Ubisoft Claims PC Piracy Rate of 93-95%

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Ubisoft Claims PC Piracy Rate of 93-95%

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday August 22, 2012 @05:50AM from the pirata-ergo-sum dept.

silentbrad sends this quote from GamesIndustry: "Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has told GamesIndustry International that the percentage of paying players is the same for free to play as it is for PC boxed product: around five to seven per cent. ... 'On PC it's only around five to seven per cent of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it's only about five to seven per cent who pay anyway, the rest is pirated. It's around a 93-95 per cent piracy rate, so it ends up at about the same percentage. The revenue we get from the people who play is more long term, so we can continue to bring content.' ... 'We must be careful because the consoles are coming. People are saying that the traditional market is declining and that F2P is everything — I'm not saying that. We're waiting for the new consoles — I think that the new consoles will give a huge boost to the industry, just like they do every time that they come. This time, they took too long so the market is waiting.'"

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DRM worked out then.. by matthiasvegh · 2012-08-22 05:52 · Score: 5, Insightful

So remind us Ubisoft, why exactly did you create that horrible DRM?
1. Re:DRM worked out then.. by fredprado · 2012-08-22 05:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Because otherwise some people would want to buy their games. Oh, the horror!
2. Re:DRM worked out then.. by newcastlejon · 2012-08-22 05:57 · Score: 2
  
  Maybe they're just counting every download of a no-cd as a pirate. I mean, that makes at least as much sense as the figures he's spouting.
  
  --
  If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
3. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Vanderhoth · 2012-08-22 05:58 · Score: 2
  
  Didn't you read the summary?
  
  The DRM scheme is working fine their piracy rates are by 5-7% from 100% piracy to 93-95%
  
  /end sarcasm.
4. Re:DRM worked out then.. by brit74 · 2012-08-22 06:12 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  So remind us Ubisoft, why exactly did you create that horrible DRM?
  My guess is because:
  - They hope that the next DRM will work
  - They hope that, even if the DRM gets broken, that they'll still have a period of time when it's not broken. Having a few months of sales with zero pirates (even if the DRM gets broken on the third month) is actually useful.
5. Re:DRM worked out then.. by mkraft · 2012-08-22 06:12 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  It's likely the DRM is driving people to piracy, even those who purchased the game, since the DRM frequently makes the game unplayable.
6. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Creepy · 2012-08-22 06:15 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I think he's putting spin on this - he doesn't say 93-95% is pirated, he says 5-7% pay for free-to-play compared to BOXED SET, as in retail. He doesn't mention how much business is digital download, and TFA is reading into it to say he means the rest is pirated (but that is all due to the spin he wanted to put on it). It would not surprise me AT ALL if only 5-7% of game sales is retail these days (probably more on console than PC, however).
7. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Mitreya · 2012-08-22 06:16 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  So remind us Ubisoft, why exactly did you create that horrible DRM?
  The DRM is the only thing keeping piracy rate under 100% and away from the natural 1000%-1300%!
8. Re:DRM worked out then.. by djdanlib · 2012-08-22 06:24 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Yup, their DRM makes their games unplayable on my computer. Standard Windows PC with the only optical drive being a DVD burner. You know, one of the standard choices available on most PCs. Their customer support people got angry that I kept pressing the issue and told me to read the box more carefully next time I buy a game... Guess what, I will do that: I will skip anything that says Ubisoft on the box. It didn't say anything about not working if a burner was present.
9. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 06:27 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  uh... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ubisoft_games I could go thru this list and pick probably 20 worth playing.
  However the original comment I would say stands. So you end up with 90% piracy rate and piss off those who REALLY do pay for it. How exactly was that DRM boondoggle good again?
  I personally have deliberately skipped a few games lately if they have ubisoft on them even if they have the steam DRM in them. I have 0 problem paying for my games. I have a big problem with games that eventually expire, flake out because of DRM, or require a DVD to be in the drive all the time. I am not going to give my money to a company that up front wants to treat me like I want to steal from them. I do not even pirate their games. I have too many to play that work just fine with no DRM in them at all.
  In spite of the DRM I still buy my games. Then crack them. I do not want a CD running all the time. Most are game CDs are poorly made and make most drives vibrate which is annoying on a laptop... Surprisingly most DVDs are better made and vibrate very little.
  I just will not be buying ubisoft games until they cut the crap of treating me like a thief. It only makes me say 'skip' every time no matter how good their games are.
10. Re:DRM worked out then.. by gigaherz · 2012-08-22 06:28 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  Prince of Persia (whole series), Assassin's Creed 2 & Brotherhood, Rayman Origins & Legends, From Dust, ... and that's just the ones I liked the most. IMO, Ubisoft is, at the moment, the best game publisher.
11. Re:DRM worked out then.. by gigaherz · 2012-08-22 06:29 · Score: 1
  
  One of the DRM iterations managed to keep the games unpirated for over a week, which made it worth the cost for them (cost being some legit users unable to play after they had purchased the games).
12. Re:DRM worked out then.. by residieu · 2012-08-22 06:37 · Score: 2
  
  Or even just driving the legitimate buyers away. They may not turn to piracy, but if 50% of your paying players leave (and go buy someone else's game instead), that drives up the proportion of your players who are pirates.
13. Re:DRM worked out then.. by omnichad · 2012-08-22 06:41 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  And then they'll count you and your cracked (purchased) copy as a pirated copy. No wonder they get such high numbers in their estimates.
14. Re:DRM worked out then.. by ifrag · 2012-08-22 06:42 · Score: 1
  
  The Anno series is pretty good. It's a shame there is Ubisoft involvement since it could probably be better without their "help".
  
  --
  Fear is the mind killer.
15. Re:DRM worked out then.. by kav2k · 2012-08-22 06:42 · Score: 1
  
  That wasn't really the question. The question was - which of their games are worth playing if it wasn't for DRM.
16. Re:DRM worked out then.. by omnichad · 2012-08-22 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  Which doesn't even make sense. Ripping a game doesn't require a burner. Two networked PC's will get around that stupid concept pretty quickly.
17. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Aereus · 2012-08-22 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  Are you kidding me? If you even have a DVD burner present in your system the game won't run? Most PCs and a lot of laptops these days come with a DVD burner, if not a Bluray burner possibly even...
18. Re:DRM worked out then.. by DarwinSurvivor · 2012-08-22 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  Well, in Canada it means that the digital locks provision kicks in, even if you have a fully paid-for version as well.
19. Re:DRM worked out then.. by RanCossack · 2012-08-22 06:49 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The real cost is users later choosing not to buy more games they won't be able to play.
  
  I'm not saying 'pirate!' either. It is undeniably legitimate to choose other ways of spending one's money and time.
20. Re:DRM worked out then.. by djdanlib · 2012-08-22 06:50 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I just wanted to play Raving Rabbids. Yeah, imagine my embarrassment when I had to tell my girlfriend's family, who gave not-financially-well-off me the gift card for Christmas, that I'd bought a game I couldn't play and basically their money was wasted. Telling her was bad enough. I couldn't even return the game since it was already open. Ubisoft wouldn't help, the store wouldn't help. So they don't get any more of my money and I'm happy to tell the story.
21. Re:DRM worked out then.. by crazyjj · 2012-08-22 07:02 · Score: 2
  
  Are you serious? A Ubisoft game won't run on a system with a DVD burner drive?!?!?
  Jesus, no wonder people pirate their games. I'm not even a big anti-DRM zealot and even I wouldn't put up with that shit. Every system I own has a DVD burner.
  
  --
  What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
22. Re:DRM worked out then.. by jandrese · 2012-08-22 07:05 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Without DRM I'm sure he would be quoting piracy rates of 120-140%.
  
  --
  
  I read the internet for the articles.
23. Re:DRM worked out then.. by zarthrag · 2012-08-22 07:06 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  As someone who bought up every game leading up to GRAW2, Pretty much every Prince of Persia, and most of the Splinter Cell games, but only the first AC game - that's a significant amount of cash. So this is an important point:
  Ubisoft, a couple of years ago....I QUIT YOU.
  I put up with the lack of patches for some games, and the Single-player games laden with always-on connections/drm/rootkits are where I draw the line. Just because you have some franchises, doesn't mean you no longer have to compete. There are plenty of new games every week that are vying for my money. I have NO problem finding entertainment that isn't trying to piss me off. (The way I see it, that 7% deserves to dwindle, the pirates clearly make a better product than you. How can you spit numbers like that, and have no clue) I've flipped you guys the bird, and it's still flyin'....C'est la vie, looks like I wasn't the only one.
  Sad, I *still* play my Ghost Recon games...but Future Soldier is off the table for my pc. Maybe I'll pick up a copy for the PS3.... ....Used.
  
  --
  Why can't all fpga/microcontroller manufacturers just release free optimizing compilers???
24. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Keith111 · 2012-08-22 07:09 · Score: 2
  
  I haven't bought (or played) an ubisoft game since Assassin's Creed 1... it was right around then that their whole DRM business started going out of control and it just soured my entire opinion of the company. AC1 was good and I've heard the others are better, but I just don't care anymore; Better companies are making better games, I'll play those instead.
25. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Nadaka · 2012-08-22 07:15 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  Some of my friends have those games, and they are not worth playing even without drm, even for free.
  You would have to pay me, and better than minimum wage, for me to waste my time on those games.
26. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Ironhandx · 2012-08-22 07:30 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Thier DRM is so bad that I crack it every fucking time.
  Even though I legitimately own many Ubisoft games I'm counted as a pirate just because I've downloaded a cracked EXE or loader so I don't have to deal with DRM-related crashes.
  Like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I and II. Both were DRM Crippled. They'd crash constantly. ALL of my problems disappeared as soon as I installed cracked EXEs. Those games got better reviews from the pirates than from the real players because the DRM-Stripped version was more stable.
27. Re:DRM worked out then.. by oakgrove · 2012-08-22 07:30 · Score: 1
  
  their piracy rates are by 5-7% from 100% piracy to 93-95%
  That's a meaningless and highly inflated statistic without proper context though. To say the piracy rate of PC games is "93-95" percent ignores the fact that many of those copyright infringers would have just went without if piracy had been in some way impossible. The real number is what percent of the people that torrented the game would have bought and figure out what percentage of the whole that is. So if 100,000 people have your game and 7,000 of those people actually paid, that doesn't mean the other 93,000 people are lost sales. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say less than a third of pirates would actually buy the less than spectacular games given no other choice. So if 7,000 people bought your game and 30,000 people would have bought that's a piracy rate of "only" 81 percent which while not great is a far cry from the quoted figure from the article. I realize this is a well-worn argument but as long as people like this Ubisoft guy are ignoring reality to push the agenda, it bears telling.
  That being said, the real question is what are the absolute number of sales in the respective percentages above? The way I see it, any conclusions drawn from a direct comparison are pretty worthless other than to be spun as a talking point as there are so many variables involved.
  
  --
  The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
28. Re:DRM worked out then.. by HapSlappy_2222 · 2012-08-22 07:38 · Score: 1
  
  And then they'll count you and your cracked (purchased) copy as a pirated copy.
  "114% of all our games are pirated!"
  
  -clueless CEO
29. Re:DRM worked out then.. by PopeRatzo · 2012-08-22 07:43 · Score: 2
  
  Ubisoft is, at the moment, the best game publisher.
  OK, you like some of their games, that's a matter of taste.
  But saying they're the "best game publisher" is unconvincing. They put out some of the worst console ports, buggy games and horribly intrusive DRM.
  They've had a few titles that I've played and enjoyed, but I've always cursed something about a Ubisoft game. It cuts into the enjoyment when you have to grind your teeth about something during the experience of playing.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
30. Re:DRM worked out then.. by frosty_tsm · 2012-08-22 07:45 · Score: 1
  
  Are you kidding me? If you even have a DVD burner present in your system the game won't run? Most PCs and a lot of laptops these days come with a DVD burner, if not a Bluray burner possibly even...
  Maybe that's where the statistic comes from: most customers can't play the non-pirated version.
31. Re:DRM worked out then.. by PopeRatzo · 2012-08-22 07:46 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The DRM scheme is working fine their piracy rates are by 5-7% from 100% piracy to 93-95%
  I think the truth is that the "Free to Play" games aren't worth the price.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
32. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Jane+Q.+Public · 2012-08-22 07:50 · Score: 1
  
  The last Myst game I bought was very frustrating... the DRM insisted that I insert the install CD every time I played it, which made it difficult to play when I was not at home (it was on a laptop).
  
  I called Cyan to complain. The person on the phone seemed very sympathetic. He said, "Yes, I understand perfectly, and my colleagues and I agree with you... but that was done by the publisher and we have no control over it." The publisher of course being Ubisoft.
33. Re:DRM worked out then.. by davewoods · 2012-08-22 07:51 · Score: 1
  
  I do not recall a time when I did NOT download a no-cd cracked version of a purchased game. I eventually got tired of it though, I really only buy games from Humble Bundle just so I can avoid the whole mess.
34. Re:DRM worked out then.. by davewoods · 2012-08-22 07:52 · Score: 1
  
  Then you have very unique tastes.
35. Re:DRM worked out then.. by million_monkeys · 2012-08-22 07:54 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  FUCK their estimates. I want hard scientific data of how they got their supposed numbers.
  Google "goatse" and you'll find a picture that shows where they pulled the numbers from.
36. Re:DRM worked out then.. by rolfwind · 2012-08-22 07:57 · Score: 2
  
  What if the DRM costs $$$ via increased customer support and returns (if possible)? Or just people avoiding buying their games? I know as a paying customer, I avoid companies that give me a hard time using their product, if possible and decent alternatives exist. Not so much games (I don't play) but utilities and the like.
37. Re:DRM worked out then.. by KhabaLox · 2012-08-22 08:35 · Score: 1
  
  FWIW, I never had a problem with my uncracked version of KOTOR I.
  
  --
  Ceci n'est pas un sig.
38. Re:DRM worked out then.. by KhabaLox · 2012-08-22 08:38 · Score: 1
  
  Not to mention, I expect you don't have to play the game to rip it.
  
  --
  Ceci n'est pas un sig.
39. Re:DRM worked out then.. by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2012-08-22 08:38 · Score: 1
  
  I want to see a graph of their profits going down that correlates to a graph of piracy numbers going up.
  
