Communication is a wonderful thing – I love it when game developers communicate with their audience (and make no mistake we are the audience they play to whenever we log on or boot up). When I say communication I mean real communication… Not “Electronic Arts” communication that says “maybe we should take off Securom, after all the game it was meant to protect is now the most pirated game of all time.” I don’t mean Gpotato “over price, then sale” listen. I mean Cryptic, keep you informed, here’s a list of what we are working on listen. Even if there may be a hint of fear of market reaction, they are listening and to their customers and communicating.
What about Ubisoft?
Ubisoft is busy telling their customer’s “Let’s all play death of Edward the II” (O.K. a bit of an obscure reference – just google “death of Edward the II king of England to find out how he died). When news that Ubisofts draconic DRM had been cracked within 24 hours they were so swift with a denial that it set land speed records – the original Edge Online article is here:
Reports suggesting that Ubisoft’s controversial new DRM platform have already been cracked are wide of the mark, according to the publisher.
As part of Ubisoft’s new anti-piracy measures, consumers of its PC titles are required to connect to Ubi.com accounts to authenticate games online each time they play them, meaning they always need to be connected to the internet.
The new scheme didn’t go down too well with some sections of the PC community, and reports over the past 24 hours have suggested that pirated copies of Ubisoft games circumventing the new protection are doing the rounds on file sharing sites.
“You have probably seen rumors on the web that Assassin’s Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 have been cracked,” Ubisoft told us in a statement this morning.
“Please know that this rumor is false and while a pirated version may seem to be complete at start up, any gamer who downloads and plays a cracked version will find that their version is not complete.”
Submarine Warfare games go back before there was an internet to play an MMO on period. I remember playing naval warfare games when “going online” meant dial up a bulletin board. But whether or not the digital rights management for Silent Hunter 5 has already been cracked, or even will be is far from the point. The point is that not only is Ubisoft not interested in listening to their consumers, they are so filled with hubris that they are telling you that your opinion doesn’t matter. They believe they know the market place, and sadly they just may be correct. As agent K says in Men in Black “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”
As much as I am enjoying reruns of the Seaquest television series on Netflix, as much as I might want to play Silent Hunter 5, I have no intention of letting Ubisoft play Edward the II with me – I am wearing my solid steel panties.
See you online,
Julie Whitefeather
(posted by the Webmaster for Julie Whitefeather)
[...] content to destroy their reputation with the most draconic digital rights management system in the business, Ubisoft has managed to [...]