EA follows Ubisoft, will sell titles with 'always on' DRM

[Antar Bolaeisk]

Didn't Ubi release PoP without DRM and it was pirated just as much if not more so? I'm sure this was one of their stated reasons for the online DRM.

Also is anyone that moans about flaky internet connections playing BFMC2 online? If so how are you doing it? Surely getting disconnected every 5 mins makes it unplayable?

No DRM is just as silly as overkill DRM, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a calculated risk on Ubisofts behalf to prove they were right.

With regards to your second comment, as has been stated so many times in this thread already, an Internet connection is an accepted requirement for a multi-player game but not a single-player game and nor should it ever be a requirement.

 

[n111ck]

if this DRM is so good and beneficial for gamers then why has AC2 been reduced in price just weeks after its release ? why isn't it selling ?
it's not fully cracked so it can't be the pirates fault this time.

AC2 was a console port from a 2009 but regardless is still no.9 in the PC chart.

C and C 4 is no.4 down from no.1!!

Settlers is no.7.

The only one not in the top 10 is SH5 and that was the first released and very poorly reviewed.

If there are poor sales that must be across the board for PC games in general surely?

Just Cause 2 is doing the worst with Steam DRM at no.10 and that came out less than 2 weeks ago.

 

[n111ck]

With regards to your second comment, as has been stated so many times in this thread already, an Internet connection is an accepted requirement for a multi-player game but not a single-player game and nor should it ever be a requirement.

So what? Either way the game is unplayable surely? In fact get cut off during AC2 no loss of progress - get cut off during BFMC2 and its game over.

 

[Amnesia]

Didn't Ubi release PoP without DRM and it was pirated just as much if not more so? I'm sure this was one of their stated reasons for the online DRM.

Also is anyone that moans about flaky internet connections playing BFMC2 online? If so how are you doing it? Surely getting disconnected every 5 mins makes it unplayable?

pop didn't sell and it had no DRM.
so if pop didn't sell well and it had uncrackable DRM would it still be the pirates fault ?

 

[grudas]

AC2 was a console port from a 2009 but regardless is still no.9 in the PC chart.

C and C 4 is no.4 down from no.1!!

Settlers is no.7.

The only one not in the top 10 is SH5 and that was the first released and very poorly reviewed.

If there are poor sales that must be across the board for PC games in general surely?

Just Cause 2 is doing the worst with Steam DRM at no.10 and that came out less than 2 weeks ago.

steam drm? steam is a loving/caring pc game provider.. and btw MARKETING plays a big role in the tops.. just cause 2 is just so much better than AC2 or anything else out atm..

 

[apatia77]

AC2's 68 reviews from a very popular online forest store.

5 star: (4)
4 star: (4)
3 star: (3)
2 star: (2)
1 star: (55)



Most people rating 1 star complain about the DRM that is used in this game.

I have already decided not to buy and support any games that come with this DRM, I have plenty of games to play that require little to no protection.
If I want to play AC2 I will buy it for 360 and then sell it after completing the game.

 

[n111ck]

steam drm? steam is a loving/caring pc game provider.. and btw MARKETING plays a big role in the tops.. just cause 2 is just so much better than AC2 or anything else out atm..

So you agree that the DRM has made little difference to sales? That was my point.

Suggesting that AC2 etc are cheap due to poor sales is not supported by the PC game chart.

 

[Antar Bolaeisk]

So what? Either way the game is unplayable surely? In fact get cut off during AC2 no loss of progress - get cut off during BFMC2 and its game over.

The point being that an internet connection provides zero benefit to a single-player game whereas it's integral to a multi-player game. The fact that one is tied to an internet connection to play any game utilising this new DRM is immensely inconvenient whether it's because the connection is flakey, the servers are down or it's being played on a laptop either behind some very restrictive firewall or with no internet connection around.

There's also the case of playing one of these games a few years from now, there's no guarantee the servers (or the company ) will still be running then leaving the game worthless.

So you agree that the DRM has made little difference to sales? That was my point.

Suggesting that AC2 etc are cheap due to poor sales is not supported by the PC game chart.

