EA follows Ubisoft, will sell titles with 'always on' DRM
- Thread starter chaparral
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well AC2 is now officially cracked.. i guessed 2 months before.. did not take that long for surethe only losers left are the ones paying... love you nick
Its not cracked - there is a server emulator which lets you play most of the main missions (albeit in a specfic order) and about half of the side missions with most of the map updates missing.
Regardless are you admitting to illegally downloading every game you play? I dont have a problem paying for games regardless of whether there is a crack. AC2 is great and well worth the £17 I spent on it. DRM or not still doesnt justify theft IMO.
So, the DRM actually works then? Or at least it has deterred pirates for longer than any DRM in a long, long time.
Interesting that people are so horrendously up in arms about it but seem to be consistently failing to mention the fact it's actually working for the purpose it was intended for, despite the rather gaping flaw of server downtime.
[EDIT] By this i mean only in the previous page you have several people screaming 'DRM only ever hurts the legitimate customer!' when in fact this is no longer true. I used to be one that preached of the evils of DRM and how it only affected the consumer, however this does change things. Perhaps not in the way we want, it's certainly not a decent final solution, but it's at least good to see a DRM measure that's doing more damage to people who attempt to play pirated copies than legitimate consumers. Maybe sometime in the next couple of years a more acceptable and reliable version of this could come around that doesn't cause any issues at all for the consumer.
In short, at least with this DRM pirates have to jump through more hoops than a legitimate consumer, which is more than can be said for most other forms of DRM.
Interesting that people are so horrendously up in arms about it but seem to be consistently failing to mention the fact it's actually working for the purpose it was intended for, despite the rather gaping flaw of server downtime.
[EDIT] By this i mean only in the previous page you have several people screaming 'DRM only ever hurts the legitimate customer!' when in fact this is no longer true. I used to be one that preached of the evils of DRM and how it only affected the consumer, however this does change things. Perhaps not in the way we want, it's certainly not a decent final solution, but it's at least good to see a DRM measure that's doing more damage to people who attempt to play pirated copies than legitimate consumers. Maybe sometime in the next couple of years a more acceptable and reliable version of this could come around that doesn't cause any issues at all for the consumer.
In short, at least with this DRM pirates have to jump through more hoops than a legitimate consumer, which is more than can be said for most other forms of DRM.
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As i said in my post, it's certainly not a decent final solution, but it's achieved the aim of stopping the game from being properly cracked for much longer than any other type of DRM. I would wager there's at least a couple of thousand people out there who would have normally pirated this game who instead resorted to purchasing a copy.
If perhaps they could improve the usability and reliability for the end user, it could eventually become a successful solution. Only time will tell.
In order to get round the DRM the pirates are having to play the game and record the server responses that are triggered by completing missions etc. They have then created a database full of responses and a server emulator to fool the game into thinking its connected to Ubi.
The problem is there are several thousand responses required so for the game to be fully open the pirates would have to 100% complete the game. Also some missions can be completed in different orders so they also need to accomadate that. If the response is missing then you get the white screen.
Whilst the pirates on that russian site seem to think this solution will work for every game its not very practical. Ubi just need to increase the responses required and add a random element (e.g. if you have weapon 1 and finish mission 1 you get one response if you have weapon 2 you get a different one etc). Are the pirates really going to complete a game multiple times? No scene group is going to do that for starters.
The problem is there are several thousand responses required so for the game to be fully open the pirates would have to 100% complete the game. Also some missions can be completed in different orders so they also need to accomadate that. If the response is missing then you get the white screen.
Whilst the pirates on that russian site seem to think this solution will work for every game its not very practical. Ubi just need to increase the responses required and add a random element (e.g. if you have weapon 1 and finish mission 1 you get one response if you have weapon 2 you get a different one etc). Are the pirates really going to complete a game multiple times? No scene group is going to do that for starters.
Indeed N111ck, i was just reading up about it, all Ubi need to do is ensure each game they release that uses this DRM gives out different responses in a different order and it'll have scene groups stumped for quite a while before they can release an effective countermeasure. Again it really does need server stability addressed before i'd even consider it an acceptable means, but it's got more potential than any other DRM out there.
That number is probably smaller than the amount of people that refusing to buy/unable to play the game due to the DRM
That depends though - Ubi may be willing to accept lower sales on the basis that no one is playing the full game for free?
I do agree, as i stated the DRM is by no means acceptable in my eyes, it's just got potential. If it gets to the point where Ubi release a bigger game with it and offer a promise (and deliver) of 100% reliability with a means of backing up your own savegames locally etc i'd probably buy it.
AC2 however will not grace my PC, i'd rather stick to the PS3 where my savegames will be safely in my hands.
