Ubisoft DRM authentification server is down, Assassin's Creed 2 unplayable

Is this not EXACTLY what people were saying would probably happen? The exact same oft-cited reason in a long list of many that this DRM was a TERRIBLE idea.

When will Ubisoft learn? When this DRM is cracked and people completely avoid the headache of actually buying it just to get the more user-friendly pirated version? No, probably not. They'll probably complain again about how piracy is ruining PC gaming, delay the next PC port an extra month or two longer than the usual delay, jack up the price $10 MORE, and try yet another brilliant DRM idea that will ultimately be even more invasive and likely more of a failure as well.

What if I want to play this or other game in a few years ?? ...
The same way I like to play classic games right now.

What will happen when they shut down their servers?, I guess I won't be able to play most of the new games that are coming

I doubt it would be this case but if this was in relation to how the end of Hackers ended up that would be super cool. Hack the planet!

you know who's still playing AC2 on their PC despite this problem? pirates.

the only thing that will kill this type of drm is if the PS3 and xbox360 get cracked wide open with an easy software only hack or a working emulator for either system gets made.

then all the pc pirates would all (and I mean ALL) start using those instead.

I really think Ubisoft is ACTIVELY trying to alienate pc users to push them to a console...

it's only a matter of time before some group starts ddos'ing these servers if that isn't what this is already.

sorry no Ubisoft for me even if it were on steam.

this is like having books that self destruct as soon as the publisher turns that server off.

The internet told ubisoft we will DDoS their servers if they force this DRM onto unsuspecting customers. Did they listen?

I'm just posting to add to the comment-count, just in case anyone at Ubisoft in any sort of position to make a difference is looking at this thing. I will never, EVER buy an Ubisoft PC game that uses DRM like this.

Honestly, who didn't see this coming?

Tisk Tisk Tisk.... serves them right for purchasing a pc game!!

Anyone else here smell class action lawsuit?

Surely, no one saw this coming!


*Rolls eyes*


why can we all be so full of foresight as mere gaming fans, and yet executives paid to figure this shit out don't have a clue. Would it kill them to check joystiq or another such site from time to time?

wow. this is what ubisoft gets. i hope one of the owners who is locked out is crafty with law or can afford a lawyer. maybe a lawsuit will keep ubisoft from treating their paying customers like criminals.

What if my cable is down and I'm bored? I wanna play ACII. I paid for it after all. Oh sorry. You have to be online, too bad! WTF?????

I think my money is going to start coming with product requirements, i.e., must have reasonable DRM to acquire this product.

The most drm epic fail never happened before.

Well we all saw this one coming... Who wants to bet some other idiotic studio decides this is a good idea too down the road?

Ironically they are making piracy more and more attractive with the very thing that is supposed to prevent it.

I see nothing wrong with people who buy the game and then download a crack to get around this nonsense.

I hope everyone responsible for this crap gets fired. And because I'm a nice guy I also hope they find new jobs where they're smart enough to not treat their paying customers like scum.

Its too funny that what joystiq and we the readers said would happen actually happened lol I actually was going to buy Splinter Cell Conviction for PC and maybe AC2 to support non piracy and all, but now...i dont know...i just...dont know...

The article ends with the sentence "Find a less abominable DRM policy.". In French, there is a word far more appropriate for it : minable, which in English means pathetic...

lol people who paid for it cannot play it while people who didn't pay for it can play it o0

Ubisoft is testing the waters with this one - they want to see how much shit we are willing to put up with. I say let your money do the talking. Don't buy any games with this DRM system. Not until the day they patch it out again, at least. And don't worry, they will. I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to DRM, even though I can clearly see that it's useless - however, this particular scheme crosses the line. Was looking forward to Conviction and potentially also buying the new Settlers game and AC2. Now they won't get a cent from me, and I won't get the games i wanted. Everybody loses. Brilliant, Ubisoft. You have always been unbelieveably thickheaded when it comes to DRM.

Something that a lot of people seem to be forgetting is that when you pay for a game, you are not buying the game, you are paying for a license. This license is subject to terms and conditions, often which stipulate 100% uptime is not guaranteed.

Ubisoft Group
Business office
625 Third Street
San Francisco - CA 94107
Tel: +1 (415) 547 4000
Fax: +1 (415) 547 4001

(Other business office address outside the US are available at ubisoftgroup.com)

Write them a letter and tell them what you think.

i've got a better idea to solve the piracy issue:

Create an online mode so fun, and so badass, with ladders, rankings, prizes, no cheating, clans, constant support, and FUN FUN FUN action and balanced competition that EVERYONE will want to buy the game so they can play online....instead of a pirate version that is single player only.

someone should hire me because I'm a genius.

@hfm
Unacceptable for a $50 product...but absolutely absurd for a $60 PC GAME! What was the extra $10 for? Added DRM and annoyance? Thanks Ubisoft!

