Hackers Swipe Unreleased Game From Ubisoft

hypnosec writes with news that a group of Russian hackers has compromised the security of Ubisoft's digital distribution platform, uPlay, finding a way for users of the service to download any of its games for free. What makes this particularly notable is that the hackers found a copy of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, an unreleased spin-off of Far Cry 3 that hasn't even been officially announced (except as part of an April Fool's joke). The hackers posted a half-hour of gameplay footage to YouTube, and Ubisoft took uPlay down to fix the security vulnerability. They say no user information was compromised.

Comments

What did they expect?

[fox171171]

That's what they get for being "always on".

Re:What did they expect?

[Anonymous Coward]

but always on drm is great

said no gamer ever

Re:What did they expect?

[peragrin]

The only thing to really say is.

"And nothing of value was lost."

Re:What did they expect?

[kelemvor4]

Insightful? Funny? My kingdom for a mod point.

If only there was ...

[DavidClarkeHR]

If only there was some way to:
- Distribute games without using uPlay and alternatives (like Origin)
- Partition, or even separate the storage of sensitive information physically from the internet
- Create new, exciting franchised that engage the community
- Stop releasing garbage ... both accidentally and on purpose.

When a game studio figures out how to do that ... maybe they'll be onto something.

Re:If only there was ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi, I will shill about kickstarter/indie games

Re:If only there was ...

[viperidaenz]

I'll take your proposal further and say we should used cardboard boxes to distribute the games.
It will be revolutionary

Re:If only there was ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah! Also, we'll put them on those shiny drink coaster thingies!

captcha: memories

"oops"

[girlintraining]

This begs the question of what an unreleased and undocumented game was doing on a server designed specifically to distribute as many copies of the game as possible. This is weapons-grade stupidity.

Re:"oops"

[Anonymous Coward]

>weapons-grade stupidity

This kind of stupidity will cost profit it's life. It's preposterous. Think of all those innocent dollars.

Re:"oops"

[illestov]

or perhaps, Ubisoft archestrated the whole thing for promotional reasons.. ? (exercising my conspiracy theory skills)

Re:"oops"

[LordLucless]

Or why their "always on" DRM doesn't give them enough control nip this in the bud. Unless, of course, they don't add the DRM until just before it goes to market, because it makes it too much of a PITA to develop/test with (but not enough of a PITA that consumers can't be expected to put up with it, naturally)

Re:"oops"

[steelfood]

They don't include always-on DRM for new titles anymore.

But either someone fucked up bad by putting an unannounced pre-release title into their distribution servers, or this is merely a lame way of drawing attention to a product, or perhaps somebody took their April Fool's joke and ran a little too hard with it.

Frankly, I find it hard to believe Russian hackers would just release gameplay footage. If the full (playable, obviously) game's not on a torrent site somewhere, it's probably just a publicity stunt. Yes, the hackers could be looking to blackmail Ubisoft, but there's really no point. It's not like the game's not going to eventually end up on some torrent site after release anyway. All Ubisoft would have to do is ignore the hackers and change the game a bit here and there maybe add some more levels or whatnot, tweak the ending, and call that final.

Re:"oops"

[mephox]

I came here to say this... Why... Why put a 'secret game' on a public facing server that is used to serve up games for the consuming masses? I understand they're hackers and they surf the interwebs and can get around your puny "Don't look here" signs by going around them, but surely it must have occurred to someone, somewhere within Ubisoft that putting that there would have been a bad idea. Unless... It wasn't really an April Fool's stunt and their marketing was just so poorly timed as to start on the day that happens every year when everyone tries to dupe everyone else. Genius!

Re:"oops"

[kelemvor4]

Or why their "always on" DRM doesn't give them enough control nip this in the bud. Unless, of course, they don't add the DRM until just before it goes to market, because it makes it too much of a PITA to develop/test with (but not enough of a PITA that consumers can't be expected to put up with it, naturally)

Customers will always be expected to put up with DRM. That is, until customers stop buying DRM software AND companies somehow equate the DRM as being the cause. Even if the former were to happen, the company would probably find some other thing to blame for low sales figures.