  --
  
  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
40. Re:DRM worked out then.. by drkim · 2012-08-22 08:47 · Score: 2
  
  Have you ever seen a game developed by Ubisoft worth playing?
  Their "Rainbow Six" series was pretty cool.
41. Re:DRM worked out then.. by hairyfeet · 2012-08-22 09:00 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I haven't bought any Ubisucks since the always online DRM debacle but since Ubisuck can pull numbers out of their ass how about I pull a few of my own?
  I USED to see plenty of pirated games on the PCs that came through my doors, now I don't, why? Steam made it easy and cheap to buy, no different than how many of the music lovers go to iTunes and/or Amazon now instead of wasting time looking through badly labeled P2P files. Funny part is the only games I DO see more often pirated? Those with really nasty system breaking DRM like....drumroll...Ubisuck!
  What Ubisuck needs to do is take a lesson from Valve, make it easy, make it simple, make it cheap. I bet if someone at /. would get a hold of Valve and ask them (without naming names) to compare the sales of the bundles with nasty DRM VS those that only used Steam you'd find shock! Gasp! That people don't want to mess with all that hoop jumping, online pass, always on broken down bullshit and so simply walk away or go talk to Mr Pirate that has a functional copy. I know I had my CC in my hand to buy the AC and Splinter Cell bundles...until I saw the always on DRM crap, then I just went down the line and bought other bundles instead.
  But this guy says it better than I ever could (warning: Language NSFW but who can blame 'em?) and gives a perfect example of how nasty DRM doesn't do anything but bite the consumer in the ass. Watch as he has to crack his brand new retail boxed game just to get the damned thing to run.
  So please Ubisoft, feel free to make console only (which just FYI but CL is full of cracked X360s for as little as $100 with games preloaded) if all you are gonna do is take a steaming dump on your games with always online shit. I USED to buy a lot of your games Ubisoft, hell I'm looking at the Far Cry box sitting on the shelf in front of me where I broke it out to run it during slow periods in the shop, but no more. I don't pirate your games either, I just give my money to companies like Valve that give me working games in return. No Sale.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
42. Re:DRM worked out then.. by daenris · 2012-08-22 09:03 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Actually, he is saying it's 93-95% pirated.
  this is a quote from TFA where it is quoted from Yves Guillemot
  
  On PC it's only around five to seven per cent of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it's only about five to seven per cent who pay anyway, the rest is pirated. It's around a 93-95 per cent piracy rate, so it ends up at about the same percentage.
43. Re:DRM worked out then.. by RocketRabbit · 2012-08-22 09:16 · Score: 1
  
  Didn't you read the fine print on the box? You know, the note that said "Ubisoft?"
44. Re:DRM worked out then.. by UltraZelda64 · 2012-08-22 09:17 · Score: 1
  
  Yes. A few (but not all) of the Prince of Persia games were good. Then again, the couple that weren't good sucked dick. But... that's about it. I don't recall any other games they made that I liked, though there might have been one or two. And if they were so great themselves, I wouldn't have a hard time trying to remember them.
45. Re:DRM worked out then.. by hairyfeet · 2012-08-22 09:18 · Score: 1
  
  That is what I've long called "PPT math" where some PHB trots out a PPT to whichever politician they are buying this week and goes "As you can see we sold X on the consoles, and since there are many more PCs on the planet we should have sold X+Y but since we didn't? It has to be those ebil pirates! Give us nastier laws."
  But what do you expect from such a anti-consumer company like Ubisoft? This is why even though I haven't downloaded a single Ubisoft game I'm sure their PPT has me as a pirate. After all I buy PC games, but I haven't bought any of theirs, therefor i HAD to have stolen them, right? Their shit is just too damned good for me to avoid like the clap because of always online DRM, right?
  So if you wanna snatch then snatch, if you don't then don't, they'll have you on their little PPT as a pirate anyway.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
46. Re:DRM worked out then.. by grumpyman · 2012-08-22 09:30 · Score: 2
  
  Wow... Slashdot - Fox News for Nerds.
47. Re:DRM worked out then.. by tsotha · 2012-08-22 09:30 · Score: 1
  
  How can they quantify accurately the losses for people who purchased legitimate copies and couldn't play? They would have to know how many future sales they're losing by pissing these people off.
48. Re:DRM worked out then.. by acariquara · 2012-08-22 09:31 · Score: 1
  
  Well, a such a large figure must come from a somewhat wide place...
  
  --
  Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
49. Re:DRM worked out then.. by cpu6502 · 2012-08-22 09:42 · Score: 1
  
  >>>Steam made it easy and cheap to buy, no different than how many of the music lovers go to iTunes and/or Amazon now instead of wasting time looking through badly labeled P2P files.
  I do.
  Waste time looking through P2P files. Mainly because I found a torrent site that has clean iPod/AppleTV friendly files. Secondarily because if I couldn't the thing for free, I'd find some other form of entertainment.
  For example if I can't find Games of Thrones or Final Fantasy 14 for free, then I'll just skip it and watch/play something else. It's a false presumption by Ubisoft, RIAA, MPAA, etc that downloaders are "lost sales". Some of us downloaders still wouldn't buy the item.
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
50. Re:DRM worked out then.. by doodlebumm · 2012-08-22 09:51 · Score: 2
  
  Instead of charging $50 with DRM, charge $10 with no DRM. That would be a less expensive to produce and support. In addition, MANY more people would be willing to pay just $10. If even 50% were pirates, they make up the lost income from the lower price through additional sales, less support costs, and less development/licensing for DRM. And talk about customer satisfaction!!! They just don't get it through, do they?
51. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Gr8Apes · 2012-08-22 09:57 · Score: 1
  
  I'm pretty sure I imaged that CD and then ISO mounted it, and the software was none the wiser. It's been a while (15 years?), so I don't recall if I also downloaded a cracked exe or, horror of horrors, did a hex edit on that one.
  
  --
  The cesspool just got a check and balance.
52. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Black+LED · 2012-08-22 10:15 · Score: 1
  
  Psychonauts was already released in one of the Humble Bundles, if I'm not mistaken. I'd rate that as a better game than HL2.
53. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 10:32 · Score: 1
  
  Why is it that googling "raving rabbids drm dvd burner" or "ubisoft drm dvd burner" shows this post nearly at the top and basically no other hits. Sounds like this is wrong.
54. Re:DRM worked out then.. by jxander · 2012-08-22 10:38 · Score: 1
  
  Don't forget the $$ spent on hiring software engineers to design^H^H^H^H^H^H ... to write and test^H^H^H^H ... to write the code for whatever DRM is involved. Ubisoft's little root kit (uplay) didn't spawn into existence on it's own.
  
  --
  This signature is false.
55. Re:DRM worked out then.. by gmueckl · 2012-08-22 11:27 · Score: 2
  
  I heard (through channels that I can't even reconstruct) roughly the same numbers from Ubisoft a couple of months ago. That same source said that the numbers were obtained by checking the game copies that conntected to the metaservers for online play. So if that's true, the numbers are valid, and probably even too low because pure offline play isn't included.
  The caveat: if they can detect pirated copies that way, why aren't they blocked?
  
  --
  http://www.moonlight3d.eu/
56. Re:DRM worked out then.. by qeveren · 2012-08-22 12:48 · Score: 1
  
  Kinda future eco-SimCity, IIRC.
  
  --
  Don't just stand there, get that other dog!
57. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Riddler+Sensei · 2012-08-22 12:59 · Score: 1
  
  It's sort of a cross section of Civ, SimCity and to a lesser extent Starcraft. You basically construct a city on your main island while you branch off to other islands to provide supply chains for the needs of your citizens (setting up complicated automated supply chains is actually one of my favorite parts of the game). Once the needs for your current class of citizens are met they begin to "level up" to the next class (worker > employee > engineer > executive). Each class adds new needs to your citizenry (eco workers only need fish and tea while eco employees need fish, tea, health food and communicators). The need to occupy multiple islands stems from each island being able to provide only certain raw materials (i.e. an island that can produce corn, wine and truffles is no good for a health food production chain which requires vegetables and rice).
  That's the city building SimCity part of it. The Civ and Starcraft parts come in when there are other factions present on the map. You can play multiplayer or you can add hostile factions to a single player game if you want to pursue combat gameplay. I personally stick to the city building "Continuous" mode.
58. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Jane+Q.+Public · 2012-08-22 15:03 · Score: 1
  
  This was a more recent version, Myst III or IV, I don't remember. But it was pretty new, 5 years ago, maybe 6.
  
  Also, I'm not sure I had any imaging tools for Windows at the time. Of course I haven't been on Windows anymore since about then, either.
59. Re:DRM worked out then.. by crowaust · 2012-08-22 15:04 · Score: 1
  
  Just like to Say ditto on this, I either have a NoCD cracked exe or a CD ISO in a Virtual Optical Drive
60. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 15:30 · Score: 1
  
  ubisuck? are you 12?
61. Re:DRM worked out then.. by cskrat · 2012-08-22 16:39 · Score: 2
  
  Ubisoft lost me as a customer with Starforce on Splinter Cell:Chaos Theory. I bought the game and was never able to play it. By the time the cracks were out I had moved on.
  Blizzard lost me with Diablo 3, due to service outages preventing me from playing initially and then their stance of blaming me for not buying an authenticator fob when my account gets hacked. 10 years on SOE and my account stayed safe. 2 weeks on Blizzard and I'm robbed of every ounce of gold my level 10 character had collected.
  
  So let's look at the other side. I have a Steam account worth more than my car (granted, it's a crappy car) and every game that I purchased on Steam is playable (though Dirt 3 gets a bit annoying with the whole Games for Windows LIVE thing). Valve doesn't add any significant DRM to their software other than the basic limitation of not being able to play the same game on the same account in more than one location at a time; a limitation that can be bypassed by putting one machine in offline mode. No hacking, cracking or torrenting to get a purchased game to work.
  
  Valve, as a company, has an estimated value of ~$3B; Ubisoft has a market cap of $0.6B. Valve may have the right idea about combating piracy by adding value rather than restricting use. I think it's very possible that the game companies that stay on the bleeding edge (their customers' blood, not their own) of DRM technology are actually caught up in a feedback loop where the DRM hurts legitimate sales so the piracy ratio goes up causing them to add more DRM to exacerbate the problem further.
  
  --
  My God! It's full of eval()'s.
62. Re:DRM worked out then.. by iiiears · 2012-08-22 16:42 · Score: 1
  
  DRM made pre-order a gamble. Everyone wants to activate and play on the same day.
  Wading through reviews to find DRM info after release reduced the chance of a full price buy.
  DRM reduced the value for trade-in.
  All of it made it more likely to try a torrent before you buy.
  
  --
  15TW = 15,000 Nuclear Reactors. (Approx. one accident a month.)
63. Re:DRM worked out then.. by iiiears · 2012-08-22 16:49 · Score: 1
  
  You still can't measure the games not purchased because their or another companies bad DRM.
  
  --
  15TW = 15,000 Nuclear Reactors. (Approx. one accident a month.)
64. Re:DRM worked out then.. by iiiears · 2012-08-22 16:52 · Score: 1
  
  A satisfied customer tells one friend.
  A dissatisfied customer tells Slashdot.
  
  --
  15TW = 15,000 Nuclear Reactors. (Approx. one accident a month.)
65. Re:DRM worked out then.. by nischal360 · 2012-08-22 18:38 · Score: 1
  
  Correct
66. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Waccoon · 2012-08-22 19:24 · Score: 1
  
  Hasn't this already been going on for over 10 years?
  Demo works fine but real game crashes? Needs a crack. Developer blames bad drivers but demo works flawlessly? Needs a crack. Game exits to desktop but returns no error message or "illegal operation?" Needs a crack. Use MSConfig and now the game won't work? Needs a crack. No audio tracks playing off the CD-ROM? Needs a crack.
67. Re:DRM worked out then.. by LordLimecat · 2012-08-22 19:55 · Score: 1
  
  Those playing D3 apparently disagree.
68. Re:DRM worked out then.. by jimshatt · 2012-08-22 20:08 · Score: 1
  
  Agree. If piracy rates really are that high, cutting the price is your only option. There is a REASON most people pirate games. Instead of letting a handful of honest people pay for the entire production.
69. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Kartu · 2012-08-22 20:31 · Score: 1
  
  This assumes that people that are used to getting stuff for free would actually pay if DRM worked. Is there any evidence to support this assumption?
70. Re:DRM worked out then.. by CronoCloud · 2012-08-22 23:08 · Score: 1
  
  Instead of charging $50 with DRM, charge $10 with no DRM.
  
  That's been done...don't you remember the Humble Indie Bundles STILL get pirated even though you can set your own price? Some people are just cheap. And any Second Life user can tell you that a good portion of Second and Third Worlders don't want to pay for content. They'll either go for free stuff or try to steal it.
71. Re:DRM worked out then.. by CronoCloud · 2012-08-22 23:11 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yeah the guy probably has that or some ISO mounter installed and is mistaken on the error message.
72. Re:DRM worked out then.. by RaceProUK · 2012-08-22 23:39 · Score: 1
  
  When you can buy something as good as Half-Life 2 from Humble Bundle, you let me know.
  Does it really matter when you can set your own price?
  
  --
  No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
73. Re:DRM worked out then.. by davewoods · 2012-08-23 02:16 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly, if I ever had a hard time finding a no-cd crack, I would just image the disc, and virtually mount it. The problem came when the DRM started detecting virtually mounted drives, so then I had to download a virtual drive cloaker. It was like those movies where the policeman chases the robber through a series of doors that are magically linked.
  Ooh, no wait, it is like Inception, or something.
74. Re:DRM worked out then.. by Hes+Nikke · 2012-08-23 03:47 · Score: 1
  
  This was the only good PoP game.
  
  --
  Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
75. Re:DRM worked out then.. by CodeHxr · 2012-08-23 08:28 · Score: 1
  
  League of Legends begs to differ with your opinion. :)
76. Re:DRM worked out then.. by PopeRatzo · 2012-08-23 09:18 · Score: 1
  
  League of Legends begs to differ with your opinion. :)
  I guess Free-to-Play is for everyone.
  As long as you like multi-player games.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
77. Re:DRM worked out then.. by kaws · 2012-08-24 18:27 · Score: 1
  
  I wouldn't discount the humble bundle way. Just because people pirate it doesn't mean it's a failed business model.
78. Re:DRM worked out then.. by KingBenny · 2012-08-26 09:05 · Score: 1
  
  i wouldnt miss any of their games .. xept heroes ... which couldnt possibly be ported to an xbox and survive in its current form ... and still, no one on pc pays, yarr-harr-harr, but still valve ain't broke, i must be missing something again except ... maybe ... did they count every pirated player as one who would have actually bought it and didnt just load it to see what it is ... again ? how the hell do they get these numbers anyway?
  and what's more , after buying the last heroes of might and magic, pre-ordering even to get that early access, having it delayed for a few months didnt really go down well with me since no one gave my money back and all i could do was wait
  and still valve ain't broke ...
  
  --
  Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
Riiiight by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 05:52 · Score: 5, Interesting

The catch is they were measuring the number of people who pirate Ubisoft games to get away from their shitty DRM. Somehow, I feel over 90% of people willing to do that is accurate.
1. Re:Riiiight by black3d · 2012-08-22 07:47 · Score: 1
  
  Indeed - I reinstall my PC every few months out of habit. To merely play that game now I'd require a crack, even though I bought it and have never used it on more than one PC. Install limits are ridiculously stupid. Such DRM is somewhat an incentive to instead pirate and not have any of these hassles.
  
