Ubisoft Ditches Always-Online DRM Requirement From PC Games 218
RogueyWon writes "In an interview with gaming site Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Ubisoft has announced that it will no longer use always-online DRM for its PC games. The much-maligned DRM required players to be online and connected to its servers at all times, even when playing single-player content. This represents a reversal of Ubisoft's long-standing insistence that such DRM was essential if the company were to be profitable in the PC gaming market."
The full interview has a number of interesting statements. Ubisoft representatives said the decision was made in June of last year. This was right around the time the internet was in an uproar over the DRM in Driver: San Francisco, which Ubisoft quickly scaled back. Ubisoft stopped short of telling RPS they regretted the always-online DRM, or that it only bothers legitimate customers. (However, in a different interview at Gamasutra, Ubisoft's Chris Early said, "The truth of it, they're more inconvenient to our paying customers, so in listening to our players, we removed them.") They maintain that piracy is a financial problem, and acknowledged that the lack of evidence from them and other publishers has only hurt their argument.
Re:Financial issues? (Score:5, Interesting)
Agreed. Last title I picked up from them I think I paid like $50 for it, messed around with it for like a week. Then removed it and their stupid drm launcher/rootkit.
Publishers can quote piracy all they want but I think crap content is a bigger detriment to their financial base and word about that gets around just as quick as draconian drm.
Honestly, if there was a mechanism in place to get a refund on some of the garbage software I've bought over the years I think there's only a hand full of stuff I would actually keep.
Too late for me (Score:5, Interesting)
And no, I haven't pirated any of their titles either. I prefer to undermine my arguments in an ethical manner.
Re:Finally... (Score:5, Interesting)
It's the principle of the matter and it follows logically from the following axioms:
1. I will not purchase DRM'd content from Ubisoft because I refuse to support Ubisoft's DRM scheme.
2. I will not pirate games because studios see it as cause for ever more restrictive DRM.
Therefore I cannot, in good conscience, purchase or pirate Ubisoft games.
Though I agree that there may be a few games I'll buy if this actually happens.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)