Ubi DRM: Their Side of the Story

[eldaec]

Would wer rather it not be mentioned?  Having it plainly stated in all caps seems like something we should be thankful for.  It could only be improved by being put at the top in giant flashing colored font.

I tend to agree.

Personally I don't think the warning is prominent enough.

(example from steampowered.com : http://store.steampowered.com/app/21970/)

[sinij]

I was planning to buy new Settlers but there is no way I am going to tolerate such obnoxious DRM.

[NiX]

I was planning to buy new Settlers but there is no way I am going to tolerate such obnoxious DRM.

I forgot Ubi published Settlers. Very disappointing.

[naum]

I was planning to buy new Settlers but there is no way I am going to tolerate such obnoxious DRM.

I forgot Ubi published Settlers. Very disappointing.

Yeah, entertained a notion of purchasing that particular title too, and will definitely not now.

[LK]

UBI'S DRM practices also prevent their games from working properly behind firewalls. I had a friend who had to return Settlers because he couldn't connect to Ubi servers.

[Tarami]

I don't know if this has been covered (mostly skimmed through,) but doesn't the phrase "UBISOFT MAY CANCEL ACCESS TO ONLINE FEATURES UPON A 30-DAY PRIOR NOTICE" mean that they effectively have the right to simply void your purchase, for whatever reason they see fit as long as it's tentatively covered by the EULA or whatever make-believe legalese that they add to games nowadays? Sure, those clauses have in theory been there for a long time, but this would mean they have a perfectly viable way of enforcing all their bullshit policies.

Software calling home and destroying itself because I've been fiddling around in its files doesn't make me happy.

[tgr]

Software calling home and destroying itself because I've been fiddling around in its files doesn't make me happy.

Welcome to the future, it's a happy place.

[Ingmar]

I don't know if this has been covered (mostly skimmed through,) but doesn't the phrase "UBISOFT MAY CANCEL ACCESS TO ONLINE FEATURES UPON A 30-DAY PRIOR NOTICE" mean that they effectively have the right to simply void your purchase, for whatever reason they see fit as long as it's tentatively covered by the EULA or whatever make-believe legalese that they add to games nowadays? Sure, those clauses have in theory been there for a long time, but this would mean they have a perfectly viable way of enforcing all their bullshit policies.

Software calling home and destroying itself because I've been fiddling around in its files doesn't make me happy.

That particular phrase has been on every online game in the history of ever, I'm pretty sure. It came up recently in a WHO thread too. In any case it isn't really saying anything about canceling YOUR access with a 30 day notice, it means everyone. As in, you get 30 days notice when they end of life the game and take the servers down for it. You could be individually banned without 30 days notice at all by any of these companies.

Mark me down as another lost sale to their DRM policy, though, I was going to check out the Settlers game until I saw that it had that.

[tgr]

Figure I'll just pop in with this:
http://www.guru3d.com/news/ubisoft-drm-completely-cracked/

Quietly hoping they've gotten it now. I'm still going to avoid their game (I've suddenly got way too many old games I figure should give a try again), but they need to get their face rubbed in over this at some point.

[Tebonas]

I fear the only thing they've gotten is that they were too lenient on their customers and need to be more draconic in their copy protection measures.

Because customers are people paying for the right to be their enemy...

[Azazel]

Skid Row!

kicking it old-school! 

[bhodi]

Skid Row!

kicking it old-school! 

Wow, I am glad I am not the only one who thought that.

[UnSub]

UbiSoft didn't expect this kind of protection to last forever. Cue phase 2, sometime around their next big release.

[HaemishM]

I bet they expected it to last longer than it did. 

[tgr]

I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

[Musashi]

Hey!  Now I could play Settlers in a morally responsible way, you know, if I wanted.

[ffc]

Figure I'll just pop in with this:
http://www.guru3d.com/news/ubisoft-drm-completely-cracked/

Quietly hoping they've gotten it now. I'm still going to avoid their game (I've suddenly got way too many old games I figure should give a try again), but they need to get their face rubbed in over this at some point.

Out of curiosity from reading guru3d's article title I went spelunking.  The original cnet article guru3d quotes is talking about an .exe crack and/or multiple files for AC2 (I can't follow the erratic writing), not a general Ubisoft DRM crack. 

And cnet was unsurprisingly wrong about everything.  There is no .exe or multiple files, the "crack" is a .dll which does nothing beyond what is already available, and the .dll isn't even Skid Row's work product despite Skid Row taking credit for it.

I figured this out in a few minutes of reading.  I'm too sleepy to figure out why neither cnet's Josh Lowensohn nor guru3d's Hilbert Hagedoorn could be bothered to do the same.  Maybe they were sleepy too.

[UnSub]

Lots of posts claiming it was cracked and working through.

[ffc]

AC2's single player campaign can be completed without connecting to Ubisoft's servers by emulating Ubisoft's servers.  That isn't a crack.  The values used for AC2 cannot be used with Settlers 7, Splinter Cell: Conviction, etc.  To say "Ubisoft DRM Completely Cracked" is an incredible overstatement.