  --
  "The true measure of a person is how they act when they know they won't get caught." - DSRilk
Idiot by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 05:53 · Score: 1

Do we need any more evidence that Ubisoft's management is completely out of touch with reality?
Didn't they sell by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 05:53 · Score: 5, Funny

over a million copies of Ass Creed 2 on the pc? Are they straight faced saying that almost a hundred million people played Ass Creed 2 on pc?
1. Re:Didn't they sell by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 06:26 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Check your math, kiddo. It would be closer to ten or twelve million, which is a lot but hardly beyond the realm of possibility for a game like that.
2. Re:Didn't they sell by MozeeToby · 2012-08-22 06:39 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Once you throw in all the people who bought Xbox and PS3 versions of the game, the numbers get ridiculous again though. 9 million copies total, apparently 1 million of those are on PC + the 12 to 20 million alleged pirated copies. So, you're now saying that almost 30 million people were playing Assassins Creed II? I find that doubtful personally.
3. Re:Didn't they sell by fm6 · 2012-08-22 06:40 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Your math is off. It would be 20-30 million. Still unlikely, I admit.
  But the thing that's missing from the headline is that Guillemot is claiming 95-97% pirated copies for all games, not just Ubisoft's. And the only reason he even cares is that it helps justify him switching to a Free to Play model, where the percentages of users who pay is also about 5% and costs are much lower.
  So, even though his facts are very dubious, he's using them to justify moving away from DRM. So, who cares?
4. Re:Didn't they sell by CAIMLAS · 2012-08-22 06:57 · Score: 1
  
  This is the first time I'm hearing of the game.
  Their numbers have got to be bogus.
  
  --
  ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
5. Re:Didn't they sell by Your.Master · 2012-08-22 07:31 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I think you must be in a bubble, video-game wise. Assassin's Creed is insanely popular (after all, the non-pirate sales are millions...)
  Also, Ubisoft didn't claim that all their properties were pirated equally. Maybe the most popular ones are also disproportionately paid-for.
  I really have insufficient data to confirm or deny their claim, and I expect the same is true for you.
6. Re:Didn't they sell by PopeRatzo · 2012-08-22 07:48 · Score: 1
  
  I really have insufficient data to confirm or deny their claim, and I expect the same is true for you.
  Unfortunately, it appears that the same is true for Ubisoft's CEO.
  He's pulling that number out of his ass. Considering his name is "Yves Guillemot", he can probably pull a lot more that just numbers out there.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
7. Re:Didn't they sell by Pluvius · 2012-08-22 08:16 · Score: 1
  
  The problem with this argument is that he's actually trying to justify moving towards F2P. The choice between DRM and F2P is the video-game equivalent of choosing between the giant douche or the turd sandwich.
  Rob
8. Re:Didn't they sell by fm6 · 2012-08-22 08:50 · Score: 2
  
  So, share with us why you consider F2P to be a turd sandwich.
9. Re:Didn't they sell by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 10:20 · Score: 1
  
  10 year olds with mics.
  Go play TF2 or something, all you will hear is a whole lot of profane children that are obviously lacking in any parental supervision. I mean I'm not opposed to cussing like a sailor, but the amount or cursing, bigotry (racial and otherwise) and the other crap coming out of their mouths is downright amazing. This isn't a F bomb when you get sniped or something. Shoot on top of it whenever they are sniped or taken out they accuse the other team of cheating. They usually accuse in a very very loud and whiny tone of voice as well.
  F2P = babysitting other peoples children, and I am not interested.
10. Re:Didn't they sell by Pluvius · 2012-08-22 12:15 · Score: 2
  
  That's more of a problem with FPSes, though TF2 does happen to be a game that didn't have as much of a problem with idiot kids until it went F2P. No, the major problem with F2P is that it usually devolves to P2W (pay-to-win), where the stuff they charge you for is necessary to do well at the game. I'd rather pay upfront for a game where everyone is on an equal playing field than end up paying the same amount (or more) for a game where money trumps skill or perseverance. (TF2 is ironically the best example I've seen of not falling into this trap.) And that's not getting into the fact that F2P games are multiplayer-only almost by definition...
  Rob
11. Re:Didn't they sell by CronoCloud · 2012-08-22 23:19 · Score: 1
  
  The population of the Earth is over 6 Billion. The Big gaming markets of US=Canada, Japan, and EU alone are probably close to a billion. Assasins Creed was a VERY popular game. Seems like most PS3 owners have it.
12. Re:Didn't they sell by CronoCloud · 2012-08-22 23:27 · Score: 1
  
  Go play TF2 or something, all you will hear is a whole lot of profane children that are obviously lacking in any parental supervision. I mean I'm not opposed to cussing like a sailor, but the amount or cursing, bigotry (racial and otherwise) and the other crap coming out of their mouths is downright amazing.
  
  Amazingly TF2 on the PS3 had little of that...compared to other shooters I had played. There was still some, of course. I usually found the average team to consist of the following:
  Tennesse, he's the guy with the southern accent.
  Drunk/Stoned guy, annoying but harmless.
  Guy suprvising his young kid playing, or having kid watch.
  The :Urban-sounding" guy with the Tone Loc voice, he may curse up a storm, but he just wants to have a little fun.
  The Chick, rare but not uncommon.
  The young kid playing a game he shouldn't, but he's okay, reasonably polite, and doesn't curse...usually if there's one of these, the other guys are more careful about cussing.
  And then too often for my tastes:
  The 12 year old farter/curser/homophobe/music player on voice chat.
DRM by Hatta · 2012-08-22 05:55 · Score: 4, Insightful

So what's the point of all that DRM if 90% of your potential customers are breaking it? Wouldn't it be better to go DRM free so that people could actually play the game as shipped instead of downloading a crack and getting counted as a pirate?

--
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
1. Re:DRM by vlm · 2012-08-22 05:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  A better argument is you're wasting huge amounts of programming effort, support costs, and bad PR on something that fails far more often than 19 out of 20 times, so you'd have a higher profit margin if you didn't waste money on it. Sort of a "once you find yourself stuck in a hole, rule one is stop digging"
  
  --
  "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
2. Re:DRM by brit74 · 2012-08-22 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/02/19
3. Re:DRM by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 06:18 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I buy games from sources that actually put effort into good, DRM-free work. Most of my games are from GoG these days.
4. Re:DRM by twocows · 2012-08-22 06:27 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  DRM is usually in place to stop day 1 pirating. So here's my suggestion: go ahead and ship it with DRM. Then, once it's been cracked by the community, release a patch that removes it.
  
  Civ4 BTS no longer has DRM, though they did it sometime around the time Civ5 came out.
5. Re:DRM by Hatta · 2012-08-22 06:31 · Score: 1
  
  If they publish something I'm interested in buying, I certainly would. Does Ubisoft have any turn based RPGs or space sim shooter games in the works?
  I'd even be interested in a new Rainbow Six game if they brought back the ultra-tactical combat of the original.
  Child of Eden is the only recent Ubisoft game I can think of that interested me in any way whatsoever. And that only came out on consoles. So it's not exactly a big sacrifice to boycott Ubisoft over their DRM.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
6. Re:DRM by thetoadwarrior · 2012-08-22 06:50 · Score: 1
  
  Because they do see a reward for it. Reflextive had piracy rates around 90% and also give stats on how doing certain things resulted in improving sales. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17350
  
  The idea of doing nothing will some how make it better is false. World of Goo is about as cheap as you can get, an exceptionally fun game and DRM free and still had 80+% piracy rates on the PC.
7. Re:DRM by Hatta · 2012-08-22 07:08 · Score: 1
  
  I find it hard to believe that there is a causal relationship there. Releasing patches that block cracks should have no effect on the piracy rate because pirates can always get the non-fixed version. Unless I'm misunderstanding something here this seems like a case of post hoc ergo propter hoc. I'd be interested in seeing how their purchase and download rates vary on days when they haven't released patches.
  As for your second paragraph, a 20% purchase rate is 4 times better than a 5% purchase rate.
  Remember, getting to zero piracy isn't the goal. Maximizing profits is the goal. You can achieve zero piracy pretty easily by never releasing anything.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
8. Re:DRM by thetoadwarrior · 2012-08-22 07:43 · Score: 2
  
  Most people aren't that smart. They probably got the crack from a friend or download a cracked version. They don't know how to crack it themselves and realise that actually maybe a few bucks isn't that bad of a deal especially compared to trying to find how to get the crack and apply it themselves in a reasonable amount of time.
  
  I agree, I don't think anyone thinks piracy will go away completely. They want to make a nice living and be able to make the games they want to make. I don't think you can blame them for not being impressed with 90% piracy and the best alternative is Steam selling your game for a couple bucks.
  
  I can't say I have the perfect solution to all of this but we can't expect epic stories, quality bug-free code and bleeding edge graphics for little to nothing. I don't think gaming is still as big as we think, at least amongst groups with money. I think that's partially because they do pander to children much more now than they used to. You just don't get quality adventure games, war games, sims, and similar "boring" games these days.
9. Re:DRM by frosty_tsm · 2012-08-22 07:48 · Score: 1
  
  DRM is usually in place to stop day 1 pirating. So here's my suggestion: go ahead and ship it with DRM. Then, once it's been cracked by the community, release a patch that removes it. Civ4 BTS no longer has DRM, though they did it sometime around the time Civ5 came out.
  I recall Blizzard did something similar with Starcraft (sometime between WC3's and SC2's release).
10. Re:DRM by tendrousbeastie · 2012-08-22 07:56 · Score: 1
  
  So we have approx 5% of people who buy games. And 95% who pirate them.
  Ubisoft (and others certainly) implement DRM to reduce piracy.
  Let us say that the DRM is responsible for piracy rates being at 95% and not 95.5%. Be fair, there are a certain number of people who are not going to know how to scour bittorrent for keygens and cracks.
  So, the DRM has increased Ubisoft's sales by 10%. That matters to them.
  I am fairly sure that Ubisoft doesn't care too much about the huge number of people who would pirate the game regardless, and it doesn't care too much about the small fraction of people who have problems with the DRM (it clearly isn't putting too much of a dent in the sales figures).
11. Re:DRM by Hatta · 2012-08-22 08:06 · Score: 1
  
  Most people aren't that smart. They probably got the crack from a friend or download a cracked version.
  Right, they just go to The Pirate Bay and pick out the top rated hit for their search. It comes pre-cracked, or at the least it's been tested to be crackable. Releasing a patch can't possibly interefere with this typical piracy scenario.
  We really need to see the typical day to day variation in their sales before we can say with any confidence that these patches had any effect on sales whatsoever.
  I don't think you can blame them for not being impressed with 90% piracy and the best alternative is Steam selling your game for a couple bucks.
  That's what PC game publishers have been dealing with for decades. They've made it work so far.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
12. Re:DRM by thetoadwarrior · 2012-08-22 08:32 · Score: 1
  
  You think more of people that I do obviously. Keeping in mind going to pirate bay isn't that straight forward for some people these days and I'm guessing 13% for them isn't millions or even thousands so one country with blocked access might be enough to easily get 13%
13. Re:DRM by tibit · 2012-08-22 08:35 · Score: 1
  
  You're also wasting your customers' time. I buy all the development tools that I use (that are not free), but I only use the cracked versions and leave distribution disks untouched. I only run all that stuff on VMs, and I need to be able to restore previous snapshots of the system without the online license check complaining etc. I also hate license managers with a passion. I want to run the fine compiler executable without worrying that I might not have license server available on the network, or that it will fail locally without a network interface present, or said interface coming and going with different MACs, or that the phase of the moon is wrong and WTF do they think that numeric errors are OK?! Etc... My longer-term strategy was and is to push towards more open or at least free-as-in-beer development platforms where possible, and abandon platforms that have DRM-laden environments. So far I'm pretty successful at that. Buhbye TI and Analog Devices.
  
  --
  A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
14. Re:DRM by Hatta · 2012-08-22 09:35 · Score: 1
  
  Is there an easier way to pirate than going to the pirate bay?
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
15. Re:DRM by Hatta · 2012-08-22 10:07 · Score: 1
  
  So your suggestion is to piss off your best customers and encourage them to skip the Day 1 rush?
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
16. Re:DRM by CronoCloud · 2012-08-22 23:36 · Score: 1
  
  Sure people can go to pirate bay or whatever eastern european website hosts the crack. But how do they know it's safe and isn't laced with some trojan that'll put their computer in some Russian mobsters botnet.
17. Re:DRM by Travelsonic · 2012-08-23 03:52 · Score: 1
  
  There typically is a comments section on the page for a particular torrent. Bad torrents are called out there it seems.
  
  --
  If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
Piracy does matter by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 05:56 · Score: 1

I know that a pirated game is not the same as a lost sale, but this is like going to see a movie and realize that only you and you friend sitting next to you has paid for the ticket. And on top of that everyone has better seats than you.
1. Re:Piracy does matter by Skarecrow77 · 2012-08-22 06:08 · Score: 2
  
  Exactly. And what did you learn from that experience?
2. Re:Piracy does matter by DarwinSurvivor · 2012-08-22 06:47 · Score: 2
  
  And the chain-link fence blocks your view of the movies.
3. Re:Piracy does matter by jedidiah · 2012-08-22 07:08 · Score: 1
  
  So? It won't do anything to ensure that the next game/movie is made.
  Not everyone is governed entirely by envy.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
4. Re:Piracy does matter by iiiears · 2012-08-22 17:24 · Score: 1
  
  And some avoid the film hassle and go outside. While others climb through a window once to see what all the hype is about buy a ticket the second time, and every time thereafter.
  
  --
  15TW = 15,000 Nuclear Reactors. (Approx. one accident a month.)
All the power to them. by ilsaloving · 2012-08-22 05:56 · Score: 4, Insightful

If there's one thing I learned, it's that companies will do whatever the hell they want and as customers we can suck it up or do something about it. Unfortunately, like spam, they make enough money from people that they see no reason to change.
I refuse to buy Ubisoft products anymore. Same with Blizzard and Sony. And when other people complain about how they got screwed as if it was some new revelation, I just sit back and enjoy the schadenfreude.
1. Re:All the power to them. by Jeppe+Salvesen · 2012-08-22 06:04 · Score: 1
  
  Hell yeah. Buy games from companies who care about their customers. The more money the nice companies make, the more incentive for the giants to mend their ways - otherwise they might one day become extinct as the nice companies will make so much money that they will out-compete the giants.
  
  --
  Stop the brainwash
2. Re:All the power to them. by Asmodae · 2012-08-22 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  Alternatively, another wallet-vote is to buy Assassin's Creed I from GOG.com. DRM FREE!!! and supporting GOG is never a bad thing, plus it's a way to tell UBISOFT that you're willing to give them money when they stop being "random epithet".
3. Re:All the power to them. by apcullen · 2012-08-22 06:25 · Score: 1
  
  Sony is somewhat annoying... but Blizzard?
  
