Namco Bandai: Ubisoft’s DRM is “A Good Strategy”
Namco Bandai: Ubisoft’s DRM is “A Good Strategy”
Posted 05/27/2010 at 10:47pm
| by Nathan Grayson
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Going to the dentist sucks. It’s like mouth hell, with tongues of flame replaced by regular tongues, drills, needles, and toothpaste so awful-tasting that it makes us want to wait 30 hours before eating instead of 30 minutes. But until the day we invent super-powered ray guns that blast our teeth clean in the blink of an eye, the dentist is – sadly enough -- our only option. That, more or less, is how Witcher 2 publisher Namco Bandai feels about Ubisoft’s almost universally reviled DRM system.
"I will be very honest. I think it's a good [approach] for one reason: I have no alternative today. Is the best one? Certainly not but as of today if I can make something else I'll do it, but it's better to do something than not do something,” Namco Bandai Partners VP Olivier Comte said. “At the moment they are doing a good strategy.”
He added, however, that Namco Bandai’s doing everything in its power to craft a better, smarter successor to the DRM throne. Even then, though, the publisher still sees gray skies ahead.
"I'm convinced that whatever system you put in place you can be sure that two hours before putting it out it'll be cracked in Russia. I think that the combat against piracy is very complicated because it's very complicated to explain to a 12-year-old that drag and dropping a file on a PC is piracy - he was born with this,” Comte explained.
Between the rainbow of racial slurs on Xbox Live and now this, it seems like the solution to all of gaming’s ills is simple: eliminate all 12-year-olds. Thoughts? Seems pretty sensible to us.
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QuakindudeMod
June 13, 2010 at 12:05am
What's so tragically funny is some of these gaming developers going over to console only sales because those are so much harder for pirates to pirate. You're always reading something on the Internet about how the days of PC gaming are coming to a close due to a lack of customers willing to pay for the games.
Guess what idiots? Your DRM schemes are what's CAUSING you to lose out on Million$ in PC game sales. It's not the COST of PC gaming hardware so much as the DRM. My house has been PC only for YEARS. But we now have PS3, Wii and XBox. And guess what? There are "cracked" games for those too!
When and IF PC gaming does die, where, exactly, do you think the pirates will focus their attention? Yep, consoles. There's a segment of society that will simply refuse to pay for games no matter the interface they use. Then there's a segment of society that WANT to be honest and pay for their games, but not if it's a huge ass hassle. You are going to HAVE to come up with a DRM scheme that doesn't make life difficult for your paying customers yet, ensures exclusivity to paying customers. I'd MUCH rather have to pay a one time, $30 hardware fee to buy a hardware solution, like a USB key security chip, that allows me to play all the games from a publisher than to have to deal with cracked software with a potentially damaging virus onboard.
There has to be better options out there than this either/or bullshit we have now. I will NOT steal a game, but I'll damn sure buy it and then crack it so I don't have to screw around with the wholly ineffective DRM shit you put on your games. Then, you could drop the price of the games because you wouldn't be putting all your money into support and development of DRM crap.
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p014k
June 02, 2010 at 7:36am
DRM is by no means the answer to piracy; its a justification.
As mentioned in an earlier post, one of the best ways to combat piracy is to make it annoying for the pirate.
This includes:
-Making pirate specific "glitches" (like the chicken glitch in Crysis Warhead)
-And of course, creating incompatibility issues between pirated versions and patches, mods, etc.
The second way is to reduce prices. If prices would go down enough to make torrenting a 6 GB file for a day or so seem idiotic, piracy would inevitable go down. A mere $10 discount on a fifty dollar game already makes it more attractive. And the people that made the games have the money to discount: PC games are not subject to the "supply and demand" strategy since they can be downloaded from Steam or any other similar service; because of this, there is no justification for increasing prices (for the digital versions, which would seem to be the choice for pirate converts), since as long as the files are hosted, anyone could buy the games.
p014k
June 02, 2010 at 7:38am
DRM is by no means the answer to piracy; its a justification.
