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Ubisoft DRM Issues Leave Games Temporarily Unplayable for Some (Updated)
by Chris Faylor, Mar 08, 2010 12:30pm PSTUpdate: "Our servers are under attack again," Ubisoft says. "Some gamers are experiencing trouble signing in. We're working on it and will keep you posted."
Added the company: "We're happy to say ACII & SH5 are withstanding the efforts to crack them. We see the rumors but still confirm no valid cracked versions exist."
Original:
Further reinforcing outspoken community concerns regarding Ubisoft's new PC DRM scheme, a denial of service attack on the company's authentication servers left a group of gamers unable to play certain titles for roughly seven hours on Sunday.
Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter 5
Ubisoft's new DRM scheme made its debut with Assassin's Creed II PC and Silent Hunter 5 PC, requiring players to have an active internet connection at all times and halting the game if its connection to Ubisoft's online authentication server is cut.
As the company explained this morning through its Twitter:
Apologies to anyone who couldn't play ACII or SH5 yesterday. Servers were attacked which limited service from 2:30pm to 9pm Paris time95% of players were not affected, but a small group of players attempting to open a game session did receive denial of service errors.
All servers were up and running but the attacks had the effect of blocking new requests from legitimate users
Prior to that explanation, community manager Ubi.Vigil admitted "clearly the extended downtime and lengthy login issues are unacceptable, particularly as I've been told these servers are constantly monitored" and blamed the issues on "exceptional demand."
Shortly after the authentication service premiered, reports of hacker groups circumventing the controversial always-online requirement. Ubisoft quickly dismissed those claims, explaining "a cracked version of [AC2] and [SH5]...is not complete."
However, Ubisoft has said it would consider patching offline support into a game should a functioning crack or workaround become widely available, telling PC Gamer that "it's a valid part of a varied set of options that we would consider."
The company has also pledged to patch offline support into games should the authentication service be permanently discontinued or shut down.
Comments
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But from reading all this,it sounds like I go into a shop and buy there game but can't play it when my Pc is not connected to the internet ? !!!
How stupid would that be !!??
I do not have a internet line,and always use a Inet bar to surf,so at home if I would buy one of those games that means they would be unplayable ?
Man,what times and what do they think !
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This is why I giggle like a schoolgirl when Microsoft bans thousands of modded Xbox 360s. Not only do they smack the pirates, but force them to buy another one. Two wins for the price of one!
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I am wearing a smug grin on my face because Ubisoft, this is it, this is your big prize of nothing that you got out of your annoying DRM scheme. Congratulations to all the bean counters and suits around the world who have completely lost touch with their customer base and with reality.
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Ubisoft, it's time to wake up...and smell the ashes.
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Outgoing:
Dev costs to implement DRM
Tech costs to get servers up
Network costs (10's of thousands of machines calling home)
Bodies to keep the servers patched, running, and protected
and now...
More bodies working to stop DOS attacks and hack attempts.
Incoming:
Bad press
Community outrage
No money savings since pirates gonna pirate
People who would normally buy boycotting their shit
Sad...
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1 - 4 star
3 - 2 star
31 -1 star
They've already dropped the the price to $47, which is only $3 more than SH: Wolves (Gold Edition)
Raaaaaaaaped!
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Surely if you don't like the DRM method then don't buy it, write and complain to Ubi, hell, even crack it yourself and release it but to support an action that stops fellow gamers not being able to play? I am pretty surprised in a bad way.
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Yeah, with console ports right? DRM or not, some of us don't want your products anymore regardless.
UBISOFT: "Due to the overwhelming popularity of Assassin's Crfeed II and Silent Hunter 5, our servers were temporarily down yesterday"
GAMERS: "So, by your own admission your system doesn't work. Are we going to have these outages every time a new game is launched"
UBISOFT: "Actually it was hackers. Hackers took us down. Not demand. Hackers."
GAMERS: "So, by your own admission your system is vulnerable and can be taken down by malicious users. Didn't you say you'd patch it out if this keeps happening?"
UBISOFT: "Err.." thows smoke grenade, runs like hell
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Let the real game developers start a new and reboot the industry into something better!