  Disclaimer: I am not a hard-core gamer. But my copy of starcraft II plays just fine under linux, and I don't need to have the CD in the drive or anything stupid like that. And there are guest accounts provided so my son got to play the campaign. I haven't bought any other blizzard games in the past few years, but starcraft II was $50 well spent. YMMV, of course.
4. Re:All the power to them. by admdrew · 2012-08-22 06:29 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I think the main claim against Blizzard now is the Diablo 3 single player game, which requires a constant internet connection to function at all, which is functionally a form of DRM.
  
  --
  LegendMUD
5. Re:All the power to them. by firex726 · 2012-08-22 06:35 · Score: 1
  
  I think what's more likely the Giants will abandon the PC and go console only.
  On the plus side that opens the field for Indie devs.
6. Re:All the power to them. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 06:38 · Score: 1
  
  I actually had to think long and hard about buying AC1 from GOG. I love what GOG does, and I have 93 games from them (not counting the free games). My problem is that I am so against how Ubisoft treats its customers, that I didn't want to give Ubisoft any money. I never buy a console version of a PC game just because of DRM for the same reason. In the end, I decided to support GOG with getting AC1 there, and hope that Ubisoft realizes that DRM free sells. I highly doubt Ubi will ever figure it out though. I will continue to wait for GOG releases. And if they go F2P, they will still never see another $ from me.
7. Re:All the power to them. by thetoadwarrior · 2012-08-22 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  And yet small indies with cheap, great, DRM free games still have the same piracy rates. So it's all well to try and blame big corporations but the proof is just pointing more towards PC gamers being freetards.
8. Re:All the power to them. by CAIMLAS · 2012-08-22 07:02 · Score: 1
  
  You're possibly correct, but not because they'll be abandoning the PC; the PC is going away. Windows 8 and later will basically be turning software delivery on Windows into another Microsoft console platform. The platform is being locked down, and it will essentially become a Microsoft Store backed console. It's a big part of the reason why Valve is looking at Linux now with great interest.
  
  --
  ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
9. Re:All the power to them. by Mister_Stoopid · 2012-08-22 07:40 · Score: 1
  
  I haven't bought any other blizzard games in the past few years
  
  So you've bought every single game they released, then?
10. Re:All the power to them. by Cyphax · 2012-08-22 07:44 · Score: 1
  
  If lots of people buy games from GoG, it might be a great message to these publishers: games will sell without DRM, DRM is not a necessity. The more sales the better. :)
11. Re:All the power to them. by crazyjj · 2012-08-22 07:48 · Score: 1
  
  I didn't want to give Ubisoft any money. I never buy a console version of a PC game just because of DRM for the same reason.
  You can always buy a DRM'ed game used on a console (an option you don't have with PC versions anymore). You don't have to pirate, you still get to play it, and the studio doesn't get a dime. Everybody wins!
  
  --
  What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
12. Re:All the power to them. by firex726 · 2012-08-22 09:12 · Score: 1
  
  How many years have we been hearing about the death of the PC as a gaming platform?
  W8 will be a repeat of Vista, and crash and burn.
13. Re:All the power to them. by humanrev · 2012-08-22 16:10 · Score: 1
  
  If there's one thing I learned, it's that companies will do whatever the hell they want and as customers we can suck it up or do something about it. Unfortunately, like spam, they make enough money from people that they see no reason to change.
  Depends on the size of the company. Actually, it's a general rule of thumb that applies to virtually anything, not just computer games - the larger the company, the less likely they are to listen to the concerns of customers. The smaller companies NEED to keep people happy because a single lost customer hurts a lot more than than a single lost customer from a megacorp. This also means that once you have a reasonably large number of people who've got a beef with a company, the smaller company MUST listen or run the risk of seriously hurting businesses, whereas you need a significantly larger group of dissatisfied customers to even attempt to reach the same level of reaction from the megacorp.
  Or you could be Microsoft - sees an extremely widespread negative reaction to the way you're taking the Windows platform and your response is "Fuck you, here's the final release with that remaining boot-to-desktop tweak removed that you ungrateful pricks were hoping would slip into the RTM. Enjoy!" Maybe at that level you're right - companies will do whatever the hell they want. But customers are starting to realize that they do have options...
  
  --
  Most people on Slashdot are fucking idiots.
14. Re:All the power to them. by CronoCloud · 2012-08-22 23:46 · Score: 1
  
  That's somewhat uncharitable. While I consider PC gamers to be cheapskates, you also have to take into account that the big 3 consoles aren't as big in the Second and Third World. In fact, last I heard the Sega Master System and GEnesis were still going strong in Brazil.
  So I think a big portion of the piracy is Second and Third-worlders, who just simply got used to piracy back when many publishers didn't release in their nations. And even if they do release stuff there now, they don't have the cash or the mindset to pay North American/Japanese/Western Europe prices.
15. Re:All the power to them. by CodeHxr · 2012-08-23 08:54 · Score: 1
  
  You're possibly correct, but not because they'll be abandoning the PC; the PC is going away. Windows 8 and later will basically be turning software delivery on Windows into another Microsoft console platform. The platform is being locked down, and it will essentially become a Microsoft Store backed console. It's a big part of the reason why Valve is looking at Linux now with great interest.
  What you say sounds exactly like what is being attempted. This would require large-scale adoption of the platform by the gamer community to have any significant or lasting effect on the PC gaming market. I have a difficult time believing that will happen. And, if it does, then we'll burn that bridge when we get there.
The core question.... by del_diablo · 2012-08-22 05:58 · Score: 1

[citation needed]
1. Re:The core question.... by brit74 · 2012-08-22 06:03 · Score: 1
  
  It's not that hard to verify numbers. World of Goo and Demigod both reported piracy numbers in the upper 80% range, if I remember correctly. In Demigod's case, I believe they were verifying serial numbers - the game was checking in with the servers to verify their legitimate status before allowing people to play online.
2. Re:The core question.... by hobarrera · 2012-08-22 06:27 · Score: 1
  
  Came here to say exactly that. How do they know the amount of pirated copies? It's not like no-drm cracks have a call-home feature, or pirates register somewhere. Pretty hard to count this if you ask me. How can I know the amount of people that play pirated games in my block? In my neighbourhood? In the world? No precise way to know AFAIK.
3. Re:The core question.... by nschubach · 2012-08-22 06:31 · Score: 1
  
  And who's to say someone didn't figure out that phone home and was hitting the server with various serial numbers trying to find a working one?
  
  --
  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
4. Re:The core question.... by brit74 · 2012-08-22 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  I don't know. It seems like it would be trivial to watch whether or not one IP address was hitting the server with lots of different serial numbers. But, I don't know their methodology other than Brad Wardell reporting that 85% (I think) of the people trying to connect to the server were using pirated versions of the game.
5. Re:The core question.... by Stirling+Newberry · 2012-08-22 07:11 · Score: 1
  
  And it is trivial to make a VM on your PC have different IP addresses and even different MAC addresses.
  
  --
  Fugue for Aaron Swartz
6. Re:The core question.... by drkstr1 · 2012-08-22 08:44 · Score: 2
  
  I think they are probably more interested in the number assigned to you by your ISP.
  
  --
  Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
7. Re:The core question.... by desdinova+216 · 2012-08-22 10:00 · Score: 1
  
  do you mean the same serial number hitting from multiple IP addresses at the same time?
8. Re:The core question.... by iiiears · 2012-08-22 17:53 · Score: 1
  
  These changed addresses do they begin with 10 or 192? Does renewing your routers address actually give you a new *external" address when you ask for it?
  That doesn't typically work in the where i'm at (U.S.) ISPs had problems with users sending spam or denial of service attacks then requesting fresh addresses over and over again.
  Honestly, I replied because about a decade ago looking smart was important. I've found it much easier to ask questions.
  
  --
  15TW = 15,000 Nuclear Reactors. (Approx. one accident a month.)
100% - 7% Paying != 93% Piracy by Silentknyght · 2012-08-22 05:59 · Score: 3, Informative

...lest we forget aftermarket sales. It's a physical disc that can be sold & resold. These people are not pirates, but their purchases are not going directly to the game production company as attributable to that particular game, either.
1. Re:100% - 7% Paying != 93% Piracy by SuricouRaven · 2012-08-22 06:19 · Score: 1
  
  "These people are not pirates,"
  
  I suspect Ubisoft would disagree.
2. Re:100% - 7% Paying != 93% Piracy by brit74 · 2012-08-22 06:20 · Score: 1
  
  How do you know how they're calculating their piracy rate?
3. Re:100% - 7% Paying != 93% Piracy by shentino · 2012-08-22 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  For greedy companies like ubisoft, piracy and second hand sales are both seen as unwanted competition.
4. Re:100% - 7% Paying != 93% Piracy by Chelloveck · 2012-08-22 06:39 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  People are playing the game without paying money to Ubisoft. Even worse, there are these "first-hand" owners who are profiting from Ubisoft's hard work and intellectual property. If that's not piracy, what is?
  Don't you know that every time someone plays the game and the publisher receives less than the full retail price, it's stealing? If you buy last year's $60 game new-in-box off the $10 bargain shelf, then 5/6ths of the game's cost is lost to piracy. It's plain old mathematics. Why is this so hard for you people to understand?
  
  --
  Chelloveck
  I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
5. Re:100% - 7% Paying != 93% Piracy by desdinova+216 · 2012-08-22 10:11 · Score: 1
  
  that sounds like RIAA/MPAA math.
6. Re:100% - 7% Paying != 93% Piracy by Zaelath · 2012-08-22 11:52 · Score: 1
  
  You left off the ;) sarcasm tag. I think the Oatmeal has a comic about that.
7. Re:100% - 7% Paying != 93% Piracy by iiiears · 2012-08-22 18:02 · Score: 1
  
  You sound nostalgic when you say these days. It's your money find games that make you happy to buy and play them.
  I use GoG all the time. Installation is 10 - 15mins faster without encryption, games play more smoothly and I don't need a customer service number stashed away.
  
  --
  15TW = 15,000 Nuclear Reactors. (Approx. one accident a month.)
Not nearly as impressive by Dyinobal · 2012-08-22 05:59 · Score: 5, Funny

This isn't nearly as impressive as their shit game rate, which last I checked was holding steady at 100%.
1. Re:Not nearly as impressive by TubeSteak · 2012-08-22 06:32 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Added to that is the fact that free to play is generally cheaper to produce and distribute, able to cannibalise existing assets and avoid the costs of getting boxes on shelves. Whilst this does make the creation of new games easier, Guillemot was keen to point out that it's not a magic recipe - games must still be tailored to fit the audience's needs.
  "We also take content which we've developed in the past, graphics etc, and we can make cheaper games and improve them over time. What's very important is that we change the content and make it a better fit to the customer as time goes on."
  
  Does this sound to anyone else, like he's advocating cookie cutter games that are bulked up with updates after their release?
  Sounds to me like they're aiming for a shit game rate of 105%
  
  --
  [Fuck Beta]
  o0t!
Excuses... by Retron · 2012-08-22 05:59 · Score: 1

Just sounds like they're making excuses to pull out of the PC market to me. I'm sure the likes of Steam won't shed a tear if they go.
1. Re:Excuses... by thetoadwarrior · 2012-08-22 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah PC gaming must be a doing well if the fabulous and amazing Steam owner, Valve, is having to resort to ruining games with free to play.
2. Re:Excuses... by Retron · 2012-08-22 06:51 · Score: 1
  
  Free to Play on Steam is no more than a slightly different way of offering a demo of a game. And, of course, not all games have normal demos!
3. Re:Excuses... by Chryana · 2012-08-22 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  You're speaking of Team Fortress 2? Yeah, sales were probably quite low four years after it was released, so they made it free to play. Breathes new life into an old title, with people buying hats and what-not. What's your point?
4. Re:Excuses... by thetoadwarrior · 2012-08-22 07:20 · Score: 2
  
  TF2 and Dota 2 are free to play. Because of that I'm not going to bother with Dota 2 because tbh, I think TF2 has been ruined by going free to play. Man vs Machine is a good sign of that. It's crap and playing on certain servers means buying gold tickets.
  
  But forgetting mvm, before that all those stupid hats an accessories (that cost more than the game half the time) lead to the growth of beggars and scammers trying to get items from people. I paid for the game and I want to enjoy a nice game online and not have children begging for crap that their can't afford.
  
  I'd argue that Quake Live's f2p isn't that bad but even then they're slowly trying to make paying look more lucrative because actually most people don't want to pay anything or they can't. As much as we claim gaming is big with adults, these "mature" games are mostly played by children who don't even have credit cards so the idea of free to play is a bit hopeless anyway. As an adult I don't think I should have to subsidise gaming for children so they can annoy me.
Price inflation? by FictionPimp · 2012-08-22 06:00 · Score: 5, Funny

So if we had 0% piracy, should their games cost $3.00?
1. Re:Price inflation? by brit74 · 2012-08-22 06:17 · Score: 1
  
  If piracy went down, then game companies would have more money. This would allow them to do any of the following: reduce the price, pay their employees more, use bigger budgets to create more expensive games (which hopefully results in greater depth, quality, game-balancing, etc). Consider the depth of a $50 or $60 game in 2012 compared to the depth of a $50 or $60 game in 1985. Some of those old Atari 2600 games were created by a single person in less than a year! And, modern games are cheaper once you take inflation into account. Game companies are obviously putting a lot more investment into the games.
2. Re:Price inflation? by frovingslosh · 2012-08-22 06:22 · Score: 2
  
  If their games cost $3 we would have zero piracy, or at least near zero piracy. (Just like back in the days when Bill gates was charging hundreds of bucks for a poor version of Basic for the Altair and Tom Pittman released his "Tiny Basic" for $5. There were plenty of stories of him going to is mailbox and just receiving envelopes with $5 inside with simple notes that said things like "I stole a copy of Tiny Basic but it is too good and I wanted to pay you for it." )
  
  --
  I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
3. Re:Price inflation? by dgatwood · 2012-08-22 06:28 · Score: 1
  
  If piracy went down, then game companies would have more money. This would allow them to do any of the following: reduce the price, pay their employees more, use bigger budgets to create more expensive games (which hopefully results in greater depth, quality, game-balancing, etc).
  Or D. Pay their stockholders more. I'll let you guess which is most likely.
  
