
It also amazes me how many companies will never admit they made a stupid decision and reverse it even if the decision ultimately makes their whole company fail.
Or you could, you know, just not play the game. You got burned once, and thank goodness, you were able to get past it. Why in the world would you volunteer to get burned again? I'm of the weird opinion that I shouldn't have to crack my games. If I know or strongly suspect that I'd have to, I simply don't buy it. That way, not only is the company out potential income, they're also out my word-of-mouth advertising since I don't talk to anyone about games I don't own.
I would say that if you're going to treat your customers like thieves, then you deserve to be robbed; but that implies that piracy is theft in the first place.
Ubisoft doesn't deserve your money.
Ironically, this kind of DRM makes me MORE likely to just get a pirate copy rather than buy it.
The store pages does say hardware locked.
So does the steam ver not have this?
DRM in general and this heavy handed DRM approach in particular irritates the heck out of me. However it seems to me the vast majority pc gamers don't change hardware enough, if at all, for this threshold to affect them. My point being it's unlikely it will generate enough ire for them to change the practice. If anything I see DRM on games more than ever.
My favourite game is still M.U.L.E. on the c64, I still play it with VICE.
Im not a proponent of piracy nor do I encourage it but in instances like this I will pirate the game before I actually play it. Its a shame that people who will pirate and steal this game will be able to play hassle free. Course thats the way all games are anymore because if you steal a game then you crack it in some fashion and you never are hassled with activations, online connection required, cdkeys, cd checks, registration, specific number of activations and so on because you crack the game and play it without a bit of trouble. While that is going on people who actually buy the game will then have to jump through hoops and have headaches trying to play the game they paid for.
What game companies dont understand is the more you hassle your legitimate customers trying to keep your game from being stolen the more people will steal it. Invasive drm will drive more people to piracy. Especially today when games are costing more and more to play with quality getting lower and lower when coupled with invasive drm of course people will steal your product.
Ubisoft, if you want more people to give you money then you need to earn it from them and treat your paying customers well. You release better quality of games, you stop with this drm bullshit and lower your prices a little and you will find more gamers will flock to you for treating them well.
Example: Sins of a solar empire. It was a pc game that had little marketing but sold like gangbusters, it was in top 10 game sales for the pc for like 6 months despite the fact it didnt have any activations, didnt have even a cdkey, it didnt even have a cdcheck so you could install 1 disc on a thousand pcs, no registrations, no nothing. Why? Because it was a good game, because it had a affordable price point and because stardock didnt hassle their customers with bullshit drm.
Im done with ubisoft and I wont buy their games anymore because Im tired of them releasing shit games, ass's creed every year and hassling customers with this drm stuff. So if I want to buy their games Ill get them used off ebay so they dont get any of my money.
They apparently Will buy anything.
I've skipped the last few Ubisoft games; thankfully, they have an idiot at the company that told us how bad Crysis2 would suck.
I haven't bought anything from them since Crysis; looks like the company would have done well, if they hadn't gone all George broussard on us.
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
An appeal: Don't pirate Ubisoft games. Don't buy them either. Just completely ignore them. Don't be their bitch. If you pirate the game, you will distract their ADD-addled minds from the fact that their DRM is alienating their customers. What they see instead, if they have evidence of a lot of piracy is "We have a lot of people who like are games, we gotta make it harder for them to pirate so they'll pay", and so the DRM just gets worse, and worse, and worse.
If people start refusing to both buy and pirate the games, then what they are forced to face is "all our games are failures - even ones that got great critical reviews; why are all our games failures", then maybe, maybe, they will eventually reach the conclusion, "Because our customers absolutely hate our crappy DRM, and we've driven them away".
I don't pirate anything. If I want a game I buy it. That said, I'm to the point where I don't buy the new games coming out because of the DRM. Too bad because there are a lot of games that look fun. On the bright side I'm catching up on other things. :)
The sad thing is that most consumers will have no idea and will be out the cost of the game.
yet again they make a game with more features when pirated
The Steam page says on the right:
3rd-party DRM: Solidshield Tages SAS
3 machine activation limit
Shenanigans like this are only among the worst, but hardly unique. Because of these types of schemes, I no longer buy PC games.
I have pirated games in the past, but I don't even bother with that any more since most PC games are just bad Xbox ports any more. The upside is that giving up PC games has liberated me of the one reason I have kept (my paid for - licensed and legit copy of) Windows on my PC, now I can run Linux on my desktop 100% of the time instead of dual-booting.
So, from my perspective the game companies aren't just slitting their own throats, but Microsoft's as well. Well done.