[lac]

This is what Razor1911 has to say about it in their Settlers 7 .nfo file.

Scene-related rants & stuff:
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 As  far  as  previous  'cracks'  of  Ubisoft's  new DRM system are concerned:

 Both   of   Skidr0w's   releases   show  us they haven't had a look (probably
 even  didn't  find)  the  actual  protection  code and everything hints on em
 using  parts   of  publicly  collected  'challenge/response'  pairs.  Luckily
 Assassin's   Creed  II is probably the only  target  ever where this approach
 of  'emulating'  the  server by a  static lookup will  yield  any  measurable
 success   (due   to   a   basic   design  flaw in  an otherwise  pretty  neat
 idea  of  software  protection).  In  fact, we  considered this  approach  as
 generally  too  unreliable  and  'unworthy' of a scene crack,  so  we  didn't
 care   about   doing   it.   Instead   we  opted  for going for the arguably  
 most     challenging    implementation    of    Ubisoft's   new   DRM   first
 (emulating   actual   server-side   game  code).  So  here  it  is: The first
 Ubisoft DRM crack!

 @RELOADED:
 Congrats  on  your  recent advances in automating your Solidshield VM cracks.
 We  actually  respect  that. However, we wonder why you didn't go all the way
 and  recompiled  the  fixed decompiler output to optimized native x86 code as
 we   did   as   early   as   with  Perry  Rhodan  (followed  by  Anno  1404).

 Although  we  think there's not much merit to discussing technical details in
 .nfos  (mostly  because  it's  impossible  for  anyone lacking the skills and
 sources  to  fact-check  these  statements)  we feel the need to preempt all
 that  made-up "they-ripped-it-from-some-unprotected-tuvaluan-multi12-binary"
 bullshit that's sure to follow:

 We  invite  anyone  who is able to and interested enough in this to check the
 history  of  scene-released  Solidshield VM cracks taking into account things
 like  availability  of  possible  alternate  sources  for  the protected code
 fragments  at  the time of release, similarity to compiled code (i.e. 'copy &
 paste  cracks'  from  differently  protected  or  unprotected  binaries), the
 rebuilt   code's  resemblence  of  the  original  VM  instructions  regarding
 sequence  of  mnemonics  etc.pp. We're pretty confident (read '100% certain')
 you'll  come  to the conclusion that we were first with respect to rebuilding
 actual Solidshield VM code.

 Nvm, 'mild respect'! ;)


 P.S.
 Finally,   there's  a  chance  of  the  good  ol'  times  coming  back  (when
 protections   had  to  be  dealt  with  on  a  per  title  basis  by  skilled
 individuals)  and  an  opportunity  of  telling  the sharpies from the fakers
 again.   Thanks   Ubi!   (Yup,   we're   actually   serious  about  this  :))

[Musashi]

 

[LK]

I would have been interested in checking out Settlers but the whole "Need to connect to server" shit pretty much negates that.

[ffc]

I'm disappointed about Settlers as well because it looks like a friendlier version of Anno I can enjoy.  In an attempt to curb piracy and generate more sales, Ubisoft's DRM has accomplished the following:

1)  Chased away everyone wary of mandatory internet connectivity for single player games.  Ubisoft's DRM created current lost sales.

2)  Frustrated legitimate purchasers of Settlers 7 who suffer from the repeated server problems preventing single player gaming.  Ubisoft's DRM created future lost sales.

3)  Pirating Settlers 7 offers a superior experience over buying it because the pirated version has no mandatory internet connection to prevent single player gaming.  Ubisoft's DRM fails to generate sales.

Ubisoft's DRM punishes everyone except pirates.  As an added bonus pirates get to hear catchy stuff like this.  

[UnSub]

Sooo... what are the sales for the Ubisoft titles under their current DRM regime?

[Ceryse]

I'm disappointed about Settlers as well because it looks like a friendlier version of Anno I can enjoy.  In an attempt to curb piracy and generate more sales, Ubisoft's DRM has accomplished the following:

1)  Chased away everyone wary of mandatory internet connectivity for single player games.  Ubisoft's DRM created current lost sales.

2)  Frustrated legitimate purchasers of Settlers 7 who suffer from the repeated server problems preventing single player gaming.  Ubisoft's DRM created future lost sales.

3)  Pirating Settlers 7 offers a superior experience over buying it because the pirated version has no mandatory internet connection to prevent single player gaming.  Ubisoft's DRM fails to generate sales.

Ubisoft's DRM punishes everyone except pirates.  As an added bonus pirates get to hear catchy stuff like this.  

I don't know. Most people I know that pirate games have actually passed on pirating the latest Ubisoft games that are loaded with the current DRM scheme. Of course, they've also all foregone buying the games. Most because its just a general pain in the ass and Ubisoft is fairly fanatical about tracking torrents and sending letters to ISPs. Personally I'm somewhat glad Ubisoft games tend to be extremely low on my play-list even disregarding DRM.