  --
  Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
4. Re:Price inflation? by hobarrera · 2012-08-22 06:29 · Score: 1
  
  The choice they would take is quite obvious: none of the above. Just stuff more money in their pockets and keep everything as-is.
5. Re:Price inflation? by halfEvilTech · 2012-08-22 06:33 · Score: 1
  
  missing option 4: they take the extra money to pad the bonuses of the executives that will take credit for the ultra successful game and they alone got rid of the pirates. While all the while continuing to charge more, pay the programmers less or more likely the same and work them harder, and create even more day 1 dlc that is already on the disc but want you to pay more for every piece of it.
  This is Ubisoft we are talking about, I wouldn't expect anything else.
6. Re:Price inflation? by brit74 · 2012-08-22 06:58 · Score: 1
  
  Does anyone pay dividends anymore? I thought all stock-market gains were based on the stock price, which doesn't have anything to do with "paying out the stockholders".
7. Re:Price inflation? by arth1 · 2012-08-22 07:01 · Score: 1
  
  Consider the depth of a $50 or $60 game in 2012 compared to the depth of a $50 or $60 game in 1985.
  Yes, the 1985 Infocom games had a lot more depth than the crap that comes out today, that's indisputible. I'd like to see them return to depth over visual effects too.
8. Re:Price inflation? by brit74 · 2012-08-22 07:07 · Score: 1
  
  The choice they would take is quite obvious: none of the above. Just stuff more money in their pockets and keep everything as-is.
  It's unfortunate for you that reality contradicts your story. I already provided ample information to prove my point: compare the investment-cost and depth of a game in 2012 to the investment-cost and depth of a game in 1985. It's funny, because people put up YouTube videos showing just how far gaming has come in the past 20 or 30 years, but people quickly forget it as soon as it contradicts a point they want to make. ( Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k72VoW820A )
9. Re:Price inflation? by nabsltd · 2012-08-22 08:24 · Score: 1
  
  Consider the depth of a $50 or $60 game in 2012 compared to the depth of a $50 or $60 game in 1985.
  If by "depth" you mean "pretty pictures", then, yes, the 2012 game has more. If, on the other hand, you mean "broad non-linear story, great replay value, and 100 or so hours for first-time play", then maybe the 2012 game beats the 1985 game, but try comparing to the 1990-1995 era, and the 2012 games pale in comparison.
  Seriously, try something playing something like "Darklands" (1995, available from GOG) with no reference to any walkthough/item database/etc. on the Internet and see how long it takes you to completely "finish" just the main quest. Then, try and complete pretty much every type of side quest, too. The sad part is that although I loved that game, it's pretty bad compared to many that were released in the next 5 years or so, since many of the side-quests are randomly generated and generic. The number of "all time great" games that come from before 2001 is pretty large considering how bad the graphics are at times. Take this list from just last year, and you can see that single-player games from the last century are well-represented.
  Since about 2003, though, pretty pictures and multiplayer became more of a focus for developers, and only games that break through beyond those features are considered as "deep".
10. Re:Price inflation? by dgatwood · 2012-08-22 16:26 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, but increasing the CxOs' bonuses usually means taking larger profits so the stock price goes up.
  
  --
  Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
11. Re:Price inflation? by CronoCloud · 2012-08-23 00:02 · Score: 1
  
  What, you think some dinky little Infocom game has more depth than something like Oblivion or Skyrim:
  Infocom: Find troll hope you have right item because if you use the wrong one you might make the game unwinnable.
  Oblivion, find troll, kill with sword, mace, bow, dagger, lightning, fire, poison, paralyze, burden it so it can't move, make it's friends attack it, have own allies kill it, turn it into something else, use poison/lightning/fire enhanced weapon, unarmed attack, etc etc.
  Infocom: find room with books, read: books, see message: "This book is about science"
  Oblivion: find room with books, you can pick up, drop, place books and actually read them.
  In other words, you're looking at the past in rose colored glasses.
12. Re:Price inflation? by arth1 · 2012-08-23 00:48 · Score: 1
  
  Infocom: find room with books, read: books, see message: "This book is about science"
  Oblivion: find room with books, you can pick up, drop, place books and actually read them.
  The main difference is that in Oblivion, you don't have to read or understand book. They're just wall dressing. In an Infocom game, it is likely that you have to both read and understand it, and apply that knowledge later.
  Sorry, but I have played Skyrim and Oblivion, as well as most of the Infocom games, and I still play the Infocom games.
  There's just no comparison at all -the TES games are made to be completable without actually engaging the brain. It's the same fedex and monster killing quests all over -- whether the weapons or scenery changes is immaterial, that doesn't add depth; it is make-up.
  What's the plot? What's the problems?
  The entire T.E.S. series can be summed up this way:
  "Jump off cliffs in beautiful sepia scenery, then run backwards while shooting at homing monsters."
  Try a game like Trinity, though, without cheating, and you have to go read up on a lot of stuff, and use your brain quite a bit to apply that information.
  There's just no question which one is the deeper game.
  It's like comparing a book to a movie. No contest at all.
13. Re:Price inflation? by grim-one · 2012-08-25 15:14 · Score: 1
  
  Piracy on PC is presumedly higher on PC, while prices are also lower, when compared to consoles. How does that factor in to your hypothesis?
He's right about the consoles taking too long by crazyjj · 2012-08-22 06:00 · Score: 4, Insightful

The traditional lifespan between consoles is 5 years, going all the way back to the Atari 2600 days. This time, MS is now at 6 years old with no new console in sight, and Sony is at 5 years, also with no new console in sight. A lot of developers are getting nervous, and a lot of franchises are growing stale.

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What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
1. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by arkane1234 · 2012-08-22 06:07 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It's not the console stopping them, it's not making good games.
  
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  -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
2. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Guspaz · 2012-08-22 06:14 · Score: 1
  
  We're increasingly getting diminishing returns with new console generations; the difference in what you can do with a 7 year old XBox 360 and what you can do with a modern top-of-the-line gaming PC has not yet become compelling enough to justify new hardware.
  I also don't see why staleness has anything to do with the console generation. There's nothing new in terms of story or gameplay that a new console would enable...
3. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Skarecrow77 · 2012-08-22 06:14 · Score: 1
  
  there's no new sony console in sight cause sony is -still- recouping costs for the rediculous development cost of the PS3.
  no idea what MS's excuse is.
  honestly, I'm not sure why either one of them doesn't just grab the cheapest phenom quad core, slap in a GTX650 and 8gb of ram, write "legitmately 5x faster than waht you've got now", and sell it for $250.
  i mean seriously, the existing consoles have a tri-core that nobody can program for, and the rough equivilent of an geforce 7800 (although with unified shaders in the xbox, so more like an 8600).
  damn near anything off the shelf is way faster nowadays.
4. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Skarecrow77 · 2012-08-22 06:21 · Score: 1
  
  We're increasingly getting diminishing returns with new console generations; the difference in what you can do with a 7 year old XBox 360 and what you can do with a modern top-of-the-line gaming PC has not yet become compelling enough to justify new hardware.
  get a 1080p monitor with multiple hdmi inputs. hook your modern gaming pc up to one input, and your ps3 or xbox up to the other. pull up a game released for both platforms. one of the call of duties, mass effect 3, whatever. go to the same scene on both platforms. flip back and forth. I guarantee you'll be amazed at how much better the pc version looks. it's easily a "generation" ahead. when you stop to consider that most of the time these games are programmed for console first, and then later retrofitted for pc, it's even more amazing. there's a big difference. I speak from experience because I did exactly that.
  
  I also don't see why staleness has anything to do with the console generation. There's nothing new in terms of story or gameplay that a new console would enable...
  This I'll agree with. you can make them prettier, but not -better-. you either have a good gaming idea or you don't. the platform just decides what it looks like once you impliment it. although, that said, most people don't have keyboard and mouse for consoles, and certain types of games are way better with keyboard and mouse (fps, rts, mmo).
5. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by crazyjj · 2012-08-22 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  I want a console that never requires me to upgrade or look at a "System Requirements" label on the game I'm buying. Does your "PC" console satisfy those criteria?
  
  --
  What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
6. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Skarecrow77 · 2012-08-22 06:23 · Score: 1
  
  interestingly enough, the genesis (with it's CD and 32x) upgrades failed this criteria.
  the n64 (with it's external ram upgrade) failed this criteria.
  depending on what you want to run, ps3 fails this criteria.
7. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by AaronMK · 2012-08-22 06:29 · Score: 1
  
  The difference in capabilities between consoles and top-of-the-line gaming PCs is significant. It is the fact that most PC games also have console versions and most PCs are not top-of-the-line, so games are targeted pretty close to the lowest common denominator.
8. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by apcullen · 2012-08-22 06:30 · Score: 1
  
  Playing Devil's advocate here-- But many, if not most games today are available for both consoles and the PC. I would bet that a lot of game developers have stopped targeting high-end PC hardware and write for console hardware first.
9. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by amicusNYCL · 2012-08-22 06:40 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  You want a console that never requires you to upgrade? How is that 8-bit NES working for you? Still playing around with Excitebike, are you?
  
  Does your "PC" console satisfy those criteria?
  Goddamn right it does. My PC is ridiculously high-end enough that the system requirements don't apply. This is what "state of the art means", in case you're wondering. Even games that have "suggested hardware" are way behind the specs of my machine. That's the secret - upgrade every few years to the top of the line and system requirements no longer apply to you. I built my new computer for Skyrim when it came out and from the start I could run it smoothly at 1920x1200 with all display settings maxed out, even with the high-res texture and other graphics mods (you do have mods for your console games, right?). I even have a spare video card slot just waiting for a second Geforce once the polygon counts get even more ridiculous in a few years. By that time it will cost me maybe $200 or $300 to effectively double my machine's gaming performance.
  But, if you're happy with a new gaming machine every 5+ years that gets released with hardware that is already out of date and has games that you aren't able to modify, then a console is definitely for you. You don't have to check system requirements, so you've got that going for you I guess. That must be nice.
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
10. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Anubis+IV · 2012-08-22 06:42 · Score: 1
  
  I want a console that never requires me to upgrade or look at a "System Requirements" label on the game I'm buying. Does your "PC" console satisfy those criteria?
  Regarding system requirements, a better question is "does any console?" And the answer is "no". Specifying "Playstation 3", "Super Nintendo Entertainment System", or "Sega Dreamcast" is a form of a system requirement that specifies both hardware and software. What you seem to want is not a complete lack of system requirements, but rather a massive simplification of the requirements currently in place, such that they could be abbreviated to a single label (e.g. "Xbox 360"), score (e.g. Windows Experience Index), or other trivial indicator (e.g. unibody MacBook Pro) that would indicate a known set of hardware specs.
  Also, one could probably make a philosophical argument that since consoles are devices with known specs, each time you upgrade your PC, you're not upgrading your console, but rather replacing it with a new console, given that the set of specs have changed. When viewed in that light, upgrades might suddenly make a lot more sense, since you may be able to get more bang for your buck as compared to having to replace traditional gaming consoles outright. "May" being the operative key word, since even I doubt the likelihood of that happening, given how much effort is put into optimization for gaming consoles.
11. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by jones_supa · 2012-08-22 06:47 · Score: 1
  
  The traditional lifespan between consoles is 5 years, going all the way back to the Atari 2600 days. This time, MS is now at 6 years old with no new console in sight, and Sony is at 5 years, also with no new console in sight. A lot of developers are getting nervous, and a lot of franchises are growing stale.
  One reason could be that it is getting damn complex to pull something more powerful than the previous generations.
12. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by DarwinSurvivor · 2012-08-22 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  Because then people could replace the broken graphics cards and blu-ray drives themselves instead of shipping the entire units back to Sony/Microsoft for a $200 repair that might get rejected (but still cost you $150).
13. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Minwee · 2012-08-22 07:06 · Score: 1
  
  I want a console that never requires me to upgrade or look at a "System Requirements" label on the game I'm buying. Does your "PC" console satisfy those criteria?
  Does your X-Box? PlayStation? NES?
14. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by jandrese · 2012-08-22 07:10 · Score: 1
  
  There have been some murmurings lately of game companies getting access to the next generation consoles. All they've said is that they are "very impressive", which is probably more than the nondisclosure agreements probably allow them to say already. It's not entirely impossible to see one or two new consoles out as a big surprise this Christmas, but the timeframe is getting very very tight on that. Next year, especially next Christmas, is much more likely IMHO.
  
  --
  
  I read the internet for the articles.
15. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by jandrese · 2012-08-22 07:15 · Score: 2
  
  For what it is worth, my PC is going on 6 years old now and still plays pretty much every game released, and usually at pretty high settings! It's a Core2Duo at 2.4 Ghz with 2GB of memory. It used to have an 8800GTX but that card died and I had to replace it with a 660Ti a few months ago. That card will carry over into whatever my next system is though. The first game I've run across that it can't handle is the new Mechwarrior Online, although that game isn't technically out yet. I know that any console port games should work fine (unless the porting job was terrible), because it has considerably more power than any of the current consoles. I've yet to find an indie game that even comes close to stressing it too.
  
  --
  
  I read the internet for the articles.
16. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by bogie · 2012-08-22 07:26 · Score: 1
  
  "a tri-core that nobody can program for"
  Since when can nobody program for the Xbox 360?
  Although MS is certainly working on a replacement what's the rush? Both the Xbox and PS3 still have plenty of engaging games that look awesome your typical 42" TV. Add to that all the online services like Netflix etc that they have been adding and what exactly are you missing out on? Spending money on new system that does what? Better graphics? Graphics don't make the game.
  This longer period between new systems may frustrate graphic whores, not saying you are one, but it has lead to a stable console platform that gamers have gotten a lot of value out of. That's not such a bad thing especially when you look at all of the great games that continue to come out. Anyway that's my 2cents.
  
  --
  If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
17. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by modecx · 2012-08-22 07:46 · Score: 1
  
  Basically, yes. Many if not most popular titles are handicapped to the level of the 5-6 year old consoles mentioned earlier, much to the chagrin of PC gamers who buy high end components. What that means is if you have a modestly powerful PC such as those built within the last 2-3 years (or even a budget PC built more recently, with integrated graphics, etc.) you can pretty much ignore the system requirements and get an acceptable experience, but perhaps not at the highest resolutions and quality settings.
  
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18. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by crazyjj · 2012-08-22 08:08 · Score: 1
  
  I suspect we'll get an announcement from MS around the end of the year that they'll be releasing the NeXbox (or whatever it's called) for Christmas 2013. But then again, I thought that they would do that last year too. Sony will probably follow shorttly thereafter. Neither is going to let the Wii U stand for too long unchallenged.
  
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  What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
19. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Silentknyght · 2012-08-22 08:10 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It's not the console stopping them, it's not making good games.
  Mod parent insightful. The first thing you'll see for any next-gen system is the same IP being rehashed for another go-around. Metroid, Mario, & Zelda, and that's just Nintendo's IP. It's like the while DVD vs Bluray debacle: same story but new shininess, so please buy it all over again.
20. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by jandrese · 2012-08-22 09:37 · Score: 1
  
  I don't think Microsoft or Sony are considering the WiiU a major threat at the moment. They'll just treat it like the Wii, that console for everybody who wasn't going to buy one of our consoles anyway.
  
  --
  
  I read the internet for the articles.
21. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by tsotha · 2012-08-22 09:46 · Score: 1
  
  There are no new consoles because the console market is an oligopoly. If Microsoft comes out with a new console they don't make more money, they just force Sony and Nintendo to produce competitive offerings. A new generation is so expensive none of the console makers are going to bring it out until they have to.
  Eventually they'll have to do it, though. Nintendo is pulling the trigger 4Q of this year with the Wii U, and anyway the gap between the consoles and even low end PC graphics cards is so large it's getting to be embarrassing.
22. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by drkstr1 · 2012-08-22 10:38 · Score: 1
  
  That's actually a really good idea. +1 Internets.
  
