UbiSoft Online Controversy

Ethric · Unread postby **Ethric** » 05 Mar 2010, 15:45

Salamandre wrote:In general the fight against piracy need some extreme measures because atm it became ridiculously easy to get anything for free. But while going against, the honest customer should not be penalized. Hard to find the right way.

If you try to find the right way solely by thinking "How harsh can we make the DRM without hurting sales", you won't find it. Any DRM can be hacked, and the harder you make it the harder it will be tried, out of pride and spite.

Vlaad II · Unread postby **Vlaad II** » 06 Mar 2010, 16:01

Cutting off the nose to spite the face.

Thelonious · Unread postby **Thelonious** » 06 Mar 2010, 16:56

Has UbiSoft ever considered making a game that good that people will want to buy it, just to support creativity?

nah...

admira99 · Unread postby **admira99** » 07 Mar 2010, 03:02

If they create Heroes VI close and if possible better than ToTE, I will absolutely buy the game, in spite of the one installed on my PC is the piracy version with cracked DRM. I just want to stay true with my words that whatever a game worth my money, I will buy it. So UBI, if you want my money, please make the Heroes VI a groundbreaking stride in TBS.

jeff · Unread postby **jeff** » 07 Mar 2010, 15:22

admira99 wrote:If they create Heroes VI close and if possible better than ToTE, I will absolutely buy the game.

I must say you have set the bar very low.

klaymen · Unread postby **klaymen** » 07 Mar 2010, 16:48

jeff wrote: I must say you have set the bar very low.

Touché

Roman · Unread postby **Roman** » 07 Mar 2010, 18:03

Hmm, effects of Ubisoft DDRM on honest customers... server problems: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/ ... 1601001838

So, while many customers cannot play the game because of this, pirates can play it without interruptions, as they have gotten rid of the DDRM through cracks.

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 07 Mar 2010, 18:44

As i said before, this is more of a measure against reselling then anything else... just like limited installs where (i mean how would those stop anyone from breaking the copy protection anyway).

darknessfood · Unread postby **darknessfood** » 07 Mar 2010, 20:01

Limited installs make me wanna pirate a game. I bought it, so I must be able to install it as many times I want!

Roman · Unread postby **Roman** » 07 Mar 2010, 22:58

"As i said before, this is more of a measure against reselling then anything else... just like limited installs where (i mean how would those stop anyone from breaking the copy protection anyway)."

I agree that it is aimed against reselling games at least as much as against piracy. Against piracy it is about as effective as any other DRM, even customers friendly types - that is it might or might not stop pre-release and first-day piracy, which helps if it does, but not longer-term piracy.

As a matter of interest, Ubisoft's servers are still strained: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/ ... 7541043838

klaymen · Unread postby **klaymen** » 08 Mar 2010, 06:17

So, after seeing those two threads on Ubi's forums, I have to ask:
Is here anyone stupid/rich enough to support Ubisoft, despite this failure?

Roman · Unread postby **Roman** » 08 Mar 2010, 10:12

From Ubisoft's boards: http://i46.tinypic.com/2py18bo.jpg

admira99 · Unread postby **admira99** » 08 Mar 2010, 12:30

@jeff: I must say you have set the bar very low.

Yup, this is a very special case for Heroes series. I've been the die hard fans of the series. The only game's franchise that pass my recheck-with-piracy-then-buy-later is only this franchise. I even tried Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 before finally deciding to buy the game. Well, I must say I was disappointed by how Heroes V was done in the first release. But I must say I am good with ToTE and if Heroes VI will be anything close to ToTE, I'll go with original copy. Although I must say I am worry about Heroes VI, no news, only a handful clues that really means nothing, not to mention about DRM.

dark raider · Unread postby **dark raider** » 08 Mar 2010, 17:25

this is indeed a very irritationg concept...they have done the samething with the new assasins creed...and it requires the computer to be online all the time...even during gaming...so if the connection is lost...the game stops or even crashes...(so if you did not save before it is just to bad)....

Kalah · Unread postby **Kalah** » 08 Mar 2010, 17:35

It's silly ... they say that players will be able to play at all times because the servers are excellent ... and then we learn that this is not the case, and they "apologize for the inconvenience". It is rather unintelligent of them that they didn't see it coming.

I feel bad for Ubi's game developers; this is a management decision, it must be, and then they're told that some bosses have done this thing, and they must be thinking: "ooooh no, not again ..."

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 08 Mar 2010, 18:21

Pffft, what are you guys talking about, everyone knows that the best way to fight piracy is to make sure your customers can't even play the game at all...

that is it might or might not stop pre-release and first-day piracy, which helps if it does,

Until someone show me some actual numbers for games that weren't pirated right away doing better overall in their 1st week i doubt that.

Roman · Unread postby **Roman** » 08 Mar 2010, 22:41

Kalah, indeed, it is very sad. I was one of those who particularly enjoyed what Ubisoft did with HoMM 5 and especially with the TotE - I thought they did a really good job. Despite their good track record with the game, however, there is no way I would buy even a next HoMM game from them with those kinds of draconian DRM (DDRM) anti-features.

ThunderTitan, I have no numbers, but the theory goes that most sales happen early and then decline over time since people are impatient. Some of those who would have pirated the game but are impatient might opt to buy the game if they have to wait too long.

Blueman · Unread postby **Blueman** » 09 Mar 2010, 08:16

Blizzard is going the same way with battle.net.....I would just hate to lose DiabloIII or SC2...and HoMM6
Edited on Tue, Mar 09 2010, 03:18 by Blueman

klaymen · Unread postby **klaymen** » 09 Mar 2010, 08:30

In Blizzard's case it is quite understandable, their games are well known for their multiplayer part after all.

But in singleplayer game? Effing singleplayer with no MP at all? "Even if you want to play AC2 which has no MP, you have to be online all the time" is a BS, people responsible for it should be executed.

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 09 Mar 2010, 09:04

Blueman wrote:>>Blizzard is going the same way with battle.net.....I would just hate to lose DiabloIII or SC2...and HoMM6<<

NO THEY'RE NOT... they're only requiring you to activate teh game on bnet when you want to play MP, even over LAN. Crappy, but no where near the same.

Roman wrote:>>ThunderTitan, I have no numbers, but the theory goes that most sales happen early and then decline over time since people are impatient. Some of those who would have pirated the game but are impatient might opt to buy the game if they have to wait too long.<<

Yeah, i know... but a theory needs to have some numbers backing t, otherwise it's just a hypothesis...

And it's not that most sales happen early, is that the first few weeks see the most units per week sold... if the game it really successful it will sale way more over the years (Starcraft went from 3 mil in ~3 years to 10+ millions today), especially on the PC.

The Heroes Round Table