AfterDawn: News

Ubisoft to link games to web access to fight piracy

Ubisoft is looking to reduce the amount of pirates playing its PC games while tackling some of the common problems that Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology causes for legitimate consumers. The company has said that a new anti-piracy system will allow users to install their games on as many PCs as they want and there will be no need to insert a disc for authentication purposes either.

"If you own a hundred PCs, you can install your games on a hundred PCs," said Brent Wilkinson, Director, Customer Service and Production Planning at Ubisoft. While these changes will sound great to those affected by Ubisoft's use of StarForce DRM, there is one major problem. The game is authenticated by the user by signing into his/her Ubi.com account before playing -- even on a single player game.



This obviously raises issues for people who do not have constant access to the Internet, or might regularly suffer service outages. However, Ubisift is not convinced that this will be a big problem. "We think most people are going to be fine with it. Most people are always connected to an Internet connection," Wilkinson said.

One advantage of the service however is the ability to store game saves with your Ubi.com account, which means you can load your saved from any PC with the game installed. This is also available for some games offered through Steam.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 27 Jan 2010 20:04

• Previous article

• IFPI loses Baidu copyright case

• Next article

• Nokia drops 'Comes With Music' from flagship X6 handset

• 22 comments

• jony218

  I think finally they will succeed where everyone has failed. Of the 100 antipiracy methods invented, the pirates have defeated 100 of them.
  The only "antipiracy" method that was never defeated was the Sony "rootkit", but it was so devastating that the FED's had to ban it's use. This return tranquility back to the world.
  The only drawback I see is that people who are paranoid won't buy a game that needs to be connected to the internet 24/7.

  27.1.2010 20:26 #1

• jos22

  what a complete joke."We think most people are going to be fine with it." that a laugh. no intelligent person would agree to this.
  let hope everyone show ubisoft what they think of this with their wallets

  27.1.2010 20:48 #2

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by jos22: what a complete joke."We think most people are going to be fine with it." that a laugh. no intelligent person would agree to this.
  let hope everyone show ubisoft what they think of this with their walletsI think most people will be fine with this. Antipiracy is going to screw the user one way or another...this seems like a less painfull way to do it. Personaly, I am always online, and I have only had about 5 minutes of service loss all year. As for the effectiveness, I think that this could easily be cracked for single player mode...and who cares if it has to connect to Ubi servers when you play online?

  27.1.2010 23:14 #3

• fgamer

  Wow, I was a huge supporter of Ubisoft..now there's no way in hell I'll support this by purchasing their games. It seems like this DRM thing gets worse and worse. Start putting trust back into the PC gamers and stop treating them ALL like thieves!! Put your attention into making a good game that will sell and make piracy irrelevant. Until that happens we'll continue to see these types of things fail and take actually good games down the drain with them.

  28.1.2010 00:06 #4

• ZippyDSM

  They always miss the point with this stuff.... anything mandatory an pretty much be "fixed" so instead of hamper peoples ability to play the SP game unprotected that and for the online stuff and patches make the online aspect mandatory.

  28.1.2010 00:30 #5

• nintenut

  What a crock of bull. They completely missed the a majority of the arguments against Starforce... Sure, this is less intrusive, but it shares the authentication problem. Changed, but not "Fixed" by a long shot. I daresay that this would just be another arrow to dodge for the average paying user, and another brief and easily removed obstacle for pirates.

  28.1.2010 02:13 #6

• av_verbal

  Piracy is yet again the better option as its the only way to guarantee that you can use your software forever, without having the DRM servers shut down.
  
  So no more gaming on my notebook unless im at home. BTW they will be collecting all this lovely valuable information on our habits, do you think the EULA will allow them to sell your data?
  
  the headline should read "Ubisoft circumvent first sale doctrine by locking content to an individual to block resale of software using piracy as the rhetoric"
  
  Originally posted by jony218: I think finally they will succeed where everyone has failed. Of the 100 antipiracy methods invented, the pirates have defeated 100 of them.
  The only "antipiracy" method that was never defeated was the Sony "rootkit", but it was so devastating that the FED's had to ban it's use. This return tranquility back to the world.
  The only drawback I see is that people who are paranoid won't buy a game that needs to be connected to the internet 24/7.this wont work people will become frustrated with having to jump through hoops & stop purchasing software.
  
  Sony's XPC Rootkit it was illegal snooping, illegal software, nobody banned it. it was malicious software reporting your pc contents back to sony.
  
  Sony's SecuROM is just as anti consumer.

  28.1.2010 05:50 #7

• babelfish

  *bleep* ubisoft. these are the same tools that put copy protection on their console gamesaves. yes, you cannot use gamesaves on other machines. my ps3 went kaput, sony kindly gave me a recon as it was 14 months old. problem is assassins creed 2 and guitar hero games cant be backed up. meaning if your ps3/xbox dies you are screwed.
  
  if you are so concerned with copy protection why not lock gamesaves to accounts? *bleep* idiots

  28.1.2010 06:48 #8

• av_verbal

  Originally posted by babelfish: if you are so concerned with copy protection why not lock gamesaves to accounts? fucking idiotsthey would rather you were forced to purchase all that content again, & again, & again!
  
  they are just following the media industries rhetoric, expect the book publishers to be next to state that libraries and second hand books are killing the industry.