  --
  Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
23. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Rockoon · 2012-08-22 11:29 · Score: 1
  
  no idea what MS's excuse is.
  I think their excuse is that 360's are still selling very well. Over 70 million units sold and its still growing at a decent rate. As of June they had a consecutive 1.5 years as the #1 selling console. Not bad considering that both the PS3 and Wii came out after the 360.
  
  Thats a pretty good excuse, isnt it?
  
  --
  "His name was James Damore."
24. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Guspaz · 2012-08-22 13:33 · Score: 1
  
  If you take Crysis, which is still regarded as being one of the best looking PC games on the market even five years later, and you put it on both a 360 and a high-end PC, it doesn't look THAT different.
  Does the PC look better? Sure. Better enough to make me want to run out and buy a new console? Not so much. Sure, the 360 looks lower res, and some of the effects are toned down or missing, but we're past the point where you can't do some certain effect or visual on a console, given enough render time. Previous generations were about adding additional capabilities; try doing pixel shaded fur on a PS1, for example. But after we hit DX9 capabilities, further improvements were just about doing things faster.
  So yes, consoles will continue to get faster, but it's a game of diminishing returns. Throwing more polygons at a sphere doesn't help if you've already got pretty much enough polygons to make it look round. Even Carmack, who for many years was the granddaddy of eye candy, has said as much. I don't think there's anything that the GPU in a next-gen console will do that isn't at least technically possible on a current-gen console.
25. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Osgeld · 2012-08-22 15:13 · Score: 1
  
  Most modern games starting with the 32 bit systems often list system requirements, look at the back of a ps1 game, do you have X blocks free, and a dual shock? no then tough shit. N64 do you have the memory expansion, how much ram does you 64 have?
  Wii seems to be the worst, does this game require the wiimote or the classic controller, what if I cant find my numchuck, and fuck all if they bother to list any of that shit on the box. I went out and got a wii game, came home, and instantly had to go back out and get an accessory to meet the system requirement so I could play the game.
26. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by Narishma · 2012-08-22 19:16 · Score: 1
  
  That has nothing to do with it. It's mainly because x86 is too expensive that it isn't used in consoles. And the reason for that is Intel won't sell them a license to make the CPU themselves, so they're tied to Intel's high prices. When they use PPC or MIPS or whatever, they get a custom processor and a license to make it themselves (or hire a 3rd party to make it for them), and so can have more leeway in reducing prices in the future.
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
27. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by CronoCloud · 2012-08-23 00:09 · Score: 1
  
  one of the call of duties, mass effect 3, whatever. go to the same scene on both platforms. flip back and forth. I guarantee you'll be amazed at how much better the pc version looks.
  I've done that, while the PC verson usually looks "some" better it's not "amazing" enough to be worth $700 better, or more in the case of the rigs magazines like Maximum PC recommend., their baseline rig is $1300 $1300 will get you a PS3 and a LOT of games. It's no wonder gaming companies think PC gamers are cheapskate pirates...after spending so much on their "rigs" they don't have as much to spend on actual games..which is why we get CS addicts and mod addicts and F2P DOTA addicts who complain about $60 games.
28. Re:He's right about the consoles taking too long by amicusNYCL · 2012-08-24 05:32 · Score: 1
  
  You're happy about not having an option that a lot of other people have and some take advantage of. Got it. Fewer options for you is a good thing.
  You know what one of the good things about a mod is? You can uninstall it if you don't like it. I've got that option also.
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
How the Major Publishers calculate piracy by Eldragon · 2012-08-22 06:03 · Score: 5, Insightful

1 - ((Number of sales title actually got) / (Number of sales title the studio wanted to get)) = Piracy Rate.
1. Re:How the Major Publishers calculate piracy by mlts · 2012-08-22 06:29 · Score: 1
  
  I can't figure out how they calculate piracy. Are they taking the number of people on a torrent swarm and extrapolating?
  In any case, this looks to be a cheap sell of consoles. Consoles are great for game companies. With updates, they can bang out beta-quality code, call it a release, and patch it to a late-beta stage, then start work on the next project, perhaps tossing a DLC bone, if they don't make most of the game requiring paid DLC anyway.
  I say, if the likes of EA and Ubisoft wants to exit the PC market, don't let the door hit them in the derriere on the way out. GOG is making good money, Steam games are doing fine, Apple's App Store is doing A-OK, and I'm sure Microsoft's application store will be profitable for both MS and independent developers. I'm sure there will be some software company that will be the next ID or Origin who can deliver something cool, given time.
2. Re:How the Major Publishers calculate piracy by Eldragon · 2012-08-22 06:45 · Score: 2
  
  Funny is more important than math. But I'll gladly issue a patch:
  If ( PirateRate <0) {
  logerror("Sales should never exceed delusional expectations. Recalculating...");
  ExpectedSales = ActualSales*10;
  return CalculatePiracyRate(ExpectedSales, ActualSales);
  }
3. Re:How the Major Publishers calculate piracy by mla_anderson · 2012-08-22 06:58 · Score: 1
  
  Order of operations. His math is just fine, your comprehension not so much. Unless you're going for the condition where [Number of sales title the studio wanted] < [Number of sales title actually got] which is highly unlikely.
  
  --
  Sig is on vacation
4. Re:How the Major Publishers calculate piracy by jittles · 2012-08-22 07:42 · Score: 1
  
  I may be no mathematician, but even I know they they didn't sell to 5-7% of the entire world's population. Hell, higher than that, since they want you to buy their games for Xbox, PS3, and PC all for a single user!
Steam by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 06:07 · Score: 1

You'd think companies would be more eager to sell on steam.. Since 100% of players on steam must be legitimate customers. :)
No wonder valve doesn't release sales stats. Those numbers alone must be a gold mine, letting them predict actual real sales trends far ahead of the competition.
1. Re:Steam by thetoadwarrior · 2012-08-22 06:58 · Score: 1
  
  Valve give the numbers to publishers. They've said publishers are more than welcome to release their own numbers and Steam doesn't guarantee people pay. You can pirate Valves games and they're as tied into Steam as you can get. Besides, how would you expect publishers to get paid and not know how many titles they sold?
  
  The more logical excuse as to why no one sees Steam sales numbers is because they're not that great so Valve says nothing, publishers have nothing to brag about and, you and many others, assume it's a gold mine.
  
  And that also means that Ubisoft's numbers will include Steam sales because they get to see those.
Re:Challenge by brit74 · 2012-08-22 06:07 · Score: 1

I think he is vastly overestimating his potential revenue. The # of people who install/run a pirated game (or a free game) plus the actual sales #'s does not equal the number of people who would be inclined to buy said game.
I guess I missed the part where he made that claim.
Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by Pausanias · 2012-08-22 06:07 · Score: 4, Informative

DRM is so old school my friend. Diablo 3 showed us that people will pay for a single-player game where only the art is on the client and the code runs on the server. Fast forward ten years: computing and bandwidth will be much cheaper and more powerful and the whole thing will be transparent to nearly everyone.
Diablo 3 will be the model for making people buy games.
1. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by g051051 · 2012-08-22 06:20 · Score: 2
  
  Well, best of luck with that for them. I know I'll never buy another Blizzard game that is built that way. I got Diablo III as part of my 1 year WoW subscription, so I didn't even bother looking into the DRM aspects, otherwise I'd have never purchased it (in spite of being a huge fan of the other Diablo titles). I haven't bothered playing it since I discovered it was online only.
2. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by Hatta · 2012-08-22 06:34 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  That's OK. We have three decades of gaming to choose from. If they stop making games today, I'll have plenty of games to play for the rest of my life.
  The only loser in the deal is the gaming industry. If they want my money, they have to make games on acceptable terms. Otherwise I don't need them at all.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
3. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by OldSport · 2012-08-22 06:51 · Score: 1
  
  I'd like to agree, but look at how widespread Steam (which is basically glorified DRM) is now. Even physical copies of games are linked uniquely to your Steam account. The current gaming demographic will age, and soon the younger generations will never have known anything different.
4. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by Hatta · 2012-08-22 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  Unless emulators are going to disappear from the face of the planet, young people will always have access to the classics.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
5. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by lgw · 2012-08-22 07:39 · Score: 2
  
  But Steam's DRM doesn't suck, is the thing. Yes, there are /. geeks who oppose all DRM on priniciple, but for most people it's a more practical question of whether the DRM gets in the way or not. And Steam does a good job of getting out of the way (though it should be better for network outages), unlike Ubisoft DRM which just flat out won't run the game you just bought on many PCs, or DRM that installs rootkits or the like.
  
  --
  Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
6. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by oji-sama · 2012-08-22 08:30 · Score: 1
  
  But Steam's DRM doesn't suck, is the thing.
  No. Steam's DRM just doesn't suck a lot, or often.
  From a recent update:
  - Fixed broken offline mode if Steam process didn't shutdown correctly
  
  --
  It is what it is.
7. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by richlv · 2012-08-22 08:33 · Score: 1
  
  i was flying in europe last weekend and a japanese (i assume. i might be wrong :) ) person sat next to me. at some point i spotted something faimilar in his laptop. it was heroes iii (with hieroglyphs). i pulled out n9 and showed the start screen of heroes ii ('fheroes2 or so the opensource project was called).
  we had a few sentence chat on how these two old versions were the best from the series and how 4 and 5 went downhill after nwc wasn't working on them.
  i could waste months more time than i have on openttd, heroes 2/3, old warlords, carmageddon 2 - and yes, age of empires 2. openttd is awesome as it's getting recent polish; fheroes2 might do the same for h2. not sure about walrords, but i do have some hopes for the new carmageddon (from kickstarter) to be good as well (not sure whether it might end up being opensource eventually for community input).
  drmed games that require monster computers ? not enough time for that.
  
  --
  Rich
8. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by RocketRabbit · 2012-08-22 09:19 · Score: 1
  
  So was the guy Asian or from Ancient Egypt? One set uses asian characters, the other hieroglyphics.
9. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by richlv · 2012-08-22 09:30 · Score: 1
  
  i might have fallen into a language trap. around here, they all are lumped under hieroglyphics, so i just moved that over to english :)
  
  --
  Rich
10. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by tsotha · 2012-08-22 09:32 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, now if only they would take that model and make a decent game.
11. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by clodney · 2012-08-22 09:41 · Score: 1
  
  Agreed, I will never buy a game that operates the way D3 did. D3 showed us that this method won't work. Sure people bought it this time, but we all know better for next time.
  How can D3 possibly show that this does not work? Major publisher releases highly anticipated sequel, discloses in advance that an always on connection would be required, and despite raging flamewars and trollfests on gaming forums everywhere, sells millions of copies. And so far as I have heard, nobody has cracked it yet so Blizzard's piracy rate is roughly zero.
  If I were a game publisher/developer/designer, and my game had a piracy problem, I would latch on to that model in a heartbeat.
12. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · 2012-08-22 09:44 · Score: 1
  
  . I know I'll never buy another Blizzard game that is built that way... I haven't bothered playing it since I discovered it was online only.
  Fair enough
  
  I got Diablo III as part of my 1 year WoW subscription
  Umm... what?
  Look, I get the difference. But you would be hard pressed to convince me (from the dev side) that a very proven method if dirtributiona nd development and studio knowledge of working that way should get thrown away. I know it was a very DRMy move, but it also is qhat I would do to make things work well.
  
  --
  Your ad here. Ask me how!
13. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by LordLucless · 2012-08-22 10:08 · Score: 1
  
  If by "sells" you mean "gives away for free to subscribers of its major game". I don't know how many copies of D3 were given away as part of the WoW 1-year subscription deal, but I do know that they include them in all their sales figures, including their "record-breaking" pre-sales.
  
  --
  Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
14. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by Magius_AR · 2012-08-22 15:11 · Score: 1
  
  But Steam's DRM doesn't suck, is the thing.
  Yeah, until they change the terms on you:
  http://i.imgur.com/YM7Hq.png
15. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by Galilee · 2012-08-23 00:39 · Score: 1
  
  I sure hope not. I decided to give Blizard the benefit of the doubt and bought D3 despite the always online requirements. What a waste. I won't get into the launch day/week problems because those have been mentioned enough already. I'm a morning person and I don't get to play games too often. A few times now I sat down to play single player but I couldn't because it was Blizards maintenance window. If this is the future of gaming, then I'm done with computer gaming.
16. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by richlv · 2012-08-23 01:04 · Score: 1
  
  thanks. non-latin could also be cyrillic, greek, indian... i guess "asian script" is the safe bet :)
  
  --
  Rich
17. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by g051051 · 2012-08-23 02:35 · Score: 1
  
  Part of the problem is I never played SC2 (I never buy games for more than $20) so I didn't know they'd already adopted that model until after I'd paid for my WoW subscription. A part of why I paid the WoW subscription was that with the included Diablo III, it sounded like a pretty good deal.
  But I'll never use the multiplayer or auction house features...if I do play Diablo III, it'll be purely single player. So I really object to Blizzard requiring a Battle.net account and an internet connection to play a single player game, just like I don't want to play Ubi games that act the same way.
18. Re:Mark my words: Diablo 3 will be the paradigm by Culture20 · 2012-08-23 02:58 · Score: 1
  
  How many MUDs did you play back in the day?
  "But those were multi-player!"
  Okay. Ever play Rogue or Zork via telnet?
Re:I am Atlas by Dyinobal · 2012-08-22 06:10 · Score: 1

maybe you should shrug *insert more ayn rand themed jokes that are both offensive and not funny like her books*
Completely reasonable by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-22 06:10 · Score: 1

This logic seems very sound to me. Let's look at the Witcher 2, which sold 3 million units on the PC. This means by UBIsofts logic the game WOULD have sold 60 million copies if it wasn't for the fact that ever single person who owns a PC is a dirty thief, or almost exactly double the sales of Super Mario Brothers over the last 30 years, counting over a dozen re-releases on over 10 different consuls.
That seems about right, and I can see how a perfectly reasonable person in touch with reality might think that.
Re:I am Atlas by arkane1234 · 2012-08-22 06:10 · Score: 1

Ubisoft != the game industry...
It's just that they're still coasting on the original rainbow six style gaming platform. It gets old.

--
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
There is NO WAY this is correct. MATH INSIDE by Foo2rama · 2012-08-22 06:11 · Score: 5, Insightful

Lets do some math....

The last ghost recon has sold 1.03 million units so far world wide. Which assuming the 95% piracy rate means 20.6 million units would have been sold or 14.7million units at the 93% piracy rate.

The original Bioshock on xbox360 only moved 2.53 million units worldwide, and we can assume a very low piracy rate as it was on Xbox 360 only. That game was a huge hit, the Last Ghost Recon did well not amazing.... So you are saying that between 5-9 time more people played Ghost recon vs Bioshock? Yes the lat Ghost recon has cross platform but even if you take that into account...