I only wish my PS3 was hooked up to Ubisoft's servers so I wouldn't have been able to play AC2. But it wasn't MY fault that I bought it. I purchased it under the FALSE pretenses that the boring and repetitive missions had all been eradicated. I played the game for over 5 hours and this wasn't the case. In fact I found it quite odd that a sequel to a game that was so accurately and fairly (imo) harangued for it's boring and repetitive missions would actually start out with hours of boring and repetitive missions. ?¿ ? Not a good way to hook the audience. Trading that POS in immediately.

F**NG a**HOLES!!!

I bought the game, and have been unable to play it for like 20% of the time. I've had multiple "no connection" screens in the middle of a fight... and now the lame thing won't connect. I can't even boot the damn game.

This is the best news I've seen in weeks. You can't see my big smile, but trust me, it's there.

Maybe now at least *some* people will wake up and stop supporting games with unacceptable DRM like this. Maybe. I'm not holding my breath. But I do have some hope. The sad part is that Ubisoft will fix the server issues, and all the sheeple will forget the sharp pain in their rear ends. They will resume bleating their way to rectum-invading software products all over again.

Is it me or is the main server down, whenever I try log in I get a "You need to have an internet connection" message, I am conneted to the internet and I was playing it an hour ago with no issues.

Nobody will see this, but oh well.

Steam is the stuff. Hear me PC developers! Release a game through steam. And I will be happy. DRM with the Steam games I have bought have never given me any issues. (MW2, BFBC2, Orange Box, L4d2) (Dont know if any of them have actual DRM, but they all work flawlessly for the most part)

Steam is a great community, a great program, and great way for me to enjoy my PC games.

I hope Ubisoft will never manage a airplane company. Passengers would not appreciate to test the new features .. live. Or die, is more appropriate, in this specific case.

Knowing little about games I was unaware of how this game is controlled, but bought it in the good faith that it would work. But to have just bought it for my son as his special b'day present after him being ill and then to find he cant use it because of a system cock-up like this is totally unacceptible. UbiSoft you shold be ashamed - he was so looking forward to playing, got hufely exciting and started it yesterday - and tears and upset today. I will be taking back to the vendor and demanding my money back

Hey, if you bought it after all the hoorah made about the DRM, you have no one to blame but yourself.

If you din't know about the DRM, now is the time to uninstall it, take it back to the store, and demand a refund because it doesn't work. If (or when) the store tries to give you some garbage about "no refunds on software," ask them if they are ready to test the implied warranty in the courts; under US Federal law, every product MUST perform at least the minimum functions advertised on the package. Your Internet connection was up, and the game did not work, right? Ergo, the game does not meet minimum functionality requirements.

Ideally, you could find 20 or 30 other suckers in your local area who are ready to get refunds, and all go to the store together.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implied_warranty

To everyone saying don't buy it cause it has horrible DRM, The companies don't see it that way; If we stop buying games that have crap DRM their response is: "No one wants to buy our games on PC, lets just make console games"

So sure we shouldn't buy their games because they have DRM but this is the reason 'PC gaming is dying'. These companies with their 'new improved DRM' are literally killing PC gaming one major release at a time (anyone else notice Assassin's Creed II is 59.99 as well?)

The only proper way to get Ubisoft to stop this isn't to pirate their software as some would have you believe; It's to boycott the product, and not buy it.

If they don't sell the game because people refuse to support the DRM method, they'll have no choice but to not use that method, move on, or stop making PC games.

As an avid player of single-player games like the Elder Scroll series, Mass Effect, etc... I find this move to online only disgusting, and impossible for myself to adhere to. Not everyone has access to broadband, or other fast internet options.

I will say this about PC game piracy, "it's destroyed single player PC gaming". I wouldn't be surprised at all if in the next five years mainstream gaming on the PC will be MMO only. Shooters and Community RPGs only.

The DRM in this game is pointless. How many times are games companies gonna release this sort of protection only to have it cracked within a week of its release, making the pirates have hassle free gameplay, while their customers have constant problems. To me this is encouraging piracy rather than stopping it. If the new splinter cell has this on it, im gonna just pirate it because I paid for AC2 only to face constant CTD, so why should I pay £25+ for a product that doesn't work properly.

If they wanted this level of protection, they should have made it work first. Im sure its not hard for a programmer to make a crack for this anyway, you just need to trick the game into thinking its connected to the server. I dont know how to do it, but Im sure someone will. Anyone working on DRM will have someone of equal skill working against them, and so anything they come up with will be crackable.

Its alright saying don't buy the game, but I f**king wanted it. I liked the 1st one and was looking forward to this one, so I bought it. I have a constant internet connection, I paid for the game, my computer surpasses the requirements, so why am I having these problems?

Games companies would be better off not botheirng with protection and giving their PAYING customers priority over the pirates. Why not give us the smooth ride for once and ignore the pirates. Films and music suffer the same, but they don't punish their customers for it.

