Splinter Cell dev defends Ubisoft's 'always on' DRM

by Griffin McElroy on Apr 16th 2010 7:30PM

Though public opinion is almost unanimously against Ubisoft's current DRM solution, which forces players to have a constant internet connection in order to play the PC versions of the company's games, Splinter Cell: Conviction creative director Max Béland recently voiced his support for the anti-piracy protocols. "We consider that protecting our PC games is vital to our business and will allow us to continue investing in the development of creative and innovative games on the PC platform," Béland explained in an interview with VG247.

To Béland's credit, Ubisoft's new DRM scheme -- which Conviction will implement when its PC iteration hits store shelves April 27 -- has proven very effective at "protecting" the company's PC games. Seriously, we hear they're hard to get into. Like, really hard. Really, really hard.

[Via Big Download]

Source

Tags: drm, max-beland, maxime-beland, piracy, protection, Splinter-Cell, splinter-cell-conviction, ubisoft

Reader Comments (70)

Not that it matters much, it will only inconvenience those who do not pirate the game, since its pretty much already been broken down for Assassins Creed 2.

Perhaps it stops the "casual" pirater?

I haven't looked recently but there is still no true working AC2 build for torrents. The only ones I've seen take a lot of work to get working and don't have everything available.

@Dark
Yeah, there's one. I haven't tried it (I got Assassins Creed II for my Xbox 360, as well as Splinter Cell Conviction after hearing about the stupid DRM) but it does work. A lot of people have completed the entire game. Ubisoft should've just made it a CD check, then I would've got it on PC :(. Oh well, Mass Effect 2 is still, and always will be awesome.

There may be a working crack, but this style of DRM could get increasingly hard to crack. The more actual game assets and algorithms that they hide server-side, the more difficult it will get. They really just want a few weeks, or maybe a couple of months with no piracy, and they've almost achieved that already. They really could accomplish this goal.

Of course, in the meantime they will be driving many legitimate customers (like me) away. Seriously, I'm not PC-fanboi who hates on AC2 just because it such a console-style game. I liked AC1, and would really like to play AC2, but I'm not touching Ubi (on any platform) until this is long gone. Even then, it'll be bargain bin for a long time.

i'll probably get all kinds of grayed out, but i don't see the big deal. publishers are just trying to protect their intellectual property from being pirated. i played WOW for 3 years and keeping a steady internet connection is not a big deal. unless you're in some crazy 3rd world country. in that case you gotta suck it.
and the tired excuse that "the servers went down this one time" its been blown out of proportion. people just get so use to pirating games and software, that they start to feel entitled to it. its a really unhealthy mentality to have.

Damn, just being grayed out with any slight negative comments towards pirates shows how rampant piracy is.

As a pc gamer, I don't really see the problem with drm as long as i don't have to authorize and de-authorize my game. Something like steam is the answer but if this is what has to happen so i can play these games on my pc; so be it.

Yeah, us PC gamers just have to dig in and hope DRM doesn't get to the point where I need a Ubisoft employee in my room in order to play the game. Steam games have DRM too though, it's just Valve games themselves that don't have the crazy ones.

The next step is a "you can't play our game" DRM policy. Oh sure, you can buy it, but play it? Hell no. You'll buy it and you'll like it as you don't play it. After successfully not playing it for an entire year, you'll finally be allowed supervised visitation rights with the game, at which time you'll be able to watch a Ubisoft employee play the game, via webcam, after installing extensive DRM to make sure that you don't have screen capping software installed.

@BananaBoat

That sounds like the plot for Heavy Rain 2.

Why is steam the answer?
Steam is easy to crack, and doesn't solve anything.

The only answer is no DRM. No DRM is needed. None.

EA and nearly every other PC dev gets by without riduculous DRM.

Command and Conquer 4 says hi.

^^

C&C4 has terrible sales.

32X (love that name), where exactly do you get your information? The basis of many of your posts always seem to be ethereal in nature:

http://www.amazon.com/Command-Conquer-4-Tiberian-Twilight-Pc/dp/B002NIP6X8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1271465972&sr=8-1

DRM it!

what they seem to overlook is people will pirate BECAUSE of this bs.

Funny I thought PC games were innovative before Ubi-soft guess I'm not greedy enough to understand why you cant inovate yourself a new DRM strategy...

And I'll defend my stance on your DRM...by not buying any of your products.

Agreed. I will not be purchasing any Ubisoft games, on the console or the PC.

Though, I wonder how many people will honestly go through with their boycotts. It didn't seem like many of them did with MW2. I've kept mine up with Activision thus far, but it will be tougher when Starcraft comes out. Hopefully Ubisoft changes their mind on this DRM thing before Beyond Good and Evil 2 comes out, as it's their only game I'm really all that interested to play.

why would i buy mw2 when i have bfbc2?

