Ubisoft 'Alters' Driver DRM, Still Requires Internet Connection

Has it listened?

Posted by Staff
Ubisoft 'Alters' Driver DRM, Still Requires Internet Connection
Ubisoft has announced that it has changed its digital rights management system for the PC version of Driver: San Francisco following negative feedback. Except it hasn't, really.

The publisher originally intended to include the controversial 'Always-on' DRM system, which requires paying customers to have a constant internet connection to validate their copy of the game. If they disconnect for any reason, the game locks you out.

Instead, Ubisoft will now only require players to verify their game online at game launch - gameplay will be allowed to continue offline after that. But really, what's the difference? You still require an internet connection in order to play.

Here's the statement, in full; "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."
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Comments

SPInGSPOnG 18 Aug 2011 11:03
1/4
I'm still not seeing the problem!

I mean, I'm not sure I want to be on-line gaming with the kind of people who don't have an Internet connection anyway.
tyrion 18 Aug 2011 13:59
2/4
Well at least this way if your Internet connection dies, you can still switch to the single player game if you've managed to sign in after launching the game.

Yeah, it's not that much better, is it?
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JoeMac5367 19 Aug 2011 16:06
3/4
They want to stop piracy. They can do this via internet authorisation. Now you can still play even if you lose your connection mid-game. And if you don't like it, don't buy the game.

What's the problem?
irritant 23 Aug 2011 09:37
4/4
The problem is that there will still be people playing copied versions of the game (regardless of how good the copy protection is) without any hassle or restrictions whatsoever. It's the people who do buy the game who have to put up with crap like this.

It's like buying films on disc. You have to put up with all the unskippable "Don't copy this disc" and other legal notice screens every time you stick the disc in (and in some cases, unskippable trailers for other films), but people who download the films don't see any of that. There's no point in pissing off paying customers when you can't stop piracy any way.
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