Ubisoft DRM confirmed to boot you from your singleplayer game when the net drops out Options

[RPGmasterBoo]

Another Ubisoft game with the DDRM has been released. It is called Settlers 7. The servers appear to be malfunctioning again and there is no Ubisoft response: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6.../4821038448/p/1

I must confess this is more entertaining than any Ubisoft game released in years. If they go bankrupt over this (fat chance of that though) I'll be popping the champagne.

[Purkake]

It's Settlers, I'm surprised that anyone noticed.

This post has been edited by Purkake: Mar 28 2010, 01:40 PM

[Walsingham]

FAIL.

[Magister Lajciak]

I still cannot find any sales data for Assassin's Creed II or the other games from the new DDRM crop. The only thing I have found that might be remotely indicative is a chart of players on Steam:

View Steam players per game


Top 75 games by current player count

Current Players Peak Today Game

53,238 96,304 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer
53,172 91,866 Counter-Strike: Source
43,428 76,097 Counter-Strike
17,568 23,976 Team Fortress 2
16,748 23,401 Football Manager 2010
16,059 21,979 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
11,604 17,565 Left 4 Dead 2
6,491 10,692 Empire: Total War
5,600 9,937 Napoleon: Total War
5,546 7,618 Garry's Mod
5,241 9,080 Condition Zero
4,595 10,551 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
4,272 6,239 Torchlight
4,255 6,463 Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising
3,598 5,261 Left 4 Dead
3,491 6,166 Day of Defeat: Source
3,457 5,059 Football Manager 2009
3,252 5,130 R.U.S.E. Beta
2,696 4,330 Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
2,460 3,737 Dragon Age: Origins
2,227 3,441 Just Cause 2
2,138 3,535 Supreme Commander 2
1,373 2,509 Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
1,371 1,942 Killing Floor
1,258 2,077 Half-Life 2
1,151 3,437 Metro 2033
1,089 1,618 Day of Defeat
927 1,342 Mass Effect 2
893 1,217 Grand Theft Auto IV
881 2,010 Aliens vs Predator
858 1,380 Borderlands
801 1,047 Global Agenda Live
759 1,165 Star Trek Online
712 731 Mount&Blade: Warband
688 935 Plants vs. Zombies
658 924 America's Army 3
637 899 Portal
548 864 Assassin's Creed II
538 898 The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom
524 813 Mass Effect
505 723 Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
498 715 Mount and Blade
488 645 Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
449 771 TrackMania Nations Forever
440 628 Zombie Panic! Source
416 645 Half-Life 2: Episode Two
389 887 RACE 07
381 499 EVE Online
376 897 Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
371 552 Rome: Total War - Gold Edition
359 557 Company of Heroes
350 451 Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
334 607 Saints Row 2
327 499 Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat
311 509 Half-Life 2: Episode One
300 434 Half-Life
299 410 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
287 385 Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
276 443 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition
272 374 Global Agenda - Demo
271 378 Medieval II: Total War
261 433 Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II
243 306 Team Fortress Classic
232 323 Audiosurf
225 338 League of Legends
224 351 Sid Meier's Civilization IV
221 416 Batman: Arkham Asylum
220 352 DiRT 2
219 295 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
219 285 Battlefield 2
214 361 Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight
213 308 Defense Grid: The Awakening
208 268 EVE Online Demo
207 367 RailWorks
200 414 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

The table is from about 6pm EST 29 March 2010. The bolding in the table is mine - I bolded both Ubisoft games with this DDRM - Assassin's Creed II and Settler's 7. Another Ubisoft game with the DDRM is Silent Hunter 5, but it does not appear in the top 75 games played today. I have also bolded Command and Conquer 4, which is a DDRM game by EA also requiring an always online connection.

I would say the numbers are rather unspectacular, given that Assassin's Creed 2 was released about 3 weeks ago, Settler's 7 was released 6 days ago in North America and 3 days ago in Europe. Silent Hunter 5, I believe, was released about 1 month ago. EA's Command & Conquer 4 was released on 16 March 2010, so just under two weeks ago.

However, this is only an indication that sales might not be stellar for a game release of that magnitude - it does not act as a confirmation by any stretch. For that we will have to wait for some sales numbers and those can be hard to come by (and can be interpreted in different ways).

[Mamoulian War]

when we use some statistical guessing

MW sold 5M+ copies (but every single copy has to be connected to Steam to play) 53,238 96,304 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer

548 864 Assassin's Creed II
538 898 The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom

that could theoretically mean that both game sold about 45000 copies on Steam... But not every game has to be connected to Steam... so my non-educated-out-of-ass-pulled guess might be 150K-200K games sold in total for each title... if that is enough sales to justify the cost of maintenance and customer support for the DRM servers i have no clue...

[Purkake]

What's DDRM, digital digital rights management?

[kirottu]

Draconian DRM.

[Purkake]

As opposed to the normal puppies and rainbows kind?

Stop inventing new, unnecessary and ambiguously defined abbreviations!

This post has been edited by Purkake: Mar 30 2010, 07:20 AM

[Morgoth]

Isn't Ubisoft always complaining how the PC market has declined and that there isn't a point releasing PC games anymore? Why do they even bother?

[Magister Lajciak]

As opposed to the normal puppies and rainbows kind?

Actually, pretty much yes! It is meant to leave out DRM such as serial keys or disc checks.

Isn't Ubisoft always complaining how the PC market has declined and that there isn't a point releasing PC games anymore? Why do they even bother?

The PC market is larger than it ever was if we ignore the decline due to the recession. It's just that the console market has grown (again, ignoring the recession) much faster than the PC one and is much bigger still. Also, games cost more to produce these days than in the past, so the investment requires a larger market to support. Hence, the PC market has declined in relative terms.

However, I think a revival in the relative importance of the PC market may be in the offing. Both Intel and AMD are beginning to integrate GPUs on their processors, which in the space of a few years promises to greatly expand the base of computers capable of relatively advanced graphics that games require.

[Killian Kalthorn...]

As opposed to the normal puppies and rainbows kind?

Stop inventing new, unnecessary and ambiguously defined abbreviations!

Yes, indeed! Thats the job of the US Federal Government!

[Krezack]

New errors popping up: many Australians are unable to connect to any servers to play their single player game:

http://www.fragland.net/news/Ubisofts-DRM-...d-victim/22874/

Ubisoft says they're "getting to the bottom of it". The bottom of it? I can tell you what it is: many Australians have ****ty, slow internet connections you corporate arseholes, and that's not something you can fix without getting rid of your ****ed up DRM.

[Walsingham]

As opposed to the normal puppies and rainbows kind?

Stop inventing new, unnecessary and ambiguously defined abbreviations!

I dunno, man. Surely our argument has to be that managing the publishers rights can be done in other ways than DDRM? If not, then we're basically saying they should quit making games.

[Mamoulian War]

New errors popping up: many Australians are unable to connect to any servers to play their single player game:

http://www.fragland.net/news/Ubisofts-DRM-...d-victim/22874/

Ubisoft says they're "getting to the bottom of it". The bottom of it? I can tell you what it is: many Australians have ****ty, slow internet connections you corporate arseholes, and that's not something you can fix without getting rid of your ****ed up DRM.

+1