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?

[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 ...

[viperidaenz]

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

"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"

[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"

[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

Marketing stunt?

[InsaneLampshade]

Is it all just one big marketing stunt?

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.

Silly Russians.

[conspirator23]

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

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.

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:Har`first

[Archimagus]

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