As mentioned in an earlier post, one of the best ways to combat piracy is to make it annoying for the pirate.
This includes:
-Making pirate specific "glitches" (like the chicken glitch in Crysis Warhead)
-And of course, creating incompatibility issues between pirated versions and patches, mods, etc.
The second way is to reduce prices. If prices would go down enough to make torrenting a 6 GB file for a day or so seem idiotic, piracy would inevitably go down. A mere $10 discount on a fifty dollar game already makes it more attractive. And the people that made the games have the money to discount: PC games are not subject to the "supply and demand" strategy since they can be downloaded from Steam or any other similar service; because of this, there is no justification for increasing prices (for the digital versions, which would seem to be the choice for pirate converts), since as long as the files are hosted, anyone could buy the games.
p014k
June 02, 2010 at 7:20am
All gamers twelve and under should be eliminated... Maybe that will revive PC gaming.
Rogue74
May 28, 2010 at 6:09pm
Last month PC Gamer had a review of Assassin's Creed 2 and said it was a great game, don't buy it! I totally agree. If I buy something it better work whenever I want it to work. Ubisoft's games don't work all the time. It's idiotic.
ajax344
May 28, 2010 at 12:21pm
assuming namco is talking about strategy for pirates? Yes its a remarkably brilliant strategy, because it gives a flawless example where piracy is justified. If you buy the game, and can't play it, (Like I did) you can pirate it, and have much less trouble. So yes namco, brilliant strategy, in fact Ubisoft must be working for piratebay because this is probably the best example, to date, where piracy is easier then buying the game. In a world where piracy is super easy, buying games should be a convienence and not a task, thats how you incentivise pirates not to pirate. I don't pirate stuff but I have friends that do, and we had a lan party, the ones that pirated BF2 and various games we were playing, had to find the right patch and had to find a place to DL expansions and stuff like that, I had it on steam, which was convienent because it will auto download patches and expansions. Long story short, if you want pirates to win, make it inconvient for the consumers, want the consumers to win, make it convienient for them and annoying for the pirates.
ajax344
May 28, 2010 at 12:21pm
assuming namco is talking about strategy for pirates? Yes its a remarkably brilliant strategy, because it gives a flawless example where piracy is justified. If you buy the game, and can't play it, (Like I did) you can pirate it, and have much less trouble. So yes namco, brilliant strategy, in fact Ubisoft must be working for piratebay because this is probably the best example, to date, where piracy is easier then buying the game. In a world where piracy is super easy, buying games should be a convienence and not a task, thats how you incentivise pirates not to pirate. I don't pirate stuff but I have friends that do, and we had a lan party, the ones that pirated BF2 and various games we were playing, had to find the right patch and had to find a place to DL expansions and stuff like that, I had it on steam, which was convienent because it will auto download patches and expansions. Long story short, if you want pirates to win, make it inconvient for the consumers, want the consumers to win, make it convienient for them and annoying for the pirates.
Shadai
May 28, 2010 at 11:38am
Psst, Ubisoft. Come here. Yeah you. Sit down right here next to Uncle Shadai and let him explain to you basic economics and theft. I get it. I do. You don't want damn dirty pirates stealing your game. Its lost money that can be filling your CEO's pockets. Yeah yeah, and maybe those guys that made the game. Sure whatever you claim. Here's what I want you to remember. Think of Uncle Shadai telling you that a locked door only keeps an honest man out.
Now I know what you're thinking. What does that have to do with our super nazi DRM scheme to take over the world? Right right, minus that last part. I'm sure you still sleep with Hitler. Anyway, If you "lock" your games with super restrictive DRM, the only ones you're going to keep out are the honest men who paid for your game. The "damn dirty pirates" as you call them are not going to be restricted at all, and if they want to steal it, they will. There is nothing you can do about it. A guy who wants to steal your game will do it. DRM only restricts the poor bastard who did nothing wrong but give you money for your game.
