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General discussion (archive)Ubisoft scrapping always-on DRM for games(110 posts)(110 posts)
(110 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted September 05, 2012
Here's another interview:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/05/ubisoft-drm-piracy-interview/

RPS really grills the PR department in this one.
Posted September 05, 2012
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lowyhong: Here's another interview:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/05/ubisoft-drm-piracy-interview/

RPS really grills the PR department in this one.
Haha, this is like all interviews with PR managers should look like. Demanding answers, not marketing bullcrap that usually comes from their mouths.
Posted September 05, 2012
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lowyhong: Here's another interview:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/05/ubisoft-drm-piracy-interview/

RPS really grills the PR department in this one.
"RPS: Do you know what percentage of your sales are on PC? I know Activision have said things like Call Of Duty sell 5% on PC, do you know if it’s similar numbers for you guys?

Burk: We don’t break it down specifically game by game. Before our last financial statement I want to say that PC sales – I think it was right around 10%. [Burk got back to us soon after the interview to say that in the last full fiscal year PCs made up 7% of revenue, and in the last quarter it's been 12%.]"

Sheesh, lower than I would have expected.
Posted September 05, 2012
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lowyhong: Here's another interview:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/05/ubisoft-drm-piracy-interview/

RPS really grills the PR department in this one.
I don't see much point in grilling Ubisoft of the past, like that article seems to be doing. The whole article seems like "Now that you are dropping the always-online DRM, you admit that you were wrong before, huh? Huh? Answer me dammit, tell me that you were wrong!". It seems they are asking the same for several times, really rubbing the salt in.

If Ubisoft really keeps their promise, they should be commended for it, not ridiculated (even though it is still not DRM-free). If and when they deviate from that promise (like single-player content only available while playing online, or something), they should be grilled and ridiculated again.


DRM-discussion aside, actually the most interesting part in that article was the figures how much of their sales/revenues PC games are. It is actually quite a bit lower than I was expecting, if those "Activision said 5%, and we say 7-12%." are true. I was expecting more like one third or something. On the other side, there are the reports that PC game sales have been growing, but maybe the growth is coming from indie games then? And in some other reports the worldwide sales of well-known PC games was near the sales of PS3 versions of the same titles, only losing significantly to XBox360 versions.

With that kind of figures, I'm actually a bit surprised Ubisoft decided to act humble, and didn't just say "F*ck it, from now on we will make only console games.". But maybe they still want to keep all options open and not burn bridges behind them.
Post edited September 05, 2012 by timppu
Posted September 05, 2012
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SimonG: It's speaks volumes about the actual "restrictiveness" of always online DRM that a company can quietly shut it down and nobody notices it for month ...

And it still has a single online activation. Which pretty much renders the whole change moot. Either a PC has internet or it hasn't. It's not like anybody is still paying per minute ...
I don't know about you but I found it quite irritating to lose my game in progress in HoMMVI when there was hiccup with my net connection. This is a change for the better.
Posted September 05, 2012
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timppu: I don't see much point in grilling Ubisoft of the past, like that article seems to be doing. The whole article seems like "Now that you are dropping the always-online DRM, you admit that you were wrong before, huh? Huh? Answer me dammit, tell me that you were wrong!". It seems they are asking the same for several times, really rubbing the salt in.
I would love if all journalists acted like that. I just hate when they interview spin doctors, politicians or PR managers and they don't drill. They're satisfied with half-answers, pr bullshit, etc etc. without even intent of trying to force them to answer the god damned question.

If you ask a question "Do you admit to make a mistake?" and they don't answer it, ask again. And than again.

It's how I want to see interviews. As INTERVIEWS, not some PR monologues with ignoring the questions.
Posted September 05, 2012
This really hits one my pet peeves with DRM. They are letting you install it as many times on as many PCs as you like... but it still needs to activate. Which tells me that it has little (if anything) to do with preventing piracy. Not surprised, but I still won't be buying their titles that require activation :/
Post edited September 05, 2012 by user deleted
Posted September 05, 2012
If you notice he says as of June last year, making this news over a year old. For some reason no one but me seems to have noticed.
Posted September 05, 2012
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StingingVelvet: If you notice he says as of June last year, making this news over a year old. For some reason no one but me seems to have noticed.
I think it was widely known already before that they "dropped" always-online DRM from some games, replacing them with e.g. online activation when starting the game. Usually after there was lots of bad press from the DRM. There was some confusion because originally they said they are dropping the DRM, but they really meant that they are replacing it with less intrusive DRM.

So if they were referring to those cases, then yes, it was known already, and noticed too. Even by those of us who don't even own such Ubisoft games.

I think the news is that they have promised not to introduce always-online DRM in their future games (until they change their mind again), and they have clarified in more detail what kind of DRM their future PC games would be using. Maybe they've done experimenting with it, for now.
Posted September 05, 2012
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timppu: I think the news is that they have promised not to introduce always-online DRM in their future games (until they change their mind again), and they have clarified in more detail what kind of DRM their future PC games would be using. Maybe they've done experimenting with it, for now.
I guess I just don't see why people need them to spell it out. They used always online briefly, they stopped, yay! Even the RPS interview is like "apologize for it... say it was wrong... say you feel terrible."

I just don't take it that personally.
Posted September 05, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCL-rxnjS6o&feature=related

This is too good to be true I will believe it when I see it
Posted September 05, 2012
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hucklebarry: They are letting you install it as many times on as many PCs as you like... but it still needs to activate. Which tells me that it has little (if anything) to do with preventing piracy.
Maybe they noticed that maintaining the servers necessary for "always on"-DRM is more expensive than the amount of money they gain from additional copies sold thanks to it. :P
Posted September 05, 2012
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Pheace: Burk: We don’t break it down specifically game by game.
Of course they do. And by country, by PC specs, by age/gender/income/interests/everything else web trackers collect.
Posted September 05, 2012
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SimonG: It's speaks volumes about the actual "restrictiveness" of always online DRM that a company can quietly shut it down and nobody notices it for month ...

And it still has a single online activation. Which pretty much renders the whole change moot. Either a PC has internet or it hasn't. It's not like anybody is still paying per minute ...
I get real tired of people assuming what's normal for them is normal for everyone. Money is usually pretty tight for me last year my budget was tight that I couldnt' afford to keep internet going and I had to cancel it for half a year. It was down from July to Feb of this year when I used my tax refund to catch up the bill and get it turned back on at half the speed it was before (no turbo) to save $15/month.

As a gamer a 1 time activation means that if such a situation is known before hand any 1 time activation games can be activated BEFORE the net goes down allowing me full access to the games. And while still quite a pain it can also allow a person to use a friends internet to activate a game and then take it back home for play for as long as needed.

So this is hardly a "moot" change. This is a very important change. Not everyone is sitting pretty financially or in a situation where internet is constant and those people may still like to play games.

I've boycotted Ubisoft since they established their ridiculous DRM. This decision to stop that may lift my own ban on their games.
Posted September 05, 2012
this is a shocker indeed , with their u play set to compete with steam not bad at all ...
but i don't trust ubi for all they could go crying back to drm again saying pirates ruined their sales
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)Ubisoft scrapping always-on DRM for games(110 posts)(110 posts)
(110 posts)