Anyone else see the math issue?

Data pulled from here. http://www.vgchartz.com/game/43311/tom-clancys-ghost-recon-future-soldier/

--

---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.
1. Re:There is NO WAY this is correct. MATH INSIDE by cheesecake23 · 2012-08-22 08:17 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Data pulled from here. http://www.vgchartz.com/game/43311/tom-clancys-ghost-recon-future-soldier/
  
  Sorry, I'm SO not clicking that link. When you have a story about a game manufacturer claiming 95% piracy rates, and say "Data pulled from here:" with a URL, I just assume I'm gonna get goatse'd.
2. Re:There is NO WAY this is correct. MATH INSIDE by cryptizard · 2012-08-23 01:47 · Score: 1
  
  The original Bioshock on xbox360 only moved 2.53 million units worldwide, and we can assume a very low piracy rate as it was on Xbox 360 only.
  What are you talking about? Bioshock was definitely released on PC at the same time.
Ubi-cry me a river-soft by watcher-rv4 · 2012-08-22 06:12 · Score: 1

Ubicrysoft. They sold tons of copies of Assassin's Creed franchise on the Steam during the Vacation's promo in july.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics by wbr1 · 2012-08-22 06:12 · Score: 1

I love MBA math. You can concoct any numbers you like to support your business case. I tried this in pre algebra, x*2=20; I answered x=pi. I failed. Why don't they?

--
Silence is a state of mime.
1. Re:Lies, damn lies, and statistics by SuricouRaven · 2012-08-22 06:20 · Score: 1
  
  Algebra rejects rounding, so the correct answer should actually be x=+- root 20. Making it a question so obvious it should not be in the paper.
2. Re:Lies, damn lies, and statistics by VisceralLogic · 2012-08-22 06:41 · Score: 1
  
  I love MBA math. You can concoct any numbers you like to support your business case. I tried this in pre algebra, x*2=20; I answered x=pi. I failed. Why don't they?
  
  Algebra rejects rounding, so the correct answer should actually be x=+- root 20. Making it a question so obvious it should not be in the paper.
  Except that *!=^
  
  --
  Stop! Dremel time!
3. Re:Lies, damn lies, and statistics by SuricouRaven · 2012-08-22 06:57 · Score: 1
  
  I mis-read the symbol. Such small pixels! But that just makes the question even easier.
4. Re:Lies, damn lies, and statistics by DarwinSurvivor · 2012-08-22 07:00 · Score: 1
  
  Ummm, * is multiplication. ^ is for powers.
5. Re:Lies, damn lies, and statistics by SuricouRaven · 2012-08-22 07:11 · Score: 1
  
  I mis-read the symbol. They look so similar in a small font.
6. Re:Lies, damn lies, and statistics by Stirling+Newberry · 2012-08-22 07:30 · Score: 1
  
  You forgot the MBA reality equation:
  (*)
  
  --
  Fugue for Aaron Swartz
Lesson heard loud and clear by frovingslosh · 2012-08-22 06:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

So I'm pretty sure what Ubisoft is telling me is that if I buy one of their titles, I'll not only be paying for the game, but the price reflects that they believe I'm also paying for up to 19 other people who play it but don't buy it! No wonder the price is so high for just a piece of game software! I don't want to pay for up to 20 users of the software (myself included), and I don't like having to deal with DRM that those other 19 player apparently can avoid. Thanks for the info Ubisoft, it will affect my decision next time that I want to play a game.

--
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
He might be right by InvisiBill · 2012-08-22 06:12 · Score: 2

"We want to develop the PC market quite a lot and F2P is really the way to do it," said the French CEO. "The advantage of F2P is that we can get revenue from countries where we couldn't previously - places where our products were played but not bought. Now with F2P we gain revenue, which helps brands last longer.
It sounds like he's referring to the typical countries where counterfeit and pirated products of all types are sold on every corner (as opposed to the dirty thieves in the US who are just too cheap to pay for it). I'm sure there are many US pirates that they are now getting more revenue from as well, but it sounds like this is specifically targeting the locations where bootlegs are the norm over legitimate products.
Paying Customers by Nethemas+the+Great · 2012-08-22 06:15 · Score: 2

So what you're really saying is that it is just like we've always been saying. Only people with money to pay for games will pay for games. I would have never guessed that the pre-teen and early adolescent crowd couldn't afford to buy your games at the store or make online micro-payments with their personal credit cards. I mean really I'd be quite happy to store my credit card on my kid's Xbox live account and give them carte blanche to buy whatever swag they like. You mean parents don't really do that?

--
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
1. Re:Paying Customers by DarwinSurvivor · 2012-08-22 07:02 · Score: 1
  
  I mean really I'd be quite happy to store my credit card on my kid's Xbox live account and give them carte blanche to buy whatever swag they like. You mean parents don't really do that?
  Parents DO do that, and every time some idiot kid runs up a $10,000 xbox bill, their idiot parents make the news.
Re:Only for Ubisoft by Hatta · 2012-08-22 06:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

Actually, a piracy rate of around 95% sounds about right for PC gaming going all the way back to the 5150, and the 8-bit home computers that came before it. PC gaming has survived for 30 years with piracy rates of 90% or more, it should survive for another 30.

--
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Perhaps the games suck by Windwraith · 2012-08-22 06:17 · Score: 4, Insightful

Because a simple game like Minecraft has several, millions of paying customers. And most of them came in when the game was at full price, as opposed to the cheaper prereleases.
So... how come people are willing to pay for Minecraft and not for Ubisoft's games?
1. Re:Perhaps the games suck by i+kan+reed · 2012-08-22 06:46 · Score: 1
  
  Minecraft's always-on DRM is baked into the gameplay?
2. Re:Perhaps the games suck by Windwraith · 2012-08-22 07:20 · Score: 1
  
  That's correct. What the guy you are replying to calls DRM, is nothing but an online login. Not the same thing.
  Felt like I should reply so your post can be seen by others who filter ACs.
3. Re:Perhaps the games suck by jandrese · 2012-08-22 07:28 · Score: 1
  
  Not really, Minecraft is piss easy to pirate if you don't care about online play. If you do care about online play, you need to find a non-authenticating server (which will be full of other pirates, so caveat emptor) but otherwise it's not any different. The "DRM" is really just about preventing other people from impersonating you (and taking your stuff) on multiplayer servers, it's not really copy protection.
  
  --
  
  I read the internet for the articles.
4. Re:Perhaps the games suck by tokul · 2012-08-22 08:29 · Score: 1
  
  Because a simple game like Minecraft has several, millions of paying customers.
  
  Most of minecraft players are minors. They can't pay for a game. When they grow up and get some cash to spend, they won't spend it on Minecraft. Crappy graphics are not worth it and player's visual requirements outgrow their imagination as they mature.
Re:Another reason to avoid non-free software by Dreamlandlocal · 2012-08-22 06:18 · Score: 2

Any suggestions on how a business model would work? Modern games are very, very expensive to make.
Unfortunately for your position, you are completely unable to put your money where your mouth is.
Not piracy by Roogna · 2012-08-22 06:19 · Score: 2

I'm willing to bet they're actually counting a whole lot of us in a percentage that high as pirates, who actually just aren't playing their games at all. Once they started down their horrible DRM path I just stopped playing their games in any fashion. After all, they're just games, not a one of them will kill me if I don't play it.
1. Re:Not piracy by captjc · 2012-08-22 06:38 · Score: 1
  
  Assassin's Creed 4, now with real assassins! Buy our great new game and experience the the magic and wonder of the world we created or we will kill you. Our trained assassins will be seeing you soon!
  
  --
  Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
2. Re:Not piracy by Pinky's+Brain · 2012-08-22 06:40 · Score: 2
  
  Ditto, I refuse to buy any game with always online DRM for the single player part of the game for the moment (I'm so glad that prevented me from buying D3 BTW). When BG&E2 comes out I'll have to revalue that position, but for now Ubisoft is losing sales in my case.
3. Re:Not piracy by deek · 2012-08-22 15:37 · Score: 1
  
  Ubisoft aren't Assassins. They are Templars.
  Case in point: The Templars are forcing their will on the world. The Assassins are trying to free the world from tyranny. Which group best matches Ubisoft DRM?
Solution by BigSes · 2012-08-22 06:24 · Score: 1

Why don't they just stop making PC games then? I don't buy their products, just as disclaimer.
Lesson learned here by MobyDisk · 2012-08-22 06:25 · Score: 1

It's around a 93-95 per cent piracy rate
The lesson to learn here is this: If you are going to lie, lie believably. Otherwise, only people who already agreed with you will listen.
LOL right by Tridus · 2012-08-22 06:29 · Score: 1

And 117% of the pirates are just doing it because their DRM is so bad.
See, I can make up stats too!

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-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
I don't buy Ubisoft games due to their drm by Dan667 · 2012-08-22 06:30 · Score: 1

funny they are now trying to say that ubisoft's corrupt business practices that I refuse to be a Customer of is piracy.
Biased sample by GameboyRMH · 2012-08-22 06:35 · Score: 1

This is the piracy rate for *Ubisoft* games.

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"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Contrast to Valve by The+Raven · 2012-08-22 06:40 · Score: 5, Interesting

Valve has indicated, in their public statements on the issue, that piracy has has a negligible impact on their bottom line in any market they make their product available in. Notably, they indicated that when they made their products available on day 1 in the Russian market, Russian piracy dried up.
Any bets on whether Ubisoft checks the IPs and ignores 'piracy' in areas they are not making the game available in? No takers? Didn't think so.

--
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
1. Re:Contrast to Valve by GoblinKing · 2012-08-22 07:03 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Valve's ability to make available popular titles through Steam in many markets and their near non-existent DRM probably contributes to the decline in piracy of Valve titles. Sure you need to be logged into a Steam account to run them but some of those Steam games are actually free to play anyways.
  I bought CS:GO yesterday and will continue to buy my games from Steam. Assuming that Valve follows through on their promise to make Linux ports of their games and I'll even support their efforts by buying extra copies for friends and family.
Incorrect assumption? by InvisiBill · 2012-08-22 06:42 · Score: 5, Informative

As I said in my other comment, he specifically mentions "countries" where their games were "played but not bought" before stating the 93-95% piracy rate. Assuming he's talking about those developing countries with rampant bootlegs and counterfeits, that would fall under the 0.10m "Rest of the World" sales. Using that number, you're talking about 1.4-2.0m pirated copies. That's still a huge number compared to only 1.03m actual sales, but it's much more reasonable than 15-20m. That would result in a total of about 3m copies, which is more in line with your Bioshock number (which was released nearly 5 years ago, so there should be more consoles worldwide now).
I don't buy or even play Ubisoft games by AdmV0rl0n · 2012-08-22 06:43 · Score: 3, Insightful

Simple facts. Nasty company. Nasty DRM.
I don't tend to pirate games now, because of two core reasons:
1. Steam, and steam value - I feel in most cases I can buy games for a fair price, usually in the sales. The sales are probably at a level that I am willing to pay. Companies are *going to have to accept low price, high volume. Not the reverse.
2. The virus and malware landscape simply means I am generally unwilling to allow unknown/untrusted exe or similar files on my systems. Thats fundamentally a deeper threat to me than evil gamesellers DRM, but both are a threat.
But Ubisoft, frankly, you are a foul, nasty company. Your DRM antics mean you don't deserve to survive. Either learn the lessons or go die. Seriously.

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We`re all equal .. Just some of us are less equal than others.
1. Re:I don't buy or even play Ubisoft games by bratmobile · 2012-08-22 08:41 · Score: 1
  
  I love it that the reason you stopped pirating games is malware. Not because stealing is wrong.
  You people have only yourselves to blame for DRM.
2. Re:I don't buy or even play Ubisoft games by Travelsonic · 2012-08-22 13:14 · Score: 1
  
  Well, aside from the fact that no stealing is involved - proven by many logically sound assertions, can you prove pirates are to blame for this mess of DRM, and not the companies that overreact, and implement buggy, half-assed and overbearing restrictions?
  
  --
  If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
3. Re:I don't buy or even play Ubisoft games by bratmobile · 2012-08-22 17:57 · Score: 1
  
  Violating copyright is illegal, and I personally believe it's unethical. That's enough for me.
4. Re:I don't buy or even play Ubisoft games by luther349 · 2012-08-23 09:13 · Score: 1
  
  drm is fine when its used as intended like steam and everyone likes them. when the company's take it to far with drm that so poorly done because there so worried bought oh god someone stealing it and all it does is not work or brake the system or cripple it in any way its not the paying customers fault becouse that who its going to effect not the pirate that's cracked it a week later.
Well, yeah. by OldSport · 2012-08-22 06:44 · Score: 1

You can download a pirated version of a game that just works, or you can buy a legit copy that is crippled by design. Hard fucking choice. Haven't these companies learned *anything* from the music DRM fiascos a few years back?
CD keys? by sl4shd0rk · 2012-08-22 06:48 · Score: 1

So, for every 100 people who play the game, only 7 of them actually purchase it? There's no friggin way. How the hell do 93 people use the same 7 activation keys? ESPECIALLY when you need to be connected to the ubisoft mothership to actually play. He must be using the same Abacus as the MPAA/RIAA uses.

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The joys of made up numbers by nedlohs · 2012-08-22 06:53 · Score: 2

Or maybe Ubisoft just make games people don't want?
According to some random web site Skyrim has sold 2.36 million copies on the PC. So by their 93% number 31.4 million pirates must have "stolen" it - three times the total sales on PS3 and xbox. Even for a purely single player game with a readily available warez copy hat doesn't pass the smell test.
1. Re:The joys of made up numbers by Your.Master · 2012-08-22 07:35 · Score: 1
  
  Fallacy of division: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_division
  It could conceivably be that the highest-selling games are also the lowest-pirated games. Actually, I'd think that was likely if for no other reason than just random variance in piracy rates would show up as higher sales. Though with Skyrim in particular, you'd expect them both to be high.
2. Re:The joys of made up numbers by nedlohs · 2012-08-22 08:57 · Score: 1
  
  As I said it's a single player game and a warez version was readily available upon release. There is no way it's the huge exception with low piracy rates.
  That he is making numbers up (or cherry picking what to count) or ubisoft's games suck so much that 90% of the "players" are composed of people who download every game releases and don't actually play most of them, seem far more likely than Skyrim being a miraculusly pirate free exception.
  But yes when you pick one case it could be an outlier.
People claim piracy when it's a purchaser reload by WillAffleckUW · 2012-08-22 06:57 · Score: 1

A lot of game manufacturers claim it's piracy when most of those "pirates" are actually just reloading their game that they originally purchased in the first place, but had to get a heck to work around the DRM that shouldn't have been there.
And modders.
Exception: China - most game s/w there is pirated. Period.