I agree, I don't understand why it is so hard for Ubisoft to see that they are losing money because of these shenanigans.

I would have totally bought Settlers 7 if this DRM wasn't included, and I imagine there are a plethora of other users here who are in the same boat with any Ubisoft PC game.

I'm doing exactly the same.

@perkins, I too also haven't bought mw2.

I'm a stubborn twat when comes to my personal morals. I've never liked DRM since one game ruined my ability to back up personal data to a cdr until I did a full system re-install, luckily I had a spare usb stick to temp store the data til i got my combidrive working again.

Yet they won't release it on the most hack-proof device out there:

THE PS3

Microsoft's fat check probably convinced them otherwise.

Funnily enough, that didn't stop Capcom from recently doing something pretty similar with the PSN's Final Fight: Double Impact. A lot of people are buying it on 360 due to the frustration everyone's having with the PS3 one (can only play with a connection enabled etc).

http://www.ps3-hacks.com/

@ WiredKnight

Well yeah, there's people trying...

Here's my solution: I'm never going to buy your product. Ever.

Oooh...looky. Closing wallet. Say "bye-bye". =(

Protecting?
I can guaranty this game will be cracked in just weeks after release. And they'll just try to crack it faster because they hate these kinds of DRM.

They finally cracked AC2 last week... and the games been out for a while now. And there are still tons of problems with it.

Been a pc game for years now and forced to buy console versions lately! I hate this but at least I'm able to play them OFFLINE.

people will just pirate the 360 verision.

"Protecting" your games means punishing the pirate, not the consumer. As of now, it's the other way around.

"Protecting" your country means punishing the terrorist, not the citizen. As of now, it's the other way around.

It seems Ubisoft is taking hints from the TSA.

The games are so well protected that not even the legitimate buyers are able to play it!

There's already a working server emulator for pirated copies of Assassin's Creed 2. Pirates always ALWAYS find a way around these kinds of things. That's not to say that measures shouldn't be taken by developers to protect their revenue, but to take it to the level of outright annoying the paying customer? That's just bad business.

Shame, I'd really like to purchase AC2 and other games for the PC. I still may, even with this DRM, just to support the hurting platform...

then you hurt it more.

They could have defended their product if they just went with Steam's DRM.

I thought customers were more vital to your business? And with AC2 and Settlers selling worse than their predecessors (in case of AC2 of course only the PC version) I am inclined to doubt that they will be able to keep up this charade for much longer...
Especially since even those who did not know or care about the protection used frequently have had issues and in great number complain about them, which will lead to more lost sales on the next Ubi title on the PC.

I refuse to buy any game laced with the virtual cancer called DRM. AC2 got cracked within 3 weeks after its release and was fully playable. Now I'm not saying I've played it myself but I wanted to see how quickly the pirates could work their way around the DRM. Splintercell would be no acception by the looks of it. It will probably be cracked very soon after release.
Doesnt matter to me if its cracked or not. I refuse to support developers punishing paying customers.

We all know people will pirate it to spite the DRM system.

Protecting your games is fine and all, but what Ubi is doing isn't working at all. Not only is it pissing off and pretty much breaking their own game, the protection itself has already been circumvented by pirates so that the people they are trying to stop from playing are the only ones that can!

Yeah but i fail to understand why Ubisoft hasnt figured that out yet. Their loosing sales with this crap

Does ubi really think their DRM is working? Didn't it get cracked before AC2 even launched?

I'm getting really sick and tired of people saying "Use Steam!".

What the hell? Steam, for one thing, is more easily cracked than most anything else.
For the other thing, Steam is still pretty damned restrictive, it just masks all of it's anti-costumer restrictions in a big ball of convenience.

The only true answer is no DRM.
Any kind of DRM is just going to be useless. When people pirate, they pirate the same way. There's no "Casual pirate" or whatever. There's just someone who downloads a torrent or a bunch of megaupload links.

The DRM is cracked, search for a server emulator on a well known torrent site and you will find it. Never buy a Ubisoft game again.

Not going to post links, but the DRM now has 100% working authentication cracks. Ubi's DRM is now just as redundant as every other DRM.

so, if this method is so good according to ubisoft then why they don´t show something real as a proof instead of just saying we are right, or like
Jerry Maguire said: SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!! why they don´t say: this is a good idea because look, 20 millions copies sold!!! pirates are destroyed!!! the same thing THE SAME happened when ubi soft (again) used starforce for pop 3 and king kong, those games where not available as pirate copies for more than a year... did they became biggest p.c. sellers of all times??? nooop.... what happened?? after a year starforce was defeated, and ubi decided to stop using it, but they NEVER said: we are right because our sales are the best example, and once again they are not saying anything.

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Splinter Cell dev defends Ubisoft's 'always on' DRM

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