The company's have got it all wrong they need to concentrate less on DRM and piracy rates and focus more on price, Gabe Newell said that when they had a half price weekend sale on l4d febuary last year and saw a 3000% jump in sales.......

Get the hint ubisoft cheaper games and less drm = more money

Why can't these companies stick to a simple CD key? No live server to maintain (poorly in this case) and none of the costs associated with the highly intrusive DRM technologies used in recent history.

Heck, it might even bring back some pirates to paying for games. I'm sure there were plenty who pirated their first game -- if blog comments stating such can be trusted -- because of the intrusive DRM used in the legal copy.

Ubisoft doesn't care about customer satisfaction. They care about making money. So if you bought the game the rest doesn't matter for them. Keep shouting "DRM SUCKS!!!" it will change nothing.

AC2 is cracked but you can't do missions yet.

SH5 is cracked and you can do whatever you want. They fixed the game.

They will fix AC2 too and pirates will laugh in the face of Ubisoft. But Ubisoft won't care because they already made money.

They say "an internet connection is needed for this game" and since people with internet connection are more likely the pirate the game that doesn't create a problem for them. I know a lot of pirates who said "eh what the hell i'll buy it". So shut the f**k up. Don't buy the game and shout "DRM SUCKS" at the same time. You are doing exactly what Ubisoft wants

Why the crackers cant create a virtual server software that supports online play and makes the crack complete....

I think if ubisoft signs off DRM and creates an offline package(software support) then it can be playable by all....

Please try to stop DRM and promote GAMING in pc....

hey sorry.. i mentioned wrongly.. crackers to create a virtual server that supports OFFLINE PLAY..

DRM WILL BE GOING DOWN EVEN IF THEY FIX IT.... SO PLZ STOP DRM AND

GIVE OFFLINE SUPPORT FOR GAMERS WHO CANNOT HAVE INTERNET CONNECTION IN A LAPTOP WHEN THEY ARE IN A CAR..

UBISOFT DONT SPOIL YOUR NAME IN THE PC GAMING.... SUPPORT GAMING BY REMOVING DRM ... AND PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR OFFLINE GAME.....

DONT EVER IMPLEMENT DRM IN YOUR FUTURE GAMES ALSO....

hey sorry.. i mentioned wrongly.. crackers to create a virtual server that supports OFFLINE PLAY..

DRM WILL BE GOING DOWN EVEN IF THEY FIX IT.... SO PLZ STOP DRM AND

GIVE OFFLINE SUPPORT FOR GAMERS WHO CANNOT HAVE INTERNET CONNECTION IN A LAPTOP WHEN THEY ARE IN A CAR..

UBISOFT DONT SPOIL YOUR NAME IN THE PC GAMING.... SUPPORT GAMING BY REMOVING DRM ... AND PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR OFFLINE GAME.....

DONT EVER IMPLEMENT DRM IN YOUR FUTURE GAMES ALSO....

The thing that is going to stop piracy for most parts, and will result on bigger wallets for the ubibosses (win-win) is great multiplayer games! Sure singleplayer gets cracked, but thats not it! Multiplayer is the thing to buy a game for! "I cracked singleplayer, and played it thru... nice, now wasn't there a multiplayer for this game also? (in this case no, but usually there is) oh yes there was, and i hear it is great! i'm searching google... ... = Reaction: WHAAAT!?!? no working MP version of this for free. God Damnit! 'Twas a great game thought... ... ... ... ... I NEED THE MULTIPLAYER!!! *running to the closest gamingstore, running back home for 12 hour gaming session with the newly purchased game*" Now that does happen... if SP gets pirated, so what? MP is the thing to buy the game for!

Also SP piracy is not allowed either, but if the same game has a great mp(For example. Cod:MW1/2, Battlefield BC1/2, Cses etc) the game will be number one purchased game, even for pirates. (happened to me ALOT, ended up buying lots of games)

Lol the pirates already hacked it! Kinda sad for Ubi, they put this useless DRM crud inside their game, and a month later a 100% working crack is out. I believe that is something called epic fail. Ubisoft kept bragging saying that their game remained uncracked, and their DRM works, and that piracy has gone down 73.37 percent and blada blada blada bla, and then a month later they get their ass handed to them. Now some idiots gonna say how come we dont complain about MMO games. So I will put this in to answer ur stupid questions. An online game is where ur playing with other people. That means that they need to connect to a server to interact with the game, so other players can see what they chat, where they are, and stab a sword through their gut. For AC2, you dont need DRM! Its completley single player, meaning if there was no DRM, and ur Internet died out, you would still be able to play it. So if my ISP or their servers decide to shut off for a few hours, im locked out of my game, unable to play it, or even save my progress! I refuse to buy a game where I dont actually own it, no I just own the right to turn it on if Ubisoft and my ISP feel like letting me play. For example, lets say microsoft feels like putting DRM on all PCs, and their server is down. Then I wont be allowed to turn my PC on because some stupid server is out. Sereiously Ubi, get rid of DRM.