AfterDawn: News

'Prince of Persia' released without DRM

Ubisoft has released the potential blockbuster Prince of Persia for the PC without any DRM but the company says it still expects piracy to be high.

A post on the official Ubisoft forum from Ubisoft community development manager Chris Easton, notes the decision.



“You`re right when you say that when people want to pirate the game they will, but DRM is there to make it as difficult as possible for pirates to make copies of our games. A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP [Prince of Persia] PC has no DRM we`ll see how truthful people actually are.”

However, he still expects piracy to be high. How "truthful" will people be? “Not very, I imagine,” he concluded.

When a user posted that developers need to stop blaming piracy for everthing and that "If you make a good game, people will buy it," Easton remarks:

“Well this time we’ve got a good game with no DRM so there really is no reason to pirate it, right? We should expect good sales because there’s no reason to not buy a copy.”

“I’m fairly skeptical as it’s an easy answer given by a lot of people why they pirate games but if you’re going to buy this game instead of pirating purely because of no DRM in the store version, then if I ever meet you in real life I’ll happily shake your hand and buy you a drink.”


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Dec 2008 22:53

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• 30 comments

• ikari

  “Well this time we’ve got a good game with no DRM so there really is no reason to pirate it, right? We should expect good sales because there’s no reason to not buy a copy.”
  
  Sorry Easton, they will find another reason.

  13.12.2008 23:08 #1

• ads

  I will buy it so Nah... i have all of the prince of persa games and im half way on all of them I will beat one.. sometime... i swear its just anyoning when you die every 2 seconds on the same stubid jump and thats why I left it... i like the game looks good I might pick it up if it gets good reviews i have all the other ones though..

  13.12.2008 23:35 #2

• Gradical

  This guy ows me a drink for sure!
  
  Lets prove him wrong people, ubisoft makes some nice games like assassin's creed and prince of persia, i´ll be first in line to get this game even if my pc won't handle it just because its DRM free and one day i'll be able to play it you can be sure of that

  13.12.2008 23:36 #3

• DoomLight

  i bought the 360 version and the game is worth buying in my opinion.
  
  and he's right if someone is gonna Hijack the game and pirate it. they will. can't stop it. so just save the money of paying secureROM and just try to make as much money as the game will take in.

  13.12.2008 23:54 #4

• Hopium

  you know its funny that "DRM-Free" is now a selling point for a game :D

  14.12.2008 00:41 #5

• mike.m

  Quote:...people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games... There is no "justified" reason for anyone to pirate a game. The only logical reason that I can think of is that they are either cheap or poor. But I agree that piracy won't go away, and it will be here for a very long time. They can try to secure it as much as possible, but someone will always crack the code. But nevertheless this company deserves to get paid for the great games they make so that they can continue to keep making those games.

  14.12.2008 00:43 #6

• Lee_asdf

  Quote:There is no "justified" reason for anyone to pirate a game.One of the best arguments I have ever heard for one is that it is because it isn't attainable in any other way. That is clearly not applicable to this case, but I think it is fairly valid.

  14.12.2008 01:09 #7

• EricCarr

  I bet it won't be pirated as much as Spore was.

  14.12.2008 01:33 #8

• hikaricor

  You know, I'd be inclined to buy it if there were a Linux version.
  I'm a huge fan of the series so if it happens to have OpenGL support perhaps it will run under WINE at the very least. DRM free makes it quite promising but we'll have to see.

  14.12.2008 02:53 #9

• Pain_Man

  Chris Easton fails to address (as does the story) as to one of, if not THE, reason for so-called "piracy":
  
  Game prices.
  
  The usual price for a new PC game is $50 US (sometimes even higher). PS3 games are even higher, usually $60 (even at Wal-Mart!).
  
  These prices are absurd. And yet, Halo 3 had sales of $250M on day 1. Then the latest version of Grand Theft Auto doubled that on its first day of release.
  
  But those are the hot games.
  
  It's other games, no so hyped or in demand, let's call 'em second tier, that also charge $50-60 bucks.
  
  That's just ridiculous. A lot of people can't afford to pay those kind of prices for every game they want, so, natch, they hoark the game.
  
  If you're honest (as I am, not that I'm claiming to be as pure as the wind-driven snow, I'm not the ManChild after all), then you limit yourself to either buying on a few games at full boat or you wait six months or year for the price to drop to a more reasonable level ($20-30).
  