  28.1.2010 08:00 #9

• babelfish

  i have bought no content for it. its just annoying if your console dies you lose hours of play. really cant be arsed to start it again. am i within my rights to demand a refund?

  28.1.2010 08:21 #10

• tatsh

  It will be cracked. Even GTA IV for PC (which used Windows Live for saving games) was cracked. Don't worry you pirates.

  28.1.2010 09:24 #11

• KSib

  Just sounds like Steam to me except without the offline mode so this is fail. Good job assuming everyone who buys your games is always connected to the internet or even has it. Unless you're only coming out with online multiplayer games then that's kind of a silly assumption.

  28.1.2010 10:06 #12

• ikari

  Quote:Piracy is yet again the better option as its the only way to guarantee that you can use your software forever, without having the DRM servers shut down.
  There will be a single player crack so you can play offline. I am sure there will never be a LAN crack so you can play with friends on a LAN without going online. If you are playing multi-player online you will be online anyways so it doesn't matter.
  
  You just don't want to pay for the game. It is okay you can admit it! We have all pirated a game one time or another.
  
  Once those cracks get released, you can buy the game and crack it so you don't ever have to login to ubi.com. Ubisoft gets money and you get to play whenever and however you want.
  
  Someone has to stop the cycle, you can bet the company won't be the first one to try. It will have to be us, the consumer/pirates.

  28.1.2010 10:37 #13

• jos22

  Quote:Originally posted by jos22: what a complete joke."We think most people are going to be fine with it." that a laugh. no intelligent person would agree to this.
  let hope everyone show ubisoft what they think of this with their walletsI think most people will be fine with this. Antipiracy is going to screw the user one way or another...this seems like a less painfull way to do it. Personaly, I am always online, and I have only had about 5 minutes of service loss all year. As for the effectiveness, I think that this could easily be cracked for single player mode...and who cares if it has to connect to Ubi servers when you play online?not every one has the benefit of always on internet connection which is a major problem.

  28.1.2010 10:42 #14

• biglo30

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by jos22: what a complete joke."We think most people are going to be fine with it." that a laugh. no intelligent person would agree to this.
  let hope everyone show ubisoft what they think of this with their walletsI think most people will be fine with this. Antipiracy is going to screw the user one way or another...this seems like a less painfull way to do it. Personaly, I am always online, and I have only had about 5 minutes of service loss all year. As for the effectiveness, I think that this could easily be cracked for single player mode...and who cares if it has to connect to Ubi servers when you play online?Yup thats exactly what I was saying.
  
  not every one has the benefit of always on internet connection which is a major problem.

  28.1.2010 10:58 #15

• Nat4u

  There is absolutely no way this will work, pirates will find a workaround and that will be that.Piracy exists because of stunts like this.

  28.1.2010 15:54 #16

• av_verbal

  Originally posted by Nat4u: There is absolutely no way this will work, pirates will find a workaround and that will be that.Piracy exists because of stunts like this.[s]no, you are wrong, harsh anti piracy measures & anti consumer licensing exist because of piracy, not to take away our rights, destroy the second hand market, & force us to repeatedly purchase the same content over & over again![\s]
  
  this will only effect legitimate owners, the pirates as i previously stated will crack the DRM and enjoy a fee game with none of the fall backs.
  
  software like this & anti consumer licensing should be boycotted, dont give them more money to reduce our choices even further.

  28.1.2010 16:18 #17

• creaky

  Foul language removed. Let's keep it clean people.
  

  
  
  Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
  Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS/WPA ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 4node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G v3.1, WRT54G2 v1, WRT54G v5. *** Forum Rules ***

  28.1.2010 17:10 #18

• jos22

  Quote:[s]no, you are wrong, harsh anti piracy measures & anti consumer licensing exist because of piracy, not to take away our rights, destroy the second hand market, & force us to repeatedly purchase the same content over & over again![\s]
  LOL the media companies want nothing more than to shut down the second hand market to them it "stealing". they spend lots of money to get anti consumer laws passed to provide them with even more control over the media we use. it all about greed nothing to do with piracy. the next step will be month based subs so no one will ever own anything again.

  28.1.2010 17:18 #19

• SoulGLOW

  Heres an old saying of mine that I will apply to this situation: "I wish a Mutha-Fuqa Would!!!"
  
  That being said if this idea goes anywhere the games industry is going to see a huge drop in sales from those like me who spend most of their time offshore. There is about a million and a half people if not more who work offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and I kid you not damn near all of us play video games. Everyone on my dive boat has their system with them even the 70 year old captain! Old man whups sum tail on GOW2!!
  So yeah if these Bozos wanna lose a bunch of sales they can go ahead and do this....or we will all just start pirating....on our boats. ;P

  29.1.2010 06:03 #20

• llongtheD

  So they're going to take the barbs off of their love stick before insertion, yet still no reach around.
  

  If your fish seems sick, put it back in the water.

  31.1.2010 01:53 #21

• IguanaC64

  #1 - There needs to be an offline mode. Be online for the authentication, but no need to be online just to play.
  
  #2 - There needs to be some way disable this if Ubisoft goes out of business. Some people really do like to play older games...I still play games on the SNES, C64, and Apple computer from time to time.
  
  #3 - Prices need to significantly come down if the argument is that piracy costs the consumer more.
  
  I see #1 happening, but #2 and especially #3 never happening.

  1.2.2010 11:50 #22