Re:"oops"

[kelemvor4]

If the full (playable, obviously) game's not on a torrent site somewhere, it's probably just a publicity stunt. Yes, the hackers could be looking to blackmail Ubisoft, but there's really no point. It's not like the game's not going to eventually end up on some torrent site after release anyway. All Ubisoft would have to do is ignore the hackers and change the game a bit here and there maybe add some more levels or whatnot, tweak the ending, and call that final.

https://thepiratebay.gl/search/far%20cry%203%20blood%20dragon/0/99/0

Re:"oops"

[ElectricTurtle]

I know I'm just one person, but the last DRMed game I bought and will buy was Civ V. I had avoided Steam for a long time, but it was Civ and I love Civ and there was no non-Steam version. At one point one of their servers glitched, only for a few mins, and it wouldn't auth me to play the game I had just bought and paid for (one of the fears I've long had about Steam in general). It was a minor inconvenience, but it made the abstract objections I'd had against things like that a real thing, and I'm not going to be that sucker.

I've bought like a dozen games from GOG, and from now on they're the only people I buy from.

Re:"oops"

[PopeRatzo]

This kind of stupidity will cost profit it's life.

Because profits are people, my friend.

Re:"oops"

[crutchy]

occam's razor at work

Re:"oops"

[ultranova]

It's more correctly "a server designed specifically to distribute as many purchased copies of the game as possible."

You can't purchase games. You can't license them either, since if you had a right to use them, things like the recent Simcity launch would get companies sued for interfering with that with their always-connected requirements. I'm not sure just what the legal construct is, or even if one exists, but if it does it certainly doesn't resemble anything else.

Re:"oops"

[newcastlejon]

It happened with Doom 3 too, though as memory serves ATI got the blame for the leak.

Re:"oops"

[Anonymous Coward]

Magazine publications get pre-released games unlocked and available to them on Steam all the time so they can review titles and have their stories ready at launch. This would be no different I would suspect.

Re:"oops"

[tlhIngan]

Customers will always be expected to put up with DRM. That is, until customers stop buying DRM software AND companies somehow equate the DRM as being the cause. Even if the former were to happen, the company would probably find some other thing to blame for low sales figures.

The best way is to stop giving these companies publicity in any form except how the DRM is a problem.

Don't publicize the game, don't even pirate the game. If you see a torrent for it, have the torrent taken down as well (it's a form of publicity).

Basically the goal is keep awareness down. The worst thing that could happen to anything is to die from obscurity.

Heck, when publicising the failings of DRM, don't even bother with the game name. Just say "EA's latest release has failed because their DRM servers went don't hours after release".

Re:"oops"

[Mashiki]

At one point one of their servers glitched, only for a few mins, and it wouldn't auth me to play the game I had just bought

If that was the infamous "this game is currently unavailable" message that was most likely on your end. Having used steam for over 10 years, it's a rare enough message but one you do see occasionally because either: a GFC is corrupt, you're trying to run the game in two instances, the installer wasn't done and was/or autolaunching the game. Or in very rare cases your client info for steam became corrupt.

Re:"oops"

[Sabathius]

Maybe they were testing it?

Re:"oops"

[ElectricTurtle]

Nope, the error was actually regarding authorization. I don't remember it exactly since it was more than a year ago, but it was not that message and none of those symptoms were occurring.

Even if it were it would be moot, the problem you describe may be technically client side, but only because it was designed that way by Valve to serve their nefarious purposes.

Has five torrents on TPB and 1K seeds...

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone's getting fired over this. I'm not a gamer anymore unfortunately.

Another reason for Ubi to increase DRM

[Knightman]

This will only lead to Ubi using this as an excuse for increasing DRM and always online functionality.

Re:Another reason for Ubi to increase DRM

[Legion303]

Other things that will lead to Ubi increasing DRM enforcement are humidity, the sun rising in the east and puppies.

Re:Another reason for Ubi to increase DRM

[desdinova 216]

you forgot water being wet and the sky being blue...

Marketing stunt?

[InsaneLampshade]

Is it all just one big marketing stunt?

Re:Marketing stunt?

[TubeSteak]

Since when does a company obsessed with DRM release a game to bittorrent for free, before it's announced or launched?

