News - Ubisoft says PC games piracy rate is about 95 per cent

[bendabanga]

It can't be this high can it? I buy games if they are well made and justify the price.Then again half of Ubisofts recent games have just been fillers and elongated sequels that add no real value to the original game.
"Piracy is a service problem and the only way to beat it is by offering a better service" -Gabe Newell

[dangel]

Ubisoft sure loves their DRM though.

Not since June 2011 so much.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...acy-interview/

[crossy]

It can't be this high can it? I buy games if they are well made and justify the price.Then again half of Ubisofts recent games have just been fillers and elongated sequels that add no real value to the original game.
"Piracy is a service problem and the only way to beat it is by offering a better service" -Gabe Newell

Agree - and that's part of the problem, games houses are going to have to accept that there will be piracy - even of titles that are so good they make your jaw drop, and are priced very "aggressively". Even in that circumstance there will be retards who think that they're "sticking it to the man" by getting something for nothing.

As an ex-developer myself I value the effort that goes into these titles - preferring just to ignore a poor title (so that's all film tie-ins, and anything to do with US sports), rather than seek out a torrented copy (apart from anything else, there's always the suspicion - to me at least - that there's a whole lotta malware in those copies too).

What I want is a title with a good mechanic (no games that you need four hands to play properly), reasonable graphics and sound (note - photorealism is not required!), and a reasonable single player (/campaign) story line. So note, no mega brilliant multiplayer "kill streaks" (because I don't usually do MP), and definitely no frivolous DLC. Frivolous DLC in my book is either stuff that's trivial (avatar items) or should have damned well been in there in the first place (like key weapons/game items). New map packs are usually non-frivolous in my book.

Oh, and a price <£50. £30 for a PC title and £15 (max) more for a PS3/XBox one.

[ik9000]

Which DRM are you thinking of? More recently they've dropped the always on stuff from the games I bought (AC series) which made it pretty OK-ish. Not that i'm defending them I hate invasive DRM as much as the next man..

Also, this guy is full of crap.

HAWX2, Far Cry 2, just to name a couple of "must have internet to play titles that I chose not to bother with even though I had free download coupons with my graphics card. Last Ubisoft games I bought were the original Far Cry and Hawx. It will remain that way.

(No pirating here, just couldn't give two shakes for a company who treats paying customers so badly. Seems to me paranoia re piracy = fomenting a small problem into a big one. If I'd bought HAWX2 and someone offered a patch to nobble the DRM, I'd be sorely tempted to grab it. Have I ever felt the need to nobble Far Cry with no silly "must be online to play it?" Heck no. And I question their 95% assertion. They'd be bankrupt if that were true.

As I've said many times, I simply won't touch Ubisoft titles anymore - put off by their DRM. If their sales figures have dropped, maybe it's just consumers voting with their feet. It doesn't mean piracy. Now if they were to put up online play figures vs actual sales, and bracketed that data to the unique game identifiers - and could demonstrate where an identifier was simultaneously being used, and particularly on a mass scale - then people might take their statement more seriously. The lack of facts + evidence says it all IMO.

[crossy]

HAWX2, Far Cry 2, just to name a couple of "must have internet to play titles that I chose not to bother with even though I had free download coupons with my graphics card. Last Ubisoft games I bought were the original Far Cry and Hawx. It will remain that way.

Hmm, think yourself lucky - I too got the HAWX2 offer with my GF460. But when I tried to redeem that I got nowhere - apparently none of my credit or debit cards are "valid" enough to allow me to "buy" a title that costs £0. And Ubisoft's ecommerce "support" team were absolutely hopeless - insisting that (a) all my cards were invalid (although Amazon, Play, Scan etc don't agree) and (b) I had to have a valid credit/debit card to buy a title costing nothing - no cheque, PayPal, etc. I think the description "useless t0553rs" would have been a compliment!

And I question their 95% assertion. They'd be bankrupt if that were true.

My thoughts too - unless the 5% (=mugs) not pirating are paying iPhone prices for their FC2, AC3, etc! Then again phrases like "9 out of 10 of our product are illegal copies" makes a good tabloid headline, (and I guess implies that Ubi actually has something worth stealing!).

To quote dangel - "this (Ubisoft) guy is full of crap"

[dangel]

HAWX2, Far Cry 2, just to name a couple of "must have internet to play titles that I chose not to bother with even though I had free download coupons with my graphics card. Last Ubisoft games I bought were the original Far Cry and Hawx. It will remain that way.

Fair enough, but as I said more recently they've dropped this and as we've now found out it's been this way for over a year now (with official confirmation this week that it's a thing of the past). Because of this i'm not longer worried about their DRM as I no longer find it the major issue it once was and it's more or less in line with other publishers now.

They've obviously got a management-is-an-idiot problem there but the actual games are on the whole great. Hopefully we are seeing a turnaround now but statements about 95% piracy aren't reassuring.

[kalniel]

And I question their 95% assertion. They'd be bankrupt if that were true.

Why?

[ik9000]

Why?

Because their business model would not be self sustaining. Simple.

[miniyazz]

Because their business model would not be self sustaining. Simple.

Why not? Do you have figures?

[kalniel]

Because their business model would not be self sustaining. Simple.

Through what agent though? General lack of sales so revenue not making up for cost of development, or because they incurred a material loss each time someone plays the game?