Ubisoft DRM games to be temporarily unplayable

[aidanjt]

Publisher's antipiracy scheme will prevent customers from playing some of its Mac and PC games for an undetermined period of time during server transition starting February 7.

Starting next week, a number of Ubisoft's legitimate PC customers will be unable to play their games because of problems with the titles' digital rights management (DRM) antipiracy schemes.

The publisher has announced that it is "transitioning the hosting of many of its online services from a third-party data center to a new facility" starting on February 7, and as a result, most of its games will lose online functionality. However, because some of Ubisoft's PC and Mac games feature DRM that require a constant online connection to the publisher's servers, those games will be completely unplayable when the publisher takes those servers down for the transition. Ubisoft's uPlay service will also be down during the transition.

Ubisoft apologized for the downtime, saying, "This move ultimately will help us improve the maintenance of our infrastructure and deliver better uptime and greatly improved services for our customers."

Not all of the publisher's games will be impacted. It is keeping servers running for newer releases like Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Driver: San Francisco, and Just Dance 3. Full lists of the games that won't be impacted and the ones that will be rendered completely unplayable follow below.

Games that will be unplayable during transition:
Assassin's Creed--Mac
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2--PC
Might & Magic: Heroes VI--PC
Splinter Cell Conviction--Mac
The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom--PC
The Settlers--Mac

Games that will have online functionality throughout transition:
Anno 2070
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Driver: San Francisco
Just Dance 3
The Settlers Online

Thank god people actually bought the games, otherwise they might have suffered from inferior quality or it might not work properly at all.. oh wait.

[Saracen]

It's not much of a stretch from there to perceive what will likely happen in the event they go out of business. And that's one reason I will not buy games that have that type of DRM. I don't mind paying the cost of a game I want to play, but I do object to doing so when I could then have the rug pulled out from underneath at any time. It might not be likely, but it's certainly possible.

[pollaxe]

That's pretty damned poor. I loved The Settlers games and I was seriously thinking of buying the new version but then I heard about the DRM involved with it and voted with my wallet (and didn't bother.)

[ik9000]

It's not much of a stretch from there to perceive what will likely happen in the event they go out of business. And that's one reason I will not buy games that have that type of DRM. I don't mind paying the cost of a game I want to play, but I do object to doing so when I could then have the rug pulled out from underneath at any time. It might not be likely, but it's certainly possible.

yup me neither. Starting with Far Cry 2 then Hawx 2 (for which I even had a free download voucher) and onwards I refuse to use an ubisoft game that has that kind of DRM. See this money of mine ubisoft? You ain't gettin none of it no more. <does little dance and gloats while waving a wadge of fivers>

[pctech2012]

Similar issues could affect Steam and the new Onlive service.

If Valve were to disappear tomorrow games such as Counter Strike would cease to function although thankfully they provide an offline mode so games like Portal 2 could work.

Maybe getting everything online isn't the best idea after all?

[aidanjt]

Maybe getting everything online isn't the best idea after all?

Exactly. That's why every time I hear someone hyping up this 'cloud' nonsense, I just roll my eyes. Because I know exactly what it is, a cash cow for IT corps, but a disaster for consumers and human culture as a whole for a multitude of reasons.

[pooley]

Things like this is why I will not buy Ubisoft games when it has this awful DRM.

[malculator]

I try and avoid purchasing games that insist on giving you DRM hurdles to jump, but I've been caught unaware by pre-ordering a couple of titles up to now. The most odious offender was a Ubisoft title, Prince Of Persia Forgotten Sands, which requires an internet connection in order to progress through the game. Fortunately, I was able to complete the game without any hiccups resulting from not being able to get online. However, over the summer when holidaying out in the sticks, I'd pre-ordered Deus EX Human Revolutions from Amazon. It arrived a week after release in the UK, so I took it on holiday and installed it on my laptop only to find that Steam had been included in the installation and I was required to set up an account with them in order to activate the game. Why the heck do I need a Stream account to play a game that I have a physical copy of? Being out in the sticks, I had no internet connection, no mobile signal and only managed to activate the game on finding a wireless hotspot a good deal later.

As long as people keep purchasing games that include these restrictions, they'll keep on doing it. I know this, but sometimes I'm that eager to get my hands on the latest, new game, that I've gone ahead and pre-ordered it without even considering any DRM penalties. Anyway, I'm still boycotting anything that comes from Ubisoft.

[Saracen]

Similar issues could affect Steam and the new Onlive service.

If Valve were to disappear tomorrow games such as Counter Strike would cease to function although thankfully they provide an offline mode so games like Portal 2 could work.

Maybe getting everything online isn't the best idea after all?

Indeed. Which is (one reason) why I also won't use Steam. Of course, that attitude is also why, these days, I don't buy many PC games, which is a shame but, well, so be it.

Exactly. That's why every time I hear someone hyping up this 'cloud' nonsense, I just roll my eyes. Because I know exactly what it is, a cash cow for IT corps, but a disaster for consumers and human culture as a whole for a multitude of reasons.

I can see why, in some circumstances, the "cloud" would appeal, and it has it's uses, I suppose. But personally, I am not putting my data on the cloud. Not now, Not ever.

But it has to be said that data security, both against illicit access, and protection against accident, file corruption, etc, has no absolute answer. A comprehensive solution, appropriate to the nature of the data, may involve anything from a copy on a DCD-R to fire-proof safes, tapes or discs, a hierarchical backup structure, RAID, syncing to other servers, off-site copies, and so forth .... all of which I do in one form or another, but "cloud"? Not me. The doubt over having access to cloud resources is one reason I won't use it, but the alternatives aren't perfect either.

[DrATty]

This is a new one. How can indefinite downtime improve matters? I'm sure the terms allow for it but it still seems unfair.
I bought a few games at a local store before Christmas. I didn't realise they needed Steam at the time since the text mentioning it was very small. I returned them. I have one Steam game that I couldn't buy elsewhere and haven't been able to play it yet. I'm not buying disks with it built-in.
Steam's terms are vague and don't actually guarantee the ability to play games. They are ripe for a takeover and anything could happen then. The Cloud.might be safe but companies aren't.

[shaithis]

Must say....glad I'm finished with settlers 7 now.....and it's the last Ubi game I will purchase until they change their DRM.

As for steam....there is so much value in their stored licenses that I would like to think something major would happen if they did disappear.

[Saracen]

....

As for steam....there is so much value in their stored licenses that I would like to think something major would happen if they did disappear.

It may well be that it would. I'd hope so too. But I'm not prepared to spend lots on games and take that chance. It's a personal call, and I'm sure a lot of people would go the other way, but for me, I'm not risking it. It's not the only reason I won't use Steam, but for me, even on it's own, it's enough.

[Zeven]

Glad I didn't give in to buying Heroes of Might and Magic VI yet. I hope Ubisoft face quite the backlash for including such ridiculous DRM with their games. Creating more value for pirates than for honest customers is a most foolish thing to do.

[hypnoticstate]

Ubisoft are fast becoming my least favourite games company

[Zeven]

Just thought I would mention how Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed and Heroes of Might and Magic V on GOG, a company whose inherent policy is to sell games all over the world free of DRM and regional pricing. Admittedly, they aren't the newest games, but they are new enough for Ubisoft to deserve a pat on the back for trying to be less obnoxious with their DRM, no?

[killermillergb]

who want to go a delvoper hunt for the greedy barstoods who stick rubbish DRM on games then stop the sevice so you cannot access your game that we all have paid for