Re:Marketing stunt?

[InsaneLampshade]

Maybe they're trying some weird new reverse psychology. "Leak" it to the internet, get a load of press coverage, then a week or so later release it in a "pay what you want" model after telling the press they're no longer developing it because of those dirty pirates. Internet feels sorry for them, it ends up being a roaring profit filled success that they can then use to ram DLC up our rears for the next 12 months.

Not only that if they're not found out then they can use the entire affair to continue to justify massive DRM on all their main titles.

Re:Marketing stunt?

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Since when does a company obsessed with DRM release a game to bittorrent for free, before it's announced or launched?

Maybe the game is intended to be free to play with in-game purchases of crap as the primary funding model.

Re:Marketing stunt?

[girlintraining]

Since when does a company obsessed with DRM release a game to bittorrent for free, before it's announced or launched?

Whenever the company doesn't secure their distribution servers. Obviously.

Re:Marketing stunt?

[Zaphod The 42nd]

I don't know. The whole thing is just bizarre. Maybe it is a marketing stunt?

The release was very, very oddly handled. They only mentioned it on April 1st, April Fool's Day, so it looked 100% like an April Fool's Joke.

Then, we don't really hear anything from Ubisoft, but some gaming press announces they heard some press release that its legit and its coming out in May. We don't know how much it'll cost.

What is that? What games these days aren't marketed to hell?

Then its leaked by accident... yeah maybe this is some weird viral marketing scheme?

Silly Russians.

[conspirator23]

Don't they know that zero-day warez are supposed to be leaked by employees?

Re:Silly Russians.

[Anonymous Coward]

They are releasing a Negative day release. Releasing the software before the marketing people even hinted about the product.
This is like Space Balls Mr. Video... Seeing the video as they are making the movie. :P

Who cares?

[viperidaenz]

The real question is, when will it end up on the pirate bay?

Re:Who cares?

[Meneth]

It was first uploaded yesterday, 2013-04-09 20:12:34 GMT.

Re:Who cares?

[Dunge]

It has been there since yesterday

Re:Who cares?

[lennier1]

Well, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving target.

Irony?

[adunstan]

Assuming this wasn't done as a huge publicity stunt, isn't it just hilariously ironic that a DRM system designed to prevent (or at the very least slow down) piracy was used to access a game that hasn't even been announced yet? I hope this is used as a message to further show how futile attempts at stopping piracy like this are and how they actually hurt the paying customer.

Re:Irony?

[adunstan]

What about the fact that the UPlay download service was taken down? Customers who had purchased games cannot download said games because of this. Regardless, my comment about hurting the paying customer was meant as more of a slightly unrelated look at the type of DRM Ubisoft uses, and that this case could be used as an example to how DRM isn't working and then the many ways in which it hurts the customer could be pointed out. My main point was in the irony of the situation, and that no amount of DRM is going to stop piracy; there will always be people in the world that want something for nothing, and are willing to do things like this to get it. I am not justifying the actions of these people at all, I think they are wrong.

As an aside I have no problem with Ubisoft having their own store to sell their games digitally, but when I buy their games from an alternative source, I don't expect to be lumbered with their DRM that for example installs unnecessary browser plugins with security risks and makes me sign up for a UPlay account to play. Just give me the option to download your games and play them, with all other "features" optional.

Re:What is Ubisoft

[kelemvor4]

And was I supposed to have one?

Only if you haven't taken your viagra.

Re:Far Cry 3 needs some major help

[Shikaku]

I think games should just stick to being games. Games trying to be movies always fell flat, sometimes really hard (see: Heavy Rain).

As Mandy Rice-Davies famously said ...

[Kittenman]

"They say no user information was compromised."

Well, they would say that wouldn't they.

Re:Far Cry 3 needs some major help

[an00bis]

I don't remember Uncharted 2 being that bad. Now Max Payne 3; that game's cutscenes were unbearably long and horrible. No way to skip them either. I got up in the middle of one to go wash dishes and it was still playing when I got back.

Re:Far Cry 3 needs some major help

[firex726]

I have to agree, I really felt the game peaked too soon, I never gave a shit about the story and the open world bit was just uninteresting unless I was hunting for an animal that I needed to make an upgrade with, for which I got almost all of them in just a few hours of play.

