Ubisoft's New DRM Cracked in Under 25-Hours

Ubisoft's master plan has collapsed in under 24-hours, as infamous cracker group Skid-Row has tackled the new DRM and rendered it useless, meaning the only people now suffering with this ridiculous DRM are legitimate owners.