We are the minority on this board, we tend to have a greater knowledge when it comes to such matters as DRM (or, at least we like to think we do). Games like Assassins' Creed 2 and Command and Conquer 4 will sell better than Just Cause 2 simply because they are higher profile games, it's no different than any other entertainment industry and the majority of people buying games with this new DRM probably either don't know it's there or don't realise it's full implications, they're just buying a game they perceive as being popular.

 

[Amnesia]

So you agree that the DRM has made little difference to sales? That was my point.

Suggesting that AC2 etc are cheap due to poor sales is not supported by the PC game chart.

you honestly believe it has nothing to do with the DRM and how it has failed the paying customer at times

 

[n111ck]

The simple fact is though that sales don't appear to have been affected, no one on here has been affected by a 'flaky' connection and the game still hasn't been properly cracked.

Its fair enough to moan about the reqs of this system but there is far too much FUD on here that simply doesn't seem to be reflected in the real world.

 

[Antar Bolaeisk]

The simple fact is though that sales don't appear to have been affected, no one on here has been affected by a 'flaky' connection and the game still hasn't been properly cracked.

Its fair enough to moan about the reqs of this system but there is far too much FUD on here that simply doesn't seem to be reflected in the real world.

By the way, to what PC gaming chart are you referring?

Settlers 7 is the only game from the handful you mentioned listed in Steams top 10. Fair enough, not everyone buys their games through Steam for various reasons but with an average of 2 million users online at any point it should be a reasonable enough list to go by.

 

[n111ck]

By the way, to what PC gaming chart are you referring?

Settlers 7 is the only game from the handful you mentioned listed in Steams top 10. Fair enough, not everyone buys their games through Steam for various reasons but with an average of 2 million users online at any point it should be a reasonable enough list to go by.

ELSPA

AC2 is not on Steam in the UK.

 

[HangTime]

If only there was some toher way to get news, patches and demos!


Somthing like a book, but made monthly it could even come with some sort of data storage device to put demos and patches on.


Oh if only

OK I'll bite.

In 1998, May I believe it was, a rather spiffing new game called Unreal came out. However, lets just say that while it may have run splendidly on the optimal platform (P2/V2), it wasn't actually the most compatible of products. And so, out of the box, the game literally wouldn't start if you had a Cyrix processor.

Aha, no problem I hear you say. Even if you don't have internet access, you could just get the patch from one of them there monthly periodicals with datastorage Pritt-sticked on the front.

I bought the game in May 1998. Fed up with the atrocious support from the publisher, GTi (who thankfully are no longer in business), I wrote to a magazine to complain and beg for them to include the demo on a coverdisk. I'll leave it to you to guess how long it was before the patch made it onto PC Zone coverdisk, or if you happen to have the back issues kicking around, you could find the one my letter was published in. Suffice to say, by the time it was on there the summer holidays had been and gone so I could get online at uni anyway.

Of course, under normal circumstances even finding out what patches are on a coverdisk isn't that straightforward without going online - by the time you've gone and bought all the gaming mags available in the vain hope that the particular patch you want might be on there, chances are you'll have spent £20 (the maximum topup fee charged by the ISP we're talking about) anyway....

Edit: for clarity, the only reason I'm using an old anecdote is to illustrate a real life example of when I've had to rely on coverdisks to get a patch. The same principle would apply to people who don't want to spend more than 300 mins online a month needing to get hold of some hefty patches.

 

[Setroc]

So you agree that the DRM has made little difference to sales? That was my point.

Suggesting that AC2 etc are cheap due to poor sales is not supported by the PC game chart.

Is there a single definitive PC game chart? Can you link what you are quoting from?

What games are they competing against on the charts? It would be very unusual for a big budget well known title like C&C not to debut at #1. This C&C is also a strange one as not only does it have the restrictive DRM, but it has also been 100% cracked, and has had highly negative reviews. So it has pretty much everything against it, yet managed the number one spot.

So no, I don't think that debuting at #7 for a well known title like Settlers or Assassin's Creed is good.

 

[n111ck]

As of last Friday...

http://www.elspa.com/?c=/charts/uk.jsp&ct=27

Settlers has been out for 2 weeks and AC2 for 5 - neither debuted at 7 though?

 

[Antar Bolaeisk]

ELSPA

AC2 is not on Steam in the UK.