No, that's just pants on head retarded.
The whole argument against piracy is that it costs them money. DRM schemes exist to increase revenue by preventing lost sales, and therefore increasing sales.
The idea that decreasing sales might be OK to get one up on the pirates is so daft its incredible you proposed it.
Any publisher would rather have 200k sales and 500k pirate copies than 150k sales and 70k pirate copies.
Those people are just a bunch of idiots though.
Its true its taken longer to crack, but thats because its new and very different to anything before. Once its cracked other games will be much faster, just like it is with anything else. Then its back to square 1, except the pirated version has even more attractive features.
Not if you take the long term view.
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The question is:
Is the reduced piracy and therefore increased sales of people buying the game by using this method pf DRM greater than the loss of custom from people refusing to buy the game based on the use of this method of DRM?
Only EA/Ubisoft will know the answer to that. Personally I think people who pirate games are in 90% of the cases unlikely to purchase the game in the first place so alienating legitimate customers and losing sales this way is in all probability more damaging.
Its likely however that poor sales would be blamed on piracy or other reasons rather than the quality of the game (SH5) or the over bearing DRM (AC2, S7, C&C4 etc)
Its unfortunate that there is no group or body that has any influence on the industry to tell them that this is not acceptable or to voice the opinions of the gaming community.
Is the reduced piracy and therefore increased sales of people buying the game by using this method pf DRM greater than the loss of custom from people refusing to buy the game based on the use of this method of DRM?
Only EA/Ubisoft will know the answer to that. Personally I think people who pirate games are in 90% of the cases unlikely to purchase the game in the first place so alienating legitimate customers and losing sales this way is in all probability more damaging.
Its likely however that poor sales would be blamed on piracy or other reasons rather than the quality of the game (SH5) or the over bearing DRM (AC2, S7, C&C4 etc)
Its unfortunate that there is no group or body that has any influence on the industry to tell them that this is not acceptable or to voice the opinions of the gaming community.
For paying money in exchange for an item they desired? Aye, utter fools they are.
I'm not so sure it's going to be so simple once this one game has been cracked. As has been stated in previous posts, scenes are currently having to log every server response triggered by an event in the game, this response then needs to be replicated by their server emulator. Once they've got every response (each response could vary according to what order events are completed in too, so this could take a long time) then yeah, this game is officially cracked. But then all Ubi have to do is change the sequence/nature of each response for each game they release with this DRM, they're then back to square one.
Cracking a game where everything is done locally is a totally different kettle of fish as you have all the information in front of you. Cracking a game using this form of DRM is the equivalent to trying to decode an encoded message but with said message being recited to you at a word per minute. Ok you can potentially crack the encryption method instantly, but you've still got to wait ages for the person to finish reading it to you.
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Its early days. Making huge money making decisions based on a few games and a few months is not something a sensible director would do (then again this is Ubisoft and EA we're talking about). Its not as if there haven't been loads of problems already with it.
No, they are morons for deciding they'd take a 'stand' again this DRM, then just buying it anyway because they can't be bothered to wait. Its idiots like that who join Boycotts then go ahead and buy it anyway that are why no company is ever going to take it seriously. *cough* MW2 boycott anyone?
Not everyone is making a stand though, not everyone actually cares that much, some people just would prefer something for free if they can get it. If not, then they pay.
I personally couldn't care less about these silly boycotts, if i want something i'll buy it based on my own perception of its merits.
I couldn't care either. But jumping on the bandwagon then buying it anyway is just dumb. Perhaps they don't care that much, but i'm sure when they sit own to play a singleplayer game only to find out the server is down or the internet is having an off day and keeps dc'ing so they suddenly can't play it, they will. Besides, says it all i think that its on offer for less than £15 already.
There have been new forms of DRM before that took as long as a year to crack.
Now that the discovery phase of this DRM is over, it's going to be easier and easier to crack these games.
Given that the game is nearly cracked, that Ubisoft had to give away lots of games for free as compensation for its failing server, and that it was reduced to just £16 after 3 weeks which suggests poor sales performance, I would say that this DRM has not been successful in any way. And to top it off they've taken a PR hit for angering their paying customers, and made them less inclined to buy future games after encountering these problems.
Now that the discovery phase of this DRM is over, it's going to be easier and easier to crack these games.
Given that the game is nearly cracked, that Ubisoft had to give away lots of games for free as compensation for its failing server, and that it was reduced to just £16 after 3 weeks which suggests poor sales performance, I would say that this DRM has not been successful in any way. And to top it off they've taken a PR hit for angering their paying customers, and made them less inclined to buy future games after encountering these problems.