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[timferius]

It's all in here folks!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/05/ubisoft-scrapping-always-on-drm-for-pc-games/#more-123079

Ubisoft has officially scrapped always online DLC for their PC games. Now they just need a one time online activation. What? After all the fuss, chomping, pulling against the mere thought of giving the damn pirates an inch, they now say "oh, well, we listen to our customers and have removed it". A few years too late I fear for many, as for me, as soon as I find out it's off some of there older games, I've really really really wanted to play the newest Settlers... So.... DISCUSS!

[Dsarker]

Eh, doesn't really matter to me. I don't recall the last time I wanted to play an Ubisoft game, honestly.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Bipolar disorder, much?

[Mech#4]

Hm, I might end up buying Heroes of Might and Magic 6. The DRM was putting me off, though I guess I'll need to see whether this is applied retroactively.

[Rilder]

So will it be "We've learned our lesson and will stop" or a "We'll just remove it from our current games but we'll be back around with even worse DRM on our future games" like they did with Silent Hunter?

[Viken]

As a publishing company, Ubisoft sucks @ss; although they support some of the best games in the industry, which is so very freakin' sad.

[hemmingjay]

Unfortunately they will still funnel you through the Uplay launcher, where you can select play offline, if you have activated it, originally and once again after each major patch.

[Starver]

I know I'm probably quite rare (in the grand scheme of things) of having a gaming[1] machine which I never wish to connect to any network, and I know that there has to be some sort of protection on these things[2], but I'm not too enamoured of any "go online to register your install" method, even if it's a one-time process.

You know, I'm almost happy with Microsoft's 'register by phone' method, where they effectively get the opportunity to keep track of which keys are being used to set up machines as usual only over an IPvFAK connection.


As such, I don't see much improvement in Ubisoft's policy.  And if that Uplay launcher acts like I think it acts, it's probably something I wouldn't want to load, either.  Again, I appreciate that a games company has to protect its IP, but there's a lot of overkill and sneaking of other stuff in through the back door (or might as well be).

But don't mind me, I just might be paranoid, among my many other problems... 


[1] Necessarily solo, and not multiplayer.  I'm anti-social me, you see.  Well, asocial, I suppose.  I even play the Battlefield games (1942 and 2, that is, I think 2042/whatever and v3 had something about Steam on them, which (as indicated above) means I don't want to bother buying[1a] the games.  And I have no interest when playing the likes of The Sims (1&2, with whatever expansion packs) doing more than wasting time on my own 'dollhouses', so no sharing of properties/families/whatever or MMORPGish playing mode for me, thanks.  It just doesn't interest me.  See, pretty much asocial.  You're lucky[3] I deign to talk to you lot on these 'ere forums!

[1a] Yes, I bought them.  Yes, I know that given my objections and playing style I could have easily not bought them, but gotten the same result.

[2] Although, whatever it is, some smart-alec will doubtless find a way round it.

[3] YMMV.

[Glowcat]

I might consider picking up their games again.. might. They just don't seem to be making anything that interests me.

[sluissa]

UPlay, even without the always online, is still enough to make me not want to buy their products... I hate having to deal with that about as much as I hate having to deal with GFWL... AC2 on steam made me decide that if I continue with that franchise, it'll probably be via console... and I'm sorry Silent Hunter... you were a great series, but I'm not going past number 4 anymore.

[Graven]

You know, the PC gaming industry nowadays has things pretty backwards. Instead of asking themselves "why do more and more people pirate our shitty console ports" the major companies go "Oh no piracy is an inevitable universal constant much like gravity, how do we fight that shit HARD". This is a step in a direction, I admit. I'm not sure how I'd do things if I were the head of a gaming company, but right now, without any thought or money poured into it, I prefer the League of Legends free model for online games and, honestly, no DRM at all for singleplayer games coupled with paid, download-only DLC. I'd say expansions, but those have fallen somewhat on the wayside nowadays. Pirates have proven time and again they can handle even the best DRM, so just put some trust in people and shovel that bogsubstance away.

Online-only DRM works in the sense that if your game is a mumorpeger or has extensive online capabilites which cannot be replicated in singleplayer, people won't pirate your game unless you charge out your ass. If it's fun they might even keep playing it. It does not work in the sense that oh no you couldn't possibly play Diablo 3 offline no no, because, you see OH GOD WHAT IS THAT BEHIND YOU

However since apparently people still buy, things are staying pretty much the same. I say apparently not because I pirate, but because my slow-as-molasses laptop pretty much peaks with 2004 games and there aren't really that many of them around.

[Goron]

And the other side:
I have a reliable Internet connection. This changes nothing for me.

[alexandertnt]

And the other side:
I have a reliable Internet connection. This changes nothing for me.

Except now you wont feel like Ubisoft are keeping an eye on you, making sure you play safely and follow the rules in their foam pit.

[Shades]

Except now you wont feel like Ubisoft are keeping an eye on you, making sure you play safely and follow the rules in their foam pit.

Considering their track record with uPlay, I'm not sure I ever want to have it installed on my system.
I approve of the move away from always online though.

Edit: In this case talking about the pretty massive remote exploits uPlay had.

[lordcooper]

So much vagueness in those answers.

I'm happy they seem to be seeing sense, but a sorry would have been nice.