Part of me wants to pirate their games and then delete them, just on principle, though.

[ffc]

Most people I know that pirate games have actually passed on pirating the latest Ubisoft games that are loaded with the current DRM scheme. Of course, they've also all foregone buying the games.

That's exactly it.  Piracy doesn't always equal a lost sale, but DRM always punishes the legitimate consumer.

[tgr]

Sooo... what are the sales for the Ubisoft titles under their current DRM regime?

They'll never tell you. Hell, they even went out and said that prince of persia PC edition (...or one of them, I forget the exact details) was copy protection-free to test the theory, but that was only announced on their forums. The box still said it had CP I believe. I bought a copy just to try to influence them, but they never went on record to specify what their expectations were (except "people suck and we hate them"), and they certainly never released any specific sales numbers.

Of course, 6 months later they went all Mr Hyde on us with the latest creation, so I suppose either PoP didn't sell as well as they wanted it to, or they were dead set on going down this path anyways, PoP was just a kind of publicity stunt.

I was sort of interested in AC2, very interested in settlers, and probably a few other ubisoft games I've forgotten about already because they've pissed me off with their latest DRM. Same goes with a few of my friends. I guess they didn't want those sales anyways.

Hell, I'm not even going to bother pirating the games to see what they play like, I certainly don't want to give them the satisfaction of being able to point at numbers I helped grow and say "see? see? them thar ebul piwates, we hatses them and they must die".

lac: good thing you posted that razor announcement. I was shown that by a friend of mine yesterday, but I didn't get around to copy/pasting it. It'll probably have to be customized still for each game, as ubisoft'll probably keep making minor changes to "defeat" the pirates for a few days, but I'll take this as a victory for the "good guys" nontheless.

[Azazel]

In an attempt to curb piracy and generate more sales, Ubisoft's DRM has accomplished the following:

1)  Chased away everyone wary of mandatory internet connectivity for single player games.  Ubisoft's DRM created current lost sales.

2)  Frustrated legitimate purchasers of Settlers 7 who suffer from the repeated server problems preventing single player gaming.  Ubisoft's DRM created future lost sales.

3)  Pirating Settlers 7 offers a superior experience over buying it because the pirated version has no mandatory internet connection to prevent single player gaming.  Ubisoft's DRM fails to generate sales.

Taking the new laptop to work on Friday, since I have to mind the office for the day. Going to use my crappy work Lenovo machine for work, and when nothing is happening, particularly for the 90mins-2hrs I have to stay after everyone else goes home, I will use the Dell to play games on via offline Steam (since I can't connect to my secure work network with it). If I'd bought any of Ubi's bullshit DRM games, I wouldn't be able to play them, as opposed to a fucking ton of offline-mode Steam games.

Not that I'd have bought AC2, Anno or Settlers, but I do buy a lot of games from Steam, and now Ubi's shit is excluded from my "I'll buy that" list...

[eldaec]

Sooo... what are the sales for the Ubisoft titles under their current DRM regime?

I'd wager almost exactly the same as they otherwise would have been.

Nerd rage, even well justified nerd rage, doesn't sting as much as you'd hope.

[Paelos]

Sooo... what are the sales for the Ubisoft titles under their current DRM regime?

I'd wager almost exactly the same as they otherwise would have been.

Nerd rage, even well justified nerd rage, doesn't sting as much as you'd hope.

I was literally clicking to buy Settlers. I read the DRM warning, clicked away and bought Mount and Blade: Warband. They lost an actual sale from me they will never get back until they remove that bloated, ridiculous shit.

[LK]

I would have picked up Settlers were it not for DRM. The measures they took with Anno 1404 preventing me from accessing my game data from certain locations was the start of that.

[angry.bob]

The best copy protection Ubi and other publishers can get is to just hire Razor1911 to create it. I'm pretty sure anything they were satisfied with would take other groups a long, long time to crack. The problem is they're probably not interested.

[Paelos]

The best copy protection Ubi and other publishers can get is to just hire Razor1911 to create it. I'm pretty sure anything they were satisfied with would take other groups a long, long time to crack. The problem is they're probably not interested.

Or they could just man up and realize me, and people like me with disposable income and an absolute aversion to piracy are really eager to toss at least $300 a year at their products.

But we don't like being fucked for our patronage.

[tgr]

Sooo... what are the sales for the Ubisoft titles under their current DRM regime?

I'd wager almost exactly the same as they otherwise would have been.

Nerd rage, even well justified nerd rage, doesn't sting as much as you'd hope.

I'm pretty sure the "nerd rage" is going to go beyond just nerds, if it hasn't already.

Unless, you know, they shrug and ditch the PC for gaming and go for consoles, where the games quality overall is so much higher.

Oh god, I nearly fell into my own sarchasm.

[UnSub]

Someone check my reasoning:

UbiSoft announces 9 million units sold of Assassin's Creed 2.

VGChartz indicates that AC2 sold about 7.25m on consoles (rough 52/48 Xbox and PS3 split).

...which leaves about 1.75m units for PCs, even under the DRM.