Maybe they will go back to smaller teams and make some real games, where the game had quality gameplay and originality of ideas and passion.
Eventually all the big names will be gone if the current trend keeps going anyway. I certainly won't miss them!
First i'll say I dont particularly like the idea of having to be online to play a game.. however..
Its quite obvious that this DRM is successful in keeping people from playing if they are not online.
Its quite unfair however to point the finger at ubi-soft for failing in their DRM attempt.
The only reason the DRM failed was due to an attack by people who dont like their DRM ideas.
So this being said, They built DRM and supporting server services for the DRM implementation. an Attack is what caused its failure. Not Ubi-Soft.
That is like blaming your internet provider if someone drove a car into their Datacenter because they didnt like their bandwidth caps.
The ISP still provided great service. You just did without service due to a malicious attack.
Point being, Their DRM is decent and not buggy or un-due'ly preventing people from playing.
It was an external malicious attack that did it..
so stop playin the hate game because of the attack.. and play the Anti-DRM game purely because DRM limits us in ways we should not be limited when we purchase a product.
Dont let this scew the real issues here folks.
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Sure Ubisoft, DOS attacks, we believe you....
What in the...
That they would even say this while servers are down, and paying customers unable to play...
The whole purpose of this thing is to get pirates to pay, so let's see it from their perspective:
"Man, this pirated copy is incomplete, maybe I should buy it. Oh wait, I will not buy the game because THE LEGIT COPIES DON'T WORK AT ALL."
Great job Ubisoft, you've accomplished nothing. Well, you've burned money and pissed off people that gave you money, so A for effort I guess.
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So if you can't get a proper zero-day crack out, as seems to be the case here, you get mad, and you get even. Now the customer is caught in the crossfire while Ubisoft fights a war of attrition with a crew of Scandinavian teenagers. I can't say who will win yet, but it's clear who is losing: the people who bought the damn game.
The larger point though, is that pirates will steal. There is nothing you can do to stop that. It will happen.
The point is you shouldn't even consider them customers or deal with them on that level.
Rather than making controls and stops on your software to circumvent pirates, at the expense of customer ease of use you should try to make the customer experience as good as possible.
Stardock's philosophy and business practices are great, and so is the way they deal with piracy. I buy their games just to support them.
http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/post.aspx?postid=303512
Similarly Valve has great practices in this. They basically have everybody work in their system, with their rules. Which nullifies piracy and cheating in one swoop.
Basically Ubi has poor leadership. They are attacking the customers that pay them.
They've lost sight of the point of the company. The reason the company exists is to supply the demand of customers looking for a good time.
Making money is a by product of this.
In valuing making money over providing to the customer, you quickly find that your customers move to other places, or get angry with the company (what we are seeing). Because it is usually at the expense of the customer.
The bad will and poor image they develop from this, will hurt the company more than any amount of piracy possibly could.
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good luck to Ubi on making the adjustments, and I'm hoping they publish the list of IPs that are the pirates that used their persistent internet connection to torrent and download things for days on end... but they have to protest the need to have... a persistent internet connection... /facepalm
thanks pirates you guys are really SMRT
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Pirated copies have the DRM disabled so in the end DRM only applies to paying customers.
And right now they can't the games they paid money for.
I did rather buy MW2.
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Good job everyone!
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And if it was considered, it was just ignored, I guess?
It is pretty amazing.
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When I buy this game I'm definitely downloading the No-CD crack. I'm not against DRM as long as I can circumvent it easily. Add it to your games, piss people off, I don't care :)
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Then for them to go herp derp piracy is the same level as other titles but with 80% less qq from legit buyers, taunt them, and solve the issue
I think Ubi is looking to the future. This type of thing will probably be the norm eventually (that and a lot of the content will be hosted offsite as well so it will make more sense to people).
They're just an early adopter....and taking the flack appropriately.
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http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/03/08/ubisoft-says-server-downtime-due-to-attacks/comment-page-1/#comment-412430
And this time it's harder than before, apparently. Even the ubisoft forums are offline. http://forums.ubi.com/
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Don't make PC game Ubisoft, it is better than that DRM.
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