  If the game developers were smart, they'd start with those lower price points out of the gate. I realize that software is somewhat like pharmaceuticals. The first game (or pill) costs tens or hundreds of millions to develop. Every copy after that costs pennies or a few dollars.
  
  Make the price reasonable and most people won't want to go to the hassle of circumventing the so-called "DRM" or, for the less technically inclined, taking a chance on a hacked/cracked version downloaded from some Russian or Chinese site containing God-knows how many virii, trojans, malware or just plain unstable versions due to the cracking techniques used to break the "DRM".
  
  If it's easier, safer and, above all, CHEAPER to buy legally, MOST people will do that.
  
  But gaming companies are going to have settle for lower per-unit profits for volume profits.
  
  Imagine how much more cash Rockstar and Microsoft Games would have made if they'd charged $25 for their games instead of half a C-note!
  
  Lastly, studies have shown that the vast majority of "piracy" occurs during the first six months of a game's "life cycle." So why not configure the DRM to terminate after that six months (much as ID did with Quake IV where the first patch eliminated the need to have the disc in drive)--or just remove the DRM from the game(s) after that allegedly crucial six month period?
  
  
  Finally: of course "piracy" of software isn't going away--anymore than street muggings, armed robberies, home invasions, embezzlement or Ponzi schemes. There'll always be people who'll steal just because of the thrill of doing something wrong.

  14.12.2008 07:26 #10

• Altair2

  Every game I have has been bought. If SecureRom or the like is on it, no matter how much I'd like to, I just don't buy it. Simple as. So for example I have bought all of the C&C series (since it was called 'Dune'), and was eagerly awaiting Red Alert 3 til I found out it had SecureRom on it. So I had to miss out on the game and the game developers missed out on my cash.
  
  Pain_Man is right though, if games/CDs were priced fairly I'm sure most people would prefer to buy the genuine article. Profits could be boosted by pocketing all the wasted cash currently spent on lawyers and the bloodsucking drm mongers.
  
  When is Prince of P out on the PC? Cash waiting...

  14.12.2008 08:42 #11

• john_jaxs

  People will pirate wheather their is DRM or not, they will do this for many reasons (Reasons that are Good or Bad).
  
  However them not using DRM is a very smart move mainly because they do not have to pay for it, in the end it does not make sense to pay for something that has never worked.

  14.12.2008 09:27 #12

• elk1007

  Prince of Persia is not a good game.
  
  This experiment will fail because the new PoP sucks.

  14.12.2008 15:52 #13

• Hopium

  totally pirated it totally gave it 2 good hours of trying
  TOTALLY SUCKS ASS
  
  totally glad i didnt buy it

  14.12.2008 18:07 #14

• emugamer

  Quote:“You`re right when you say that when people want to pirate the game they will, but DRM is there to make it as difficult as possible for pirates to make copies of our games. A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP [Prince of Persia] PC has no DRM we`ll see how truthful people actually are.”
  
  However, he still expects piracy to be high. How "truthful" will people be? “Not very, I imagine,” he concluded.
  
  When a user posted that developers need to stop blaming piracy for everthing and that "If you make a good game, people will buy it," Easton remarks:
  
  “Well this time we’ve got a good game with no DRM so there really is no reason to pirate it, right? We should expect good sales because there’s no reason to not buy a copy.”
  
  “I’m fairly skeptical as it’s an easy answer given by a lot of people why they pirate games but if you’re going to buy this game instead of pirating purely because of no DRM in the store version, then if I ever meet you in real life I’ll happily shake your hand and buy you a drink.” Still clueless after all these years. He says that sales should be good now since there is no DRM? Wrong. Sales are only as good as the game. Just because he thinks the new PoP is great, doesn't mean it actually is.
  
  No reason not to buy a copy, he asks? How about reviews of the game? They were good, but not exactly stellar. That's what I base my decision on when I'm about to lay down $50+ on a game. Most user reviews I've read are that although beautifully done, it is too easy and too short. That's the main reason I won't buy it. I need to save my money for the truly great games, like Uncharted 2 (hopefully). The last PoP I enjoyed was Sands of Time. After that, it was obvious that the devs turned it into a marketing gimmick. The gratuitous swearing and modern metal/grunge/goth feel (or whatever the heck you want to call it) was a transparent ploy to appeal to what they may have thought was the "young angry teenager."
  
