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PC gamers the world over face-palmed hard enough to create a seismic event when they heard that Ubisoft was planning to seriously cool Driver: San Francisco's engine with a heaping dose of its reviled “always on” DRM. There was anger, which led to hate, which... well, we wouldn't be surprised if a few new dark Jedi were born of this whole incident. Ubisoft, though, claims to have finally heard our plight. But has it? Has it really?
“We’ve heard your feedback regarding the permanent internet connection requirement for Driver and have made the decision to no longer include it. So this means that Driver PC gamers will only need to sign in at game launch but can subsequently choose to play the game offline,” a Ubisoft rep told RPS.
So then, that's a long-overdue nail in the coffin of the most egregious bit, but Ubi's speedy racer is still taking baby steps. As RPS points out, if you're not able to wrangle a working Internet connection to begin with, you're still out of luck. After all, no launch, no dice.
So, Ubisoft, you claim that you finally listened. Can you maybe try listening a little harder next time?
Comments are closed on this article
Peanut Fox
August 18, 2011 at 7:59am
Do PC gamers actaully want this game anyway? I don't even think this appeals to that audiance.
Holly Golightly
August 17, 2011 at 11:49pm
Okay, we seriously need some change here. No DRM should require any online connectivity at all. Ubisoft needs to do a better job at listening to us.
Keith E. Whisman
August 17, 2011 at 8:05pm
sounds like they just want to force people to be honest. Pirates have not been stopped from pirating anything. Hell pirates are going to be playing this game on cracked copies of windows 7 running on stolen computers built from counterfeit parts.
stradric
August 18, 2011 at 5:32am
Except UbiSoft has data showing that it has helped piracy rates. Of course these guys know that it's not going to stop piracy. Their goal is only to curtail it.
I like Steam for DRM. I think that model works the best for most games. Steam requires an internet connection, but it does have limited offline capabilities as well.
Svetty Parabols
August 18, 2011 at 9:06pm
"Except UbiSoft has data showing that it has helped piracy rates."
Ubisoft is not a credible source. Of course they are going to say that it has helped piracy rates, they don't want to look like total asshats. They have no accurate data on how many copies of their game has been pirated. If one person plays the game legitimately per 100 people playing the game, then their DRM is a complete failure.
CaptainFabulous
August 18, 2011 at 6:56am
Problem is, while it may have reduced instances of piracy it *has not* resulted in greater sales, proving that a pirated copy != a lost sale.
So the big question is, since those pirating aren't going to buy the game anyway, how much are you willing to piss off your actual paying customers with restrictive, draconian DRM?
