Ubisoft calls its always on PC DRM a “Success”

Ubisoft seems to think very highly of their digital rights management systems these days.  The company is calling its controversial DRM measures a “success” despite universal hatred from just about everyone.

Recently Ubisoft announced Driver: San Francisco would force users to be connected to the Internet in order to play the game.  Other Ubisoft games have adopted this very same DRM system, even requiring players to be connected to the Internet to play single player titles with no multiplayer components.

A Ubisoft representative told PC Gamer the company has seen  ”a clear reduction in piracy of our titles which required a persistent online connection, and from that point of view the requirement is a success.”

This DRM scheme of Ubisoft’s has been around for a while.  Requiring a player to be online in order to play games started with Settlers 7 and has been seen more recently in blockbuster titles like Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.  On August 30th, Driver: San Francisco will join the fun with the same DRM scheme.

Ubisoft isn’t the only company to implement this kind of DRM.  Capcom recently attempted something similar with the PC release of Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, limiting those playing offline to a smaller character roster.  That means players with two controllers hooked up to their PC couldn’t use the full fighter roster when playing with their friends in the same room if they were not connected to the Internet.  Capcom pulled the DRM quickly after a huge uproar from fans.

The problem with DRM schemes like these are that legitimate buyers are the ones who always seem to suffer.  Downtime on Ubisoft’s servers means even single player games can’t be played and the person with the intermittent connection will be unable to keep a game going.

While it may lower the incidence of piracy for Ubisoft, one has to wonder if it is negatively impacting sales of their titles on PC.  Most folks don’t want to have to fight with DRM just to play a game especially if their leisure time is limited. Other, albeit smaller, developers are claiming DRM hurts more than it helps.  Time will tell who ends up being right, but super restrictive DRM can’t possibly be the right answer to combatting piracy in the games industry.