Got it?
thesmilies
May 28, 2010 at 9:23am
I fail to see why it is any better than no DRM, seeing as how pirates aren't hindered by it and customers are.
Magius
May 28, 2010 at 8:10am
I simply refuse to buy the games on any platform as long as they continue with DRM as bad as this one.
I admit, I would love to get ACII but with Ubi's DRM that is not even something I will consider. Oh I could go and buy it for my console, but you know what? I will not. They are not getting any money from me. I don't care if the game is the best game 'evah'.
And I will do exactly the same with Namco Bandai. If you are publishing a game on the PC platform with DRM this insidiousyou can count me out. I will not buy the game either the PC or console version.
What I find more disturbing is them admitting they know the games will get cracked but still they go on with the DRM. It is almost insulting to both the developers AND the customers. They don't trust that the developers will put out a good enough quality product that will entice customers to buy it and they don't trust consumers to buy their products even if they are completely unprotected.
isamuelson
May 28, 2010 at 5:44am
I refuse to purchase ANY Ubisoft game or any other company's game that has this type of draconian DRM implanted into it. To force a user to HAVE to be online ALL the time is absolutely horrendous and just not a feasible or effective means to implement protection for your software/IP.
Steam and Impulse are doing it the correct way and Blizzard, makers of Diablo III, agree. Steam is the right way to implement the DRM and they do not agree with Ubisoft's DRM scheme which punishes the legitimate purchaser. Hence, they've lost me as a customer until they either remove it from their library of tools for good or else, I refuse to purchase their games until they release an official patch. Otherwise, their games shall sit on the shelves of the stores while I find other games to purchase and play that don't treat me like I'm trying to rip them off.
D3lt4
May 28, 2010 at 5:18am
Oh come the f*ck on!
I wanted to buy assassins creed 2, had it on pre-order and was ready to buy it, than the DRM news hits the net and the first thing I do is cancel this stupid gimmicky shit. 1 for pirates.
Why did Witcher company have to go with Namco-Bandai, is there a more immature/retarded company? I wonder if they censor it as well, try to keep it PG so its like Digimon!
Lummoxx
May 28, 2010 at 4:21am
How can they be so clueless? One more time:
DRM only affects the paying customer, who is NOT the target of the DRM. The person who is NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU MONEY ANYWAY is going to obtain a copy of the game, and that copy WILL HAVE NO DRM BECAUSE IT WAS CRACKED!
Here I've been looking forward to Witcher 2. If it has this kind of DRM on it, I will not buy it, nor any other game distributed by this publisher.
The list of developers and publishers I'll support with my money is getting very, very small. It's no wonder that, instead of upgrading my computer this year, I'm planning on upgrading my Jeep. If PC gaming does die, they'll blame the pirates, but the real reason will be the alienation of paying customers like me.
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May 27, 2010 at 11:56pm
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wolf17
May 27, 2010 at 11:27pm
you have to be f@*(@#!ng kidding me if they believe Ubisoft's DRM is a good thing! I //still// cannot play Splinter Cell Conviction even though Comcast gouges me for 50 bucks a month for internet, i can't even play through the first level!! From the looks of it, as soon as it starts talking with it's servers the game stutters and goes about a quarter of a frame a second and then usually crashes or i go alt-f4 crazy until i can get back to the desktop :P. And the best part? Since my cd key has to be registered to my ubi account, i can't even sell it!!
Needless to say, As much as I was looking forward to buying the Witcher 2, if it comes with any DRM close to Ubi's I'm just avoiding it and hoping it comes out for the #@*(&ng consoles lol.
On a positive note, comparatively, the maxpc spam filter shenanigans that happened are nothing compared to Ubisoft DRM hell :p
Lummoxx
May 28, 2010 at 4:23am
If this goes through, it will be my 3rd or 4th consecutive post without the spam filter blocking it, which would indicate they did something to fix it.
Previously, it was dinging ALL of my posts.
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