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-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The first and last Ubisoft game I bought... by neo-mkrey · 2012-08-22 07:05 · Score: 1

(i.e. paid money for) was Rayman for the Atari Jaguar.
If they want to stop PC pirating by Fosterocalypse · 2012-08-22 07:17 · Score: 1

stop developing PC ports....
So let's count their sins by Torp · 2012-08-22 07:21 · Score: 2

Killed the Might and Magic series (especially the RPGs, but Heroes is just a shadow of its former self as well).
Killed Beyond Good and Evil.
Killed Settlers.
(Personal opinion) Splinter Cell is just a Metal Gear solid clone, and Assassin's Creed is a medieval GTA.
Used all forms of shitty DRM across the years. Everyone is complaining about UPlay, but I remember getting a free Splinter Cell disc with a video card and not installing it because of StarForce.
The result?
I don't even read news or reviews about Ubisoft games. How can I pirate them when I don't know what they have out?
And of course the Assasin's Creed lovers will pirate the game because the piratebay version actually works.
Note 1: I have 120ish purchased games on Steam.
Note 2: I own a PS3, I have a stack of about 10 unopened PS3 games waiting for me to have time to play them, plus a stack of 30+ games that i've at least ran once.
Note 3: I still wouldn't buy Ubisoft games for the PS3 for fear of what they might do to my console.

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I apologize for the lack of a signature.
1. Re:So let's count their sins by Ash-Fox · 2012-08-22 07:26 · Score: 1
  
  Those aren't sins, dude.
  
  --
  Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Bypass problem by jweller13 · 2012-08-22 07:24 · Score: 1

It would seem that for MMO's that are F2P the supposed "need" for DRM is completely obviated. For most F2P MMOs revenue comes from in-game purchases. I was reading some other articles that for Sony, and NCSoft they saw very large increases in revenue from games when they went F2P. I am drowning in F2P games on my PC. An embarrassment of riches. I haven't touched, never mind even bought a game for, my console in about a year.
Re:I am Atlas by arth1 · 2012-08-22 07:24 · Score: 2

maybe you should shrug *insert more ayn rand themed jokes that are both offensive and not funny like her books*
Contrary to what you think, the post you replied to did not have any Ayn Rand reference. This guy is not a reference to Ayn Rand any more than Zarathustra is a reference to Stanley Kubrick or Richard Strauss -- it's the other way around.
Console again? by guidryp · 2012-08-22 07:26 · Score: 1

"I think that the new consoles will give a huge boost to the industry, just like they do every time that they come. "
This is just my gut talking, but I really feel like people are actually caring much less about the next generation consoles this time. Smartphones and tablets are increasingly becoming a way to spend leisure gaming time with a much lower cost.
I just can't seen "Xbox 720" and "Halo 7" and PS4 making that big of an impression this time.
Re:People claim piracy when it's a purchaser reloa by Ash-Fox · 2012-08-22 07:28 · Score: 1

A lot of game manufacturers claim it's piracy when most of those "pirates" are actually just reloading their game that they originally purchased in the first place, but had to get a heck to work around the DRM that shouldn't have been there.
And modders.
Can I see the source where you got this from?

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Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Re:People claim piracy when it's a purchaser reloa by WillAffleckUW · 2012-08-22 07:34 · Score: 1

Source - lots of people I know personally.
Heck, have you even tried to d/l the Sims 3 using their new engine? Blew up multiple times.

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-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Stop doing stupid crap for DRM then. by awweaver · 2012-08-22 07:41 · Score: 1

Seriously. The effect of using DRM causes people to want to pirate the game. What does a kid do when told not to do something? He does it. I believe the same principle applies here.
You wouldn't... by spikenerd · 2012-08-22 07:47 · Score: 1

help make SPAM profitable by sending money to a Nigerian prince scam. So stop supporting companies that use DRM by buying their products! If copying software is like theft, then paying money for software is like being responsible for scams.
Comment removed by account_deleted · 2012-08-22 07:53 · Score: 1

Comment removed based on user account deletion
Of the dozen or so games installed on my PC by sandytaru · 2012-08-22 08:00 · Score: 1

Exactly 0% of them are pirated. I didn't pay full retail price for most of them - thank you Humble Bundles - but I didn't pirate them either. In fact, I've paid for FFXI three times now - it's worth $10 once every few years to avoid having to spend 8 hours re-downloading six expansions and ten years worth of patches any time I need to reinstall.

TFA doesn't list his source for his numbers, either.

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Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Well I guess that's it by Dunbal · 2012-08-22 08:01 · Score: 1

OK Ubisoft. Stop making games and you will finally win over piracy at long last, with a 0% rate. Considering the games lately it's not like you'll be missed anyway.
PS: I can make up statistics too, in fact 73.8% of all people do.

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Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
The truth has been spoken... by Archfeld · 2012-08-22 08:14 · Score: 1

I personally remember the outrage and disbelief at the concept of paying .99 for a tune on my mp3 player. My nephews and neices don't even notice it...
In this case the grass REALLY was greener back then...

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errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
1. Re:The truth has been spoken... by tibit · 2012-08-22 08:37 · Score: 1
  
  As opposed to shelling out $15+ for a CD that you may only like one track from?! You must be a realtor, because it's their logic. The housing market sucks almost everywhere, yet they have the gall to put up billboards that fucking say grass is greener. I kid you not.
  
  --
  A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
2. Re:The truth has been spoken... by Urza9814 · 2012-08-23 01:46 · Score: 1
  
  The last several albums I've purchased have been $5-$10 for ~20 tracks. So that's $0.25-$0.50 per track, with not a single one I wouldn't have purchased on a per-track basis. Well, except one (album), but that was three CDs, in a massive book, shipped from London...for around $45...Which works out to $15 per CD, IF you consider the big hardcover book as a free bonus.
  Soo...you must be buying RIAA music then?
  If it's an EP, $0.99 per track makes sense, but usually only if you're comparing it to retail pricing. If you only want one track, $0.99 makes sense. But for people like me who have artists they actually like and plan on getting the entire album anyway, I agree with the GP -- $0.99 per track is a bit much.
3. Re:The truth has been spoken... by tibit · 2012-08-23 02:29 · Score: 1
  
  If you like the whole thing, sure, pay $10-$15 that popular CDs usually cost on Amazon. For single tracks, including the convenience factor, complaining about $0.99 is IMHO silly.
  
  --
  A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Ubisoft used to be cool by Mystery00 · 2012-08-22 08:15 · Score: 1

There was a time when I looked forward to their games, but now there's more DRM than game and they haven't brought anything worth playing out in the last few years.
But nah that wouldn't have anything to do with them complaining about piracy, surely not.

--
"we've got trenchcoats and bad attitudes" - John Constantine, HellBlazer
Re:Only for Ubisoft by gfxguy · 2012-08-22 08:24 · Score: 1

While I don't agree with piracy at all, I have to agree with you - most pirates would not have bought the game at the prices that are asked. It's not a justification for piracy, but it also doesn't affect sales that much.
I've always felt the companies should stop wasting so many resources on DRM and piracy prevention - things that only cost the honest consumers more money.

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Stupid sexy Flanders.
Re:Only for Ubisoft by zrbyte · 2012-08-22 08:26 · Score: 1

These numbers probably stink. Of course everything depends on what and how you measure and define, but... Let's just see the ratio of people who have actually bought a game in a legit way (of course they may have also pirated some).
Opening up my Steam client you get a nice number saying there are 4.3 million people online at the moment. So a quick check on Google and you come up with a number for the US gamer "population" of 125 mill. About as many for the EU since the population is about the same size (I don't consider Asia, here. Maybe that's a big mistake). 30 mill Steam users comes at about 12%. Now if we consider that not all legit gamers are Steam users this number should go way up!
Ubisoft sells a game for thieves by Ceriel+Nosforit · 2012-08-22 08:27 · Score: 1

And they then complain about the thieving?

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All rites reversed 2010
Invest in Ubi Soft! by DarthVain · 2012-08-22 08:45 · Score: 1

So using Ubi Soft's numbers of 95% piracy...
They got about 1.3 Billion dollars in sales last year.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ubisoft-profits-rise-to-30m-in-fy2012/096074
But that is ONLY 5% of the number of paying players.
So I expect when they figure it all out, and make it online only registration play DRM etc...
There sales should increase by 24.7 Billion to an astonishing 26 Billion dollars in sales annually!
Well done Ubi Soft, well done!
Re:Only for Ubisoft by aaronb1138 · 2012-08-22 08:51 · Score: 1

What those numbers don't account for is the huge numbers that try a game a couple hours and then quit because it wasn't worth the time or the money. Nobody trusts demos anymore because they are loaded with extra advertising, DRM, and frequently give away the only level of the game with any effort put into it.
They also don't account for the pirate today, buy it on sale crowd. I'm sure Steam's Summer and Holiday sales weeks numbers would corroborate this if we had numbers of pirate game installs corresponding to purchased games.
the consoles! by j00r0m4nc3r · 2012-08-22 09:05 · Score: 1

the consoles will save us all!!! keep telling yourself that, ubi..
Re:Only for Ubisoft by Cinder6 · 2012-08-22 09:05 · Score: 1

DRM on demos? I would say I don't believe it, but sadly, I think I do...

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If you can't convince them, convict them.
Prices are too high by DMJC · 2012-08-22 10:15 · Score: 1

Start charging $20-50 per game in Australia right now. I've been Grey market importing PS3 titles, I own over 26 games. The price is right at the UK level of $20-50/game. I'll never pay your bullshit $110 game prices. Don't even try to justify that bullshit to me.
1. Re:Prices are too high by CronoCloud · 2012-08-23 00:26 · Score: 1
  
  You live in an english speaking country in the pacific ocean that is not a game producer far away from the other english speaking countries. Back when it mattered you used a Television system different from the two major game making companies on each side of the pacific, but the same one as the country on the other side of the planet. Your rating system made no sense.
  So yes, you were an outlier and you were going to pay more. If you wanted to pay less, you should have made your country an NTSC country, then Nintendo/Sony/whatever could do a joint NTSC-US/CAN/AU release, rather than NTSC UC, PAL-AU, PAL-UK,
2. Re:Prices are too high by luther349 · 2012-08-23 09:21 · Score: 1
  
  get ready to pay more. they think people are going to pay 70$ a game when the n ext big system comes out. at this point im done with games.
So I assume... by qeveren · 2012-08-22 12:34 · Score: 1

...he's doing the usual thing of taking all of the unauthorized downloaded copies as lost sales, and then saying that they're losing 95% of all their sales to piracy?

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Don't just stand there, get that other dog!
derp by Travelsonic · 2012-08-22 13:01 · Score: 1

No. Breaking DRM should not be illegal. If we have a product and want to make a copy, so long as we don't share it illegally, that's our natural and logical right. They have no control over what we do in our homes, so to criminalize that they have no control over s beyond stupid, as is you inane and retarded rambling.

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If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
Maybe if their DRM and installers worked right... by Hachima · 2012-08-22 13:27 · Score: 1

I bought Hawk 2 from steam and recently Driver SF for $1 from the ubi store. The legit version of Hawk 2 would crash constantly due to failures with their DRM server. Driver SF wouldn't even install right and would fail to launch. So I installed the pirate versions of both, which worked just fine without issues... So what do I count as? Yeah of course people are pirating the games, so they can actually enjoy them.
Game is broken with or without DRM by mynis01 · 2012-08-22 13:28 · Score: 1

Did anyone else here play a legit boxed copy of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier on PC shortly after it came out? It wasn't even really playable for people that weren't pirating it until a patch that came out a week or two ago.
Free-To-Play === No DRM? by PincushionMan · 2012-08-22 14:20 · Score: 1

I have to disagree with you. Free-To-Play is the ultimate DRM. Your game only exists as long as that game cloud is running. As soon as it becomes unprofitable, they'll pull the plug in a heartbeat. Just like that, your game is gone.

From the publisher's point of view, this is the best possible solution. Turn everything into MMORPG, MMORTS, or MMOFPS and start raking in the dough. As soon as v2 comes out, pull the plug on v1. Or better yet, make expansion1 that makes those playing the vanilla version lose every time. I can see more powerful guns in FPS-type games (like the Double-Barrel shotgun in Doom2), more powerful units in RTS games (like Krogoth in Total Annihilation:Core Contingency), and Monty-Haul Loot Drops (TM) in MMORPGs (like Dust of Disappearance in Curse of the Azure Bonds - that stuff rocked!)

Point is - I can still play Curse of the Azure Bonds more than 20 years after it was made. Yes, I still have a floppy drive in my computer, and an emulator is required. The Free-To-Plays will probably last 5, perhaps 15 if they are a runaway success. Future generations may not have access to them. Now where did that Adventurer's Journal run off to, I need to read Entry 37.
1. Re:Free-To-Play === No DRM? by fm6 · 2012-08-22 15:48 · Score: 1
  
  You make a good point. But you should copy your files off that floppy disk. Not the most reliable medium.
  Hey, I think I'll take a break and play Day of the Tentacle. Runs just fine on ScrummVM,
Re:Only for Ubisoft by Shadow+of+Eternity · 2012-08-22 17:29 · Score: 1

If there are 4.4 million non-pirating customers on steam at one time then by this logic wouldn't that mean there are another 150 million pirates? Unless I'm too tired to understand what he's saying here claiming that only 5-7% pay means that if you have X number of non-pirates you must have Y number of pirates.

--
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
Re:Only for Ubisoft by CronoCloud · 2012-08-22 23:16 · Score: 1

Didn't have money then. I have a job now.
Then you should have not pirated, or paid less for your gaming machine so you had enough left to buy some games.
It always makes me laugh to see some PC gamers who claim to have spent over 1000 on their machine that say that games are too expensive and that they pirate/only play mods or free games/buy only on steam sales. When you could take that money and get a 360 or PS3...and 10 full-price games.
That 93% Number is Real, but Not What You Expect by SeinJunkie · 2012-08-23 04:38 · Score: 1

I did some very brief research in the past about software piracy back when the Dead Trigger story came out. 93% is the software piracy rate of the highest piracy countries in the world.
As I mention in that post, if you read the original interview, Yves was talking in the context of those specific countries when he gave the 93% figure. So free to play gives them no different results in those countries where they have no social stigma about pirating.
Contrast the 93% number of Armenia to the 20% piracy rate of the lowest country on that list (that would be the United States), and it makes a lot more sense why the immediate reaction of western countries is to not believe the figure.
Still, free to play seems like a dumb solution and their attempt at a DRM bandaid is even more idiotic.
Send these comments to Ubisoft by doccus · 2012-08-23 13:06 · Score: 1

.. and maybe they'll listen.. On the other hand, why bother?
So let me get this straight... by DiEx-15 · 2012-08-24 02:06 · Score: 1

The fact that people are playing for free on a F2P and the number of paying customers is in relatively low numbers SOMEHOW translates to piracy?!

Forgive me if I am wrong, but isn't the whole point of F2P mean I play for free? Should I expect the FBI/MPAA/RIAA to bust down my door soon and scare the shit out of my cats because I am playing DDO/LotRO/Star Trek Online (all F2P) because now I am a pirate playing F2P games without buying any of their shinys?