Saturday, January 21st 2012
Anno 2070's Draconian DRM: Ubisoft Loosens Restrictions. Slightly
Last week we brought you news of Ubisoft's hard three machine activation limit on Anno 2070 and how it scuppered a review by Guru3D when they swapped out graphics cards. Guru3D's post then went viral on the web and it appears that this has put sufficient pressure or 'heat' on Ubisoft to relax the restrictions just a tiny bit, since they weren't going to use any more Ubisoft games for benchmarks. So what have they done? Allowed an unlimited number of graphics card swaps. That's it, everything else stays the same, so if other components such as the CPU, motherboard etc are changed, then one will still run into this frustrating brick wall and have to get in touch with customer support to reset the activations.
Interestingly, before the restriction was lifted and after writing their initial article and vowing not to use Ubisoft titles any more over this issue, Guru3D changed their mind, because they feel that by continuing, they ensure that issues like this are kept in the public eye and can be addressed, with the hope that the company will see sense eventually:
We feel that if any DRM must be applied, that the account-based style used with Steam is the best way to go and punishes the honest customer the least. At the same time, it gives back quite a few benefits in that it allows use on an unlimited number of PCs (not all at once!) easy application management, social features and more.
In our opinion not writing about something is the most bad thing you can do and as such we decided to continue with that article. By excluding Ubisoft from the benchmarks we'll never be able to address issues like this DRM story, and they'll continue what they are doing. In fact if we'd have excluded Ubisoft titles we never would have been able to report about this issue.Note that in an update to their original article, Guru3D explained that they were given unlimited activations after contacting support, to allow them to complete their review. Just after their review was finished however, Guru3D received the following email from the developer, BlueByte, which formally advised them of the policy change:
By posting an article and explaining/mentioning DRM time after time, there will be more awareness about it and in the end that message will get across to Ubisoft and the producer. In the hope that one day they'll see the light.
Hi Hilbert,Note that it's not explained whether this change applies only to this one game, or all of Ubisoft's titles, which is quite important to know, really. Finally, whether this small change is really sufficient to satisfy customers of Anno 2070 rests with the individuals who purchase the game and is bound to vary from gamer to gamer. Presumably, one who changes their hardware more frequently may not feel that this improvement goes far enough. Still, however you look at it, it's a step in the right direction.
Just wanted to let you know, that we now remove the graphics hardware from the hash used to identify the PC.
That means everyone should now be able to switch the GFX as many times as he/she wants.
Cheers,
We feel that if any DRM must be applied, that the account-based style used with Steam is the best way to go and punishes the honest customer the least. At the same time, it gives back quite a few benefits in that it allows use on an unlimited number of PCs (not all at once!) easy application management, social features and more.
45 Comments on Anno 2070's Draconian DRM: Ubisoft Loosens Restrictions. Slightly
Like the article said was the GFX fix for everyone or just Guru3D?
Lost a little respect for Guru3D :shadedshu
Hilbert should have stuck with the boycott imo it would have been an even a much louder voice then the peoples as Guru3d being a major review site holds quite a lot of influence within the community.
everyone dislikes ubisoft anyway so its not as if Hilbert is going to get any bad press for it just because he decides to stop using any of their games for benchmarking.
if he stood by his decision, everyone would have supported him.
While that isn't the best possible response time, anyone that has dealt a great deal with email tech support services will tell you 2 business days for a response and solution from your original email is pretty decent. Just as an example, I have to RMA a pair of headphones to Corsair, and I put the request for the RMA in on Monday and didn't receive an RMA authorization until Wednesday, and Corsair is generally considered to have very good tech support. I'd personally thing the best solution to activation limits like this is a 24/7/365 automated phone service like Microsoft has, but I think the solution that Ubisoft has in place is good enough considering the small percentage of people that will ever have a problem.
No matter the type of DRM used, unfortunately the pirates always manage to crack the games.
The DRM doesn't inconvenience the hackers or the ones downloading illegaly, it inconveniences the legit buyers. And most "main-stream" legit buyers don't even have knowledge on how to download and install a cracked game. And many legit buyers know only how to switch their pc and game. If they get an entirely new pc and the game doesn't work many wouldn't know what happened let alone how to solve it. So at the end of the day the DRM will make the game unplayable for the legit buyers, and not affect the ones who pirate it because the game would be cracked just the same.
reading comments about people being threatened or that changing your mind is wrong just made me smash my had on the table...what the heck is wrong with you guys?
what's next? drm has been established by the cia to gain control over peoples brains?
it's video games we're talking here not freakin' national security or nuclear warheads...
2. the activations do reset completely after 30 days
translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://ubisoft-de.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15875/~/%2522fehler-%282002%29%253A-das-aktivierungslimit-f%25E3%25BCr-diese-seriennummer-wurde&ei=ZGobT8DQKcSr-Qad7pn1CQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCQQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Fehler%2B%282002%29:%2BDas%2BAktivierungslimit%2Bf%25C3%25BCr%2Bdiese%2BSeriennummer%2Bwurde%2B%25C3%25BCberschritten!%2522%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Duan%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:de:official%26prmd%3Dimvns
i can't find the proper english version so i let google do the translating...
maybe it will even show the original english version, when you navigate there through ubisoft's support portal...i'm just to lazy now to figure out how to circumvent the location detection...
3. anno.uk.ubi.com/pc/faq-tages.php (it's the anno 1404 faq, but it's also valid for 2070)
"Question: What changes to my PC require a new activation?
Answer: With regards to the activation system, a PC configuration consists of the most important hard- and software components of your computer, including the operating system, the CPU, the motherboard and the system hard drive. Small changes such as exchanging the graphics card or adding RAM are not considered changes to the PC configuration and therefore do not require a new activation. "
the whole story boils down to the gfx card even being included in the hash has been a bug from the beginning (you have to trust me on that, as i won't disclose my source)
Even the harder to crack Assassin's Creed 2 got cracked, even had their own mirror servers for the "always-on" DRM. :laugh:
EDIT:
Why doesn't quoting capture all the quotes!? It just skips the others and then the message looks out of context... grrr
We don't like it period.
Was that clear enough or?
I want to be able to change my shit in my,,, pc when ever I feel like it and not run out of activations period.
I want to be able to play my game for ever and ever for eternity if I feel a need to.
I would like you to get the f, out of my life, after I buy, the title.
I think that sums it up in a couple more ways for you sir.
Also, stop charging us for garbage add-ons if that's what you want to call them and let the community mod again like it used to be. Just make the game run correctly which is why I pay you at the beginning.
A customer is nothing more than a wallet with legs. and I'm quite confident that you are not one.
but whatever, everyone is the center of the universe and they can complain about anything and everything.
People shouldn't have to contact Ubisoft to be permitted to use the software they purchased. The DRM is needlessly restrictive which tells me that Ubisoft is completely out of touch with consumers.