Solution: Get the pirated version. It comes with all the features of the paid version, but without the pesky DRM.
Ten years from now, they'll finally figure out that making your version not only more expensive but also less useful is not exactly what will drive customers towards it.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
a video card is not a machine.
"That's fair"? No it isn't! How on earth is it fair? The game costs 50 dollars!
http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Anno-2070-CrackOnly-RELOADED/43581f08b876b00b1b52e8fdee821a27e6dd8c00f6a6
Problem, Ubitards?
I hope you go bankrupt.
Steam guarantees no piracy if bought through that medium, including something like this is asking to get boycotted (again?).
Wouldn't a hardware profile mask solve this problem? The principle has been used elsewhere -- MAC addresses can be spoofed, and User Agent Switcher can fake browser configurations, for example.
Present such a DRM scheme with a mask that remains the same through multiple hardware changes, and it will never be aware of the first hardware change.
Good Old Games, and some new (like Witcher) and never any DRM
They Moved the warning. Right side,game details box, directly under languages:
3rd-party DRM: Solidshield Tages SAS
3 machine activation limit
Just do not buy ubisoft software or any other product from a source you do not like, it is that simple.
I am not a gamer, but I have often wondered on threads like this why no one talks about sueing the offending company. This seems to be a perfect example of delibratly sabotaging a product.
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice" -- God
Ubisoft has been trying to use DRM in their games for years and has failed at every attempt at a functional DRM that dosen't limit the person who "purchased" the game.
I recently bought Heroes of Might and Magic VI not realizing it was owned by Ubisoft. I was unable to play the game right after I downloaded it (their Authentication system was down to login to). After waiting several hours I was finally able to login and play. After about 2 hours of play I was disconnected again because the connection to their DRM server was lost. This meant I couldn't continue my game (and all saved data was lost too). After waiting a day it was finally back up. And on weekends you deal with the same problem.
Plenty of other games, systems, etc have been able to do very simple and very easy DRM on games. Look at battle.net and all of blizzards games. Their DRM management is so effective you don't even realize your dealing with any type of DRM or license authentication.
Gamers are willing to deal with DRM if it allows them to play their damn games they bought (forever) and have to deal with very little when dealing with the DRM. Ubisoft hasn't realize this and it will (and should be) the death of the company.
TruePunk | Games
In many country with customer protectuion it would be neigh impossible to uphold an EULA, and have the following 3 things happens in store :
1) not being able to get a refund for box opened game
2) not being able to use the same game due to refusing EULA
3) not being able to see the agreement you sign to before purchase
All 3 together are fully unsustainable with customer protection. Either you can get refund, OR you can still use the game because the EULA is NIL, OR the publisher must make the EULA available to read before the purchase , on the box, in a readable form. Since in practice 3) and 1) are not available, all customer protection law in my country automatically make EULA invalid.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Is there any way to "buy" a copy from TPB and pay blue byte directly for a license? Putting up with ubi's crazy drm is simply unacceptable
I am currently on my gaming laptop (which I also use for work) which is nice for using on a table or desk. When I'm out and about or I go to play games with friends, I use my Samsung Series 7 Slate which is a tablet, but I bring a wireless keyboard if I need it or just a game pad. When I'm laying on the couch, I use my HTPC connected to a projector with a 110" screen. Though, sometimes my son displaces me and makes me play using the game PC connected to the projector with a 85" screen on the perpendicular wall. That's 4 computers I use to play games many times all in the same day. Of course, I sometimes play Lego games hooked up to the Mac Mini connected to the living room TV. My son might decide to play on either his laptop or the mac mini connected to the screen in his bed. My daughter might play on the mac book or on the HTPC connected to the TV in her bedroom or we can play on the HTPC connected to the TV in our bedroom. My wife and I have laid in bed playing lego harry potter like that often enough.
Altogether, when I buy a game, if it has restrictive DRM, it should at most limit the number of PCs it can be played on at a time. Maybe make it so you can only access the online portions of the game from one PC at a time per license. But since I have 10 PCs just in my house which are often used for gaming.. and another 5 notebooks I keep around for having friends over for game nights, I can't be bothered with stupid things like trying to figure out which PC I want to play a game on.
The DRM seems quite transparent as it is now - as in it doesn't hassle the user unless it hits the limit.
So what if they put say a 6 month limit on each hardware install count - like point on your drivers licence?
I'd say it is highly unlikely you go through 3 devices in that time frame, and it would certainly cover the 'peak interest' period of the pirates [of course they would crack it easily anyway but still some smoke and mirrors for the publisher is needed]
Would that make people happy as a middle of the road solution?
