News - Ubisoft makes plans to tackle PC piracy

[HEXUS]

Ubisoft says it is working on a new tool to combat PC piracy.

Read more.

[nightkhaos]

Good luck to them! Admiral goal. But I do wish they would spend less time trying secure their profits and more time making good games. Their current flagship produce, HAW-X, is small, quick to finish, and multiplayer barely works.

[aidanjt]

*sigh* Here we go again. When will companies learn that DRM does not stem piracy?

If you want to increase your profits, stop making **** games. Simple.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

yay. another form of DRM to piss off legit users

[kalniel]

TPM and no annoyance for legit users hopefully

Simply making a great game is no longer enough for viability on the PC platform.

[nightkhaos]

TPM and no annoyance for legit users hopefully

I have a dream...

[j.o.s.h.1408]

TPM and no annoyance for legit users hopefully

Simply making a great game is no longer enough for viability on the PC platform.

Hard to make a great game when its comming out on the consoles too

[kalniel]

Hard to make a great game when its comming out on the consoles too

tee hee

That part's a catch 22 though - if they have to go to consoles to get back investment on a AAA game then they're limited by technical capabilities. Meaning the PC gets used for ports and low-budget indie games, neither of which really take advantage of the capability of modern PCs.

If they can get a greater revenue from PC games alone then they'll be able to develop either PC focused titles or at least invest more in the port to actually use some PC goodness.

[aidanjt]

TPM and no annoyance for legit users hopefully

Agreed, TPM is the most feasible technology which could be used. But people shunned it due to privacy concerns. Which makes it all the more baffling that software vendors still try to reinforce their broken DRM with more aggressive broken DRM.

Simply making a great game is no longer enough for viability on the PC platform.

Well, it's difficult to qualify that with any tangible data, considering nobody has made a great PC game for more than 3 years.

[Steven W]

I don't think this will be a form of DRM, it's something else.

[aidanjt]

I don't think this will be a form of DRM, it's something else.

Well, without more details on the 'tool', we can only assume it's another form of DRM (like TPM is a form of DRM).

[watercooled]

Why don't they just scrap DRM altogether? It doesn't work it preventing piracy and just punishes legit users. It's the reason I hardly buy PC games (and the reason lots of people download pirated copies, sometimes after buying the game so they don't have DRM on their PC) - I make efforts to secure my computer against malware - why should I allow just another form on my PC to play a game? If they want to cut down on piracy, scrap DRM!!! That's my opinion anyway.

Edit: I'd like opinions on this but why not implement some sort of USB 'key' which the game checks for. It could be a read-only mass storage device so no drivers, it could be all implemented into the game code so no third-party software.

[kalniel]

Well, it's difficult to qualify that with any tangible data, considering nobody has made a great PC game for more than 3 years.

No more difficult than qualifying **** games surely?

What's the metacritic consensus score for 'great'?

[shaithis]

He said that the company is hoping to make gamers think twice about downloading its DS games illegally by offering them better value for money by offering bonus items, such as figurines, with retail purchases.

lol...seriously, they haven't got a clue if they think that will help in the slightest.

As for the protection scheme, hopefully it will be a non-invasive protection, although I fully expect otherwise.

[mehmeh]

Dear Ubisoft.
Don't really admire you for trying as you still havent grasped the fact, that a pirate is NOT a lost customer and/or revenue. If a person really wants your game they will buy it, even more so these days as everything seems to have an online multiplayer element (make sure that bit kicks ass and do everything you can to encourage a strong community of players and developers/modders). Reduce the cost and stop putting out shoody products and I gaurantee you will gain some customers. Remove all the current DRM etc, which doesn't do anything other than aggrevate your current customers and you might just hold onto them. Finally, accept that there will always be a core of people for whom piracy is a lifestyle choice and isn't it better to have them playing your games than a competitors?

FYI: I'm currently available for a managerial position starting at £100K/annum.

[nightkhaos]

I like GPG's model. "Share, pirate, do what ya like, but if you want to update the program or play outside of LAN, which you will cause this is such an epic game, you will NEED a valid key."

Hence why everyone I know owns a copy of Supreme Commander.

HAW-X multiplayer would be epicly cool, if it worked. Hence, there is no incentive for people not to pirate.