A few weeks ago, we talked about Ubisoft’s new DRM and how insanely ridiculous it was. I also mentioned something about… *Rubs chin* What was it?
Oh yeah. If pirates want something for free, THEY WILL GET IT. This DRM hurts nobody but the paying consumer.
And now that statement has been proven.
Assassin’s Creed 2, bearing the new over-the-top DRM from Ubisoft, has been cracked and uploaded to warez sites, torrent sites, and newsgroups far and wide. Yes, the PC version. You know, the one that’s not supposed to even hit shelves until March 9th? Pirates cracked the DRM and uploaded Assassin’s Creed 2 several days before the game was even released.
Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic, another new PC game that got the DRM treatment from Ubisoft, has also been cracked and uploaded to the ‘tubes.
This means that pirates, who obtain this media at no expense, have a better experience than the people who go out to the store and buy it (or enter their credit card numbers into a website for a legal download). The DRM restricts legal customers from being able to play the games if they’re not connected to the internet… If your connection kicks out for any reason, the game locks up.
However, the cracked versions of the game (which, again, are obtained for $0.00) are completely free of any of this. You can play Assassin’s Creed 2 on a plane if you wanted to.
Now, I’m not saying to go out and pirate the games. That’s up to you (although I can’t necessarily condone that activity here). What I’m saying is that people (specifically Ubisoft) need to realize how absolutely ridiculous DRM is. When you go to the store and pay for a game, what do you feel like you’re paying for? The game? Or a license to play it? Because, according to the big wigs at the publishing companies, you’re only purchasing a license.
I read an argument the other day somewhere (I forget where, or I’d link)… It was about CDs, but it works here, too.
If you buy a game, you can’t install it on more than an allotted amount of machines, because, they tell you, “You didn’t pay for the disc, you paid for the license.”
Doesn’t that mean that you legally own a copy of the game? Fair enough.
But if the disc breaks, and you call up the publishers, they’ll tell you “Sorry, you paid for the disc, not a license.” So, even though, by their own logic, you’ve purchased a license to legally play that game, they don’t have to hold up to their end of the license by helping you in obtaining a new copy once the physical medium (which is, after all, not what you paid for) is broken.
It’s ridiculous.
It’s time to rub Ubisoft’s nose in their mess.
Related posts:
- Assassin’s Creed 2 DRM Is Excessively Ridiculous
- Ubisoft’s DRM Servers Crash
- Could There Ever Be A Perfect DRM?
- Ubisoft Compensates For Server Downtime
- Get Machinarium on the cheap ($5) in their Pirate Amnesty Sale
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