It isn't solely DRM for the publisher of this game either. You see that shiny thing with the DRM on it? That's called a "DVD". It's a distribution method. However, having that shiny medium in your hand allows you to install, and since this may not be the legitimate owner trying to install, they have to put DRM on it.
So, in what way, exactly, is Steam DRM different from this DRM in what it's for?
In no way, as far as I can tell.
http://qdb.us/306931
Quote:
" The best way for a baker to prevent his delicious cakes being stolen would be to cover them in dogshit and broken glass, but in doing so he would also kill his sales. Ubisoft are currently that baker."
Game purchased on Steam.
Game works for three months.
Game stops working.
"Tough, nothing to do with us" say Steam.
"Sorry, can't help you" say Ubisoft.
Lots of complaining leads to "The game wasn't designed for Windows 7, it's your fault for buying it" from Ubisoft.
"But...but....it worked when I bought it! I've been playing it for months! How hard can it be to patch something that people are still paying for?"
"Tough"
So....will I trust this series of games again? No, I'll just go on playing Skyrim. And Ubisoft will no doubt claim that, if it doesn't sell, piracy killed their market.
Nothing to do with Steam/ Ubisoft not giving a fuck once they've got your money. Nothing at all.
Now, if you're going to be a criminal (for downloading the crack) anyway, why did you bother buying in the first place? Just download the pirated version from the off.
I install my steam games onto 4 computers pretty much as a standard. Steam prevents me from using more than one at any given time. Had I foolishly purchased Anno 2070, I would have demanded a refund in the first day due to their DRM. I agree to the implied "one user per time" limitation of Steam. I will not accept any hidden limitations making it more strict than that.
I don't like the argument that many are pirating software as some sort of protest against draconian measures. A few sure, but they are the exceptions.
I say this because even the Humble Indie Bundle sees piracy and that has no DRM.
Many pirates are doing it because they dislike the price/find it more convenient to pirate/want to share something cool with friends.
This make me angry. This basically kills the ideas of agile hardware platforms, interchangeable parts, and modular systems. Upgrade your video card (or some other part) X times and oops, you're locked out of the game. DRM systems like this begin to push all the interchangeable/modular hardware advancements in the opposite direction. This DRM is regressive. Given enough time, and greed, ideas and systems like this will pull us into a modular hardware 'dark age'.
that there are games that don't require a computer at all, and have been enjoyed unchanged since ancient times? Chess.
As for computer games, FPS jones is fulfilled by Quake III which amazingly still works on Win 7, without a key CD being in the drive. I play it multiple times per day and have done so for years. New game? We don't need no steenkin' new game...
I had stop buying EA game after the "online require" scheme.
Now, I will stop buying Ubisoft game.
I guess I will leave Pc Gaming with the next gen console release.
When I buy a game, I usually reinstall it 5 years later to play again. I did with many nineties title and I can't do that with the new Ubisoft scheme to "screw" their customer base.
Voila.
Yet another way they punish you for purchasing their game. This is the reason I won't buy a Bethesda game either. The "always online" DRM for single player games makes no sense to me. Even Gabe (of Valve not Penny Arcade) says that DRM is one of the main reasons people pirate a game and I tend to agree.
Yeah, I've been kind of disgusted with major game companies for the past few years as well. The only games I buy any more are developed by Indie devs. Gotta love the Humble Bundle. DRM like this always costs the company more by pissing off legitimate customers than it could ever hope to regain by preventing piracy. In order to profit by preventing piracy, you not only need to stop an individual from pirating the game, but convince them to buy a legitimate copy of the game.
First off, it's effectively impossible to completely prevent piracy. You can make it more difficult, but it will always still be possible if the pirates are determined enough. There are in general three types of people who play PC games. Those that refuse to pirate anything (let's call them Consumers), those who will sometimes purchase games, or sometimes pirate them (Casual Pirates), and those who never pay for games (Hardcore Pirates). Those Hardcore Pirates are inherently lost. No matter what the company does, they will not gain any profit from them.
The optimal solution is to stop Casual Pirates as well as possible, while not losing any of the Consumers. DRM like Ubisoft is pushing is going at it backwards. They need to incentivize purchasing rather than attempting (futilely) to prevent piracy. The old-school method of having an activation key tied to your install, and simply preventing the same key from playing multiplayer at the same time worked well in my opinion. It wasn't an onerous burden on legitimate users, and those who pirated did not have full usage of the software.