  How truthful will people be, he asks? Just about as truthful as they were before. Not everyone is a so-called "pirate."
  
  The main gripe that people have about DRM is that it is useless. Devs want to make the DRM ultra tight to make it harder for piracy. But it doesn't work. Because a pirate will work harder to crack it and it will always be cracked, and it will always be available for anyone to download. Just as a copy with no DRM will always be available for download. So they spend all of this money on a protection system that doesn't work, and the cost of that protection system gets passed onto the consumer, who ends up getting inconvenienced by all of the obstacles just to enjoy the game, and even upset that there is software on their system that they can't get rid of.
  
  Now that there is no DRM, will the game be cheaper? Probably not. Because they need to maximize profits by selling it at "market value" (what the industry has defined as the going rate for a game).
  
  I was close to buying this game for the PS3, but after the numerous reviews I've read about it, it's not worth $60. So the PC version woldn't be worth it for me either. It is worth the price used though. PC games drop drastically used, so I would probably go that route. Or buy it used for my PS3. I personally like the feel of console gaming over PC gaming. This game is worth $25 to me, $30 max, PC or Console. If it had received better reviews, then I would still wait and pay at most $40.
  
  EDITAmazon has this game listed for $27.99 new (slashed from $49.99). Not sure how long this sale will last, but this is the price point that I am looking for. I will definitely consider getting this now.

  15.12.2008 12:34 #15

• susieqbbb

  The game is worth buying in my opinon.
  
  But even without DRM the game still has to have some sort of security.
  
  Which means pirates will still pirate the game.
  
  You keep trying to stop pirates and try to punish kids for doing so if you made the legal work age for kids 15 instead of 16 you would have less pirated material because they could just buy it if they wanted to.

  15.12.2008 16:12 #16

• DXR88

  What? Okay hold on, if there is no drm there is no need for piracy? thats the most ridicules logic.
  
  if ubisoft, really is that stupid not to realized how old and flawed that line is. then guys i have a mine shaft id love to sell u.
  
  i only hope Ubisoft has realized by now they are wasting money by purchasing drm licensing.
  
  it takes a mason(DRM Company's)1 week just to build the shell of a house. it takes a demolition man(Warez group)1 minute to send that house crumbling down.

  15.12.2008 20:05 #17

• Bladerz05

  Quote:DXR88 (Member) 15 December 2008 20:05 _
  What? Okay hold on, if there is no drm there is no need for piracy? thats the most ridicules logic.
  
  if ubisoft, really is that stupid not to realized how old and flawed that line is. then guys i have a mine shaft id love to sell u.
  
  i only hope Ubisoft has realized by now they are wasting money by purchasing drm licensing.
  
  it takes a mason(DRM Company's)1 week just to build the shell of a house. it takes a demolition man(Warez group)1 minute to send that house crumbling down. I have a bridge for sale as well LOL

  16.12.2008 06:20 #18

• valenna

  spam edited by ddp

  16.12.2008 11:45 #19

• Altair2

  How do you report the scum bag spammers? ie the one above?

  16.12.2008 11:59 #20

• rlessmue

  ...I agree that the "Scam" message that was above should be removed.
  ...I also think that people who post messages like this:
  
  1) Degrade the quality of this website...
  2) Should be banned from the website, if they post something like that again...
  3) And if it happens again, have their IP blocked if they do it after a third time!
  
  Cheers!
  P.S. - I come to this website because of the excellent content that it provides... not due to the "spam" that people post!
  P.S.P.S. - I can give 1,000's of links to websites that have spam all over them...don't let it happen to this website!

  16.12.2008 12:24 #21

• Altair2

  I'd ban them the first time, the a***wipes

  16.12.2008 12:33 #22

• bigbadal

  its good to see because they will still make $250m in profits in any case. i mean how much do these moguls want to make (dont answer that)
  
  and consumers that really want the game, music, movie will usually want to own the original... and go and buy it
  
  but its good to have p2p because i've wanted music or film etc that can no longer be gotten. but someone has put in on some torrent site somewhere.... thanks to those people

  16.12.2008 18:02 #23

• ZippyDSM

  Heres yaarrrr a reason for piracy crappy over price media thats distributed crapply world wide, I am sorry but when you realse a brand new game thats under deved and unpolished to meet publishing deadlines and their short term short sighted profit goals on media thats priced at least twice its worth thats when you have to say enough is enough.
  
