"We asked Ubisoft for statistics on end-user appeals and received data that indicated that not more than 1% of all gamers had problems with protection. But the penny had already dropped. I’m sure that the scale of that hysteria was artificially supported. We didn’t have a strong PR or legal team at the time and lost the war. Now things are different, we got smarter and learnt a lot from that lesson."
Are you f***ing kidding me!? There were thousands upon thousands of complaints about Starforce 3 (There was even a website dedicated to it), I even made 1 myself due to the crap it did to my PC. It was even blacklisted by some AV's as malware, it messed with windows drivers, they deserved all the negative publicity they received
Interesting point that basically DRM is implemented so that publishers / developers buy enough time to recoup their money - but ultimately they know the game will be cracked.
I wonder how accurate that statement is, as so many AAA games are cracked before they have even hit the shelves. Seems like the publishers need to tighten up the controls in the supply chain as well.
There's no easy answer to DRM, but StarForce are definitely one of the company's who have got it seriously wrong in the past. I've also started to avoid Ubisoft games because of the 'always connected' DRM. I travel a fair bit and it's nice to have access to games when I don't have a connection (on planes, in hotels with expensive WiFi etc)
"You won’t be able to play in the cloud while you don’t have internet access"
"I think in a cloud future there will be no issues with any online DRM features".
So wait...that means cloud licensing IS a type of online DRM. Online DRMs, like what Ubisoft used, requires you to be connected to the game's servers to play. Cloud licensing also require you to do the same.
Permanent online connection, limited activation and disc-based drms are hell. I love flight sims but the use of instal and activation limits in all of Digital Combat Simulator latest games made me NOT want to buy them. I have downloaded cracks for most of the disc based games in my PC and I haven't bought any Ubisoft games in two years thanks to the online requirement.
Now, instead of looking what required spec a new game might require, I'm constantly on the look out for what DRM it'll use. With hardware requirement it's usually a flexible affair. With DRM it is a deal breaker.
Are you f***ing kidding me!? There were thousands upon thousands of complaints about Starforce 3 (There was even a website dedicated to it), I even made 1 myself due to the crap it did to my PC. It was even blacklisted by some AV's as malware, it messed with windows drivers, they deserved all the negative publicity they received
I wonder how accurate that statement is, as so many AAA games are cracked before they have even hit the shelves. Seems like the publishers need to tighten up the controls in the supply chain as well.
There's no easy answer to DRM, but StarForce are definitely one of the company's who have got it seriously wrong in the past. I've also started to avoid Ubisoft games because of the 'always connected' DRM. I travel a fair bit and it's nice to have access to games when I don't have a connection (on planes, in hotels with expensive WiFi etc)
"I think in a cloud future there will be no issues with any online DRM features".
So wait...that means cloud licensing IS a type of online DRM. Online DRMs, like what Ubisoft used, requires you to be connected to the game's servers to play. Cloud licensing also require you to do the same.
Permanent online connection, limited activation and disc-based drms are hell. I love flight sims but the use of instal and activation limits in all of Digital Combat Simulator latest games made me NOT want to buy them. I have downloaded cracks for most of the disc based games in my PC and I haven't bought any Ubisoft games in two years thanks to the online requirement.
Now, instead of looking what required spec a new game might require, I'm constantly on the look out for what DRM it'll use. With hardware requirement it's usually a flexible affair. With DRM it is a deal breaker.