Hmmm, I must admit that does seem to be quite a reliable chart even if it does contradict the charts of large retailers (at least I would consider them so) such as Amazon, Play, Game and Steam (Euro Zone so Assasins' Creed is available here), all of which, bar Play where it's third, have Battlefield 2 in the top spot, a game which doesn't even figure in the ELSPA top 10 chart.

Regardless, I've already mentioned about us being the minority and so I don't believe the new DRM will immediately effect sales as much as we would like to think yet people burned this time around will think twice about future purchases from the companies supporting such schemes.

 

[Angilion]

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.

That would be an issue if they cared about their customers and understood what was going on. Neither is true, so expect more and more intrusive DRM because most publishers are fixated on it.

Either they aren't thinking or they're thinking it will lay the foundation for killing off single-purchase games in favour of a subscription model for every game. When the publisher has total control over when or if customers can play, it's far easier to impose continued payments. With this DRM, you're only renting the game anyway, so why not continually charge? People pay for x minutes on phone plans, for example. It would be easy to implement the same thing for games with this DRM. For £x per month, you get y minutes playing the games you've already paid for. Paid more for than you do now, because why wouldn't they charge more for games if piracy is impractical?

If they give a damn enough to bother spinning it, it could be spun as increased flexibility for customers and, the winning goal, as protecting children. Don't want your children playing games on schoolnights? Then only pay for the weekend package. Don't want them playing for hour after hour? Only pay for x minutes a week.

 

[Evilsod]

The simple fact is though that sales don't appear to have been affected, no one on here has been affected by a 'flaky' connection and the game still hasn't been properly cracked.

Its fair enough to moan about the reqs of this system but there is far too much FUD on here that simply doesn't seem to be reflected in the real world.

And where is this 'real world' of yours restricted to? Brainless football mums who go out and buy £40-50 games for there children without asking themselves if its worth the money for them? And of course live somewhere heavily populated in the outskirts of an English city.

Let me remind you that the real world includes, THE REST OF THE WORLD. Where conditions aren't quite that ideal. Hell my gf has a lovely Wireless connection that can sometimes struggle depending on the weather or whatever else and has been known to lose connection randomly. And no there is no better provider around so don't start with that ********. Its a given fact that MP will be unavailable, why exactly should a SP game? Its installed on my computer, it runs on my computer, it has absolutely no need for external input, yet for some reason they think it should. I would like to suggest that AC2 was being reduced because Ubisoft aren't a bunch of greedy ******** *cough Activions cough*, but it seems clear to me that its because they want to try and tempt all those lost sales from people unwilling to put up with the restrictive DRM as it wasn't selling as well as they'd hoped.

 

[n111ck]

And where is this 'real world' of yours restricted to? Brainless football mums who go out and buy £40-50 games for there children without asking themselves if its worth the money for them? And of course live somewhere heavily populated in the outskirts of an English city.

Let me remind you that the real world includes, THE REST OF THE WORLD. Where conditions aren't quite that ideal. Hell my gf has a lovely Wireless connection that can sometimes struggle depending on the weather or whatever else and has been known to lose connection randomly. And no there is no better provider around so don't start with that ********. Its a given fact that MP will be unavailable, why exactly should a SP game? Its installed on my computer, it runs on my computer, it has absolutely no need for external input, yet for some reason they think it should. I would like to suggest that AC2 was being reduced because Ubisoft aren't a bunch of greedy ******** *cough Activions cough*, but it seems clear to me that its because they want to try and tempt all those lost sales from people unwilling to put up with the restrictive DRM as it wasn't selling as well as they'd hoped.

Do you play BFMC2 online - if so how with your crap connection?

I could understand your complete overeaction if you had one of these games but you dont appear to and so you have no experience of the DRM. You are moaning about a hypothetical scenario. You offer no facts - you dont even know how AC2 would perform on a wireless connection. You whine on about 'idiots' and evil developers with such paranoia you really should take a step back and get some perspective. End of they days its not Ubi's fault you have a third world ISP - its 2010 move house if its (really) such a problem.

As I said earlier the simple fact is though that sales don't appear to have been affected, no one on here has been affected by a 'flaky' connection and the game still hasn't been properly cracked.

 

[Amnesia]

bargain bin after 5 weeks and still not worth it.