  Its been a snowball effect for me the 360 is a POS with a insane fail rate and with the increasingly under deved unpolished titles pooed out by industry and arrogant cookie cutter one size fits all control lay outs what has happened to gamming, its become a mainstream wasteland with zombified fans and critics....
  
  
  mmmmm bbwwwaaiinnnssssssssss

  16.12.2008 20:42 #24

• chrissd

  Quote:There is no "justified" reason for anyone to pirate a game. I pirate when games aren't available anywhere else but always keep an eye out to buy them if I can find them. And only pirate when I've exhausted all other possibilites.
  
  Another reason I'd pirate is to escape the DRM. Definitely buy the game, but then download it and play that version. FarCry2 has enough DRM to kill the comp. Too difficult to run given what's outlined on the official website.
  
  Another reason to pirate is when you combine price, quality, availability and DRM. 6 months and PC games that aren't top are discontinued and 6 months is how long you have to wait to pay a reasonable price for it. And quality... Most games nowadays are made for console then converted to a PC so the control system sucks, graphics are below par and the game isn't worth playing.
  
  So yea, torrents still get a place on my bandwidth. Money if I like the game AND can buy it. Also no console 'cept for psp so pc only. lolz.
  
  Justified it :P Still not legal but justified. lol

  16.12.2008 22:08 #25

• emugamer

  Quote:Quote:There is no "justified" reason for anyone to pirate a game. I pirate when games aren't available anywhere else but always keep an eye out to buy them if I can find them. And only pirate when I've exhausted all other possibilites............Justified it :P Still not legal but justified. lollol...I eat people....but only when I can't find a grocery or deli around and have exhausted all other possibilities.

  17.12.2008 08:23 #26

• jetyi83

  this game isnt as cool as the other pop games. i would have bought it if it didnt suck

  17.12.2008 11:54 #27

• oappi

  if ubisoft made new version of freelancer (new story and maybe new gfx) i would buy it. PoP looked just the kind of game i dont want to play, so i think i will pass, drm or not.
  
  Just like someone said it is insane that games cost so mutch. ok i can understand that gta cost 50 bucks like someone said but i heard that it cost a lot more to make than games usualy do. This is why game industry is sick. Everyone has to have top gfx and they put alot of man hours and money to gfx when they could as well buy gfx engine from some other developer, and only make objects, maps, and good story. But no everyone has to invent wheel all over again. Only game i have bought cuz of gfx is doom3 (yep back then when it was released and after playing the alpha demo released by ati), but soon noticed that i didnt play it as mutch than games that had better story line. Dooms story line is just so old.
  
  There has been great games made on other developers engine.. like half life1. Maybe someone should try that again and make new serie.

  20.12.2008 16:43 #28

• ZippyDSM

  Mr "breasts" is right the industry is sick even if they can make the money back on hardware in a couple years the secondary issues of high cost of upkeep is degrading qaulity in order to get a very shiny product to market in a hurried development cycle that can not do proper bug work and testing.
  
  Look at well the WII is doing 40Milloin units(X attach rate makes it the best software seller :P) in about a year and the industry is mostly ignoring it because they have fallen into a kind of fake causal market mindset, fake because they are not really seeking to port games out fully to make money off volume sales and casual because they are watering down the product to try and gain more profit in a shorter time frame so they can continue to ignore the product after a few months all but for DLC they try and slap on.
  
  Hollywood is bad but gaming is worse as you have higher costs and need more time to finish a project properly....

  20.12.2008 16:58 #29

• SuperXL

  i have no intention of buying PoP at all, ever. i rented one of the others for PS2 and couldnt figure it out... mostly because i suck. but my point is that i'm not going to buy it or pirate it. i am just not gonna be bothered with it. but i bet they still expect the game to make $$$$$ simply because of the franchise name.
  
  and i think the high price is the main reason people pirate a game. but if it's something you REALLY want, you'll go out and buy it. i would, but not for PoP though.

  20.12.2008 19:35 #30