Re:Har`first

[fazey]

uh no, actually assassins creed is quite bad ass.

Unreleased game, footage of it being played??

[swilde23]

Either the hackers are also great bug fixers, or the game was more ready for prime-time then some of the crap that is marked "gold".

I wish someone would hack my computer, and fix all my bugs :(

Re:Unreleased game, footage of it being played??

[Zaphod The 42nd]

Its not a new game really, its a standalone expansion pack for Far Cry 3. You don't need Far Cry 3 to play it, but it builds entirely on it and is pretty much the exact same game. So it makes sense that they could crank this out pretty fast and not have too many bugs.

Blood Dragon is just FarCry3 but in the future, with 80s chrome/neon everywhere. Which is fucking awesome.

Re:What is Ubisoft

[fazey]

Would it otherwise be ubihard?

Re:Har`first

[lister king of smeg]

Ubisoft is the most worthless company ever. They hate their customers and every game they have ever made is complete shit.

That unfair, myst 3 exile was good.

Re:Har`first

[Archimagus]

Oh come on... EA is at least a contender.

Re:Har`first

[Khyber]

You mean Ass-Bad. Even Borderlands had more variety in the fetch quests, and that was a run of the mill FPS.

Re:Har`first

[crafty.munchkin]

As was Assassins Creed 2. Brotherhood was beginning to flog a dead horse, and Revelations was a step too far. Then 3... the first game in the series I haven't even finished. Killing animals to sell their pelts, and sailing ships... but only two assassinations in 8 hrs?!? Clearly they forgot a core reason for people playing the game...

Re:Har`first

[UltraZelda64]

If you don't count Warrior Within and that shitty game released a few years ago on the Xbox 360 where the Prince could not die, the Prince of Persia series was pretty damn good. But I do agree that most everything else the company has put out is shit.

Re:Far Cry 3 needs some major help

[qwak23]

I'm fairly certain Max Payne 3 has officially taken the crown from the Metal Gear Solid series in that regard.

It's not on torrent, is it?

[dutchwhizzman]

I think only a video of gameplay is on bittorrent, not the actual game?

Re:Har`first

[crutchy]

who doesn't jack off to the "naked" chicks on the walls in duke nukem?

hail to the king, baby!

Re:Uplay is being used for piracy

[crutchy]

only if none of its shareholders are US politicians

Re:Har`first

[jones_supa]

Ubisoft is the most worthless company ever. They hate their customers and every game they have ever made is complete shit.

No, the games really are fine. But Ubisoft has a strong record of insane copy protection schemes, including this uPlay bullshit. I personally do not buy products from this company anymore.

Re:Har`first

[jones_supa]

There's plenty of more gems in their product catalogue. From the older ones, Rayman 2 is solid stuff.

Re:Legal action?

[jones_supa]

What's the chance that Ubisoft takes legal action against those who downloaded the game on their servers? Would this kind of mass lawsuit hurt their image?

Zero. But I think they might very well be after the guys who broke into their servers.

Re:Har`first

[Anonymous Coward]

No it isn't, it's fucking garbage made for the little fratboy shits that play console games.

Want a stealth game? Go play Thief or Deus Ex, if your feeble brain is capable of even understanding them.

I tried to submit about this 4 months ago....

[Kodack]

4 months ago I submitted a slashdot story about Uplay being hacked and it didn't get picked up.

Vindication!

Re:Har`first

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the games really are shit. I have tried a number of Ubisoft "games" and nearly vomited at how horrid each one was. Ubisoft has no concept of what makes a game good.

uPlay and all of the bullshit DRM that Ubisoft has single-handedly introduced is tacit admission that they hate and distrust their own customers. They are preemptively calling all of their customers thieves.

Valve Time

[Cyfun]

If only this would have been Half Life 3...

Re:Har`first

[djnforce9]

They really over-did it with Ezio. He was cool at first but didn't need three entire games dedicated to him. I too felt like Revelations was just a re-hash of Brotherhood.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon on the other hand looks nothing like Far Cry 3 other than the name. It seems like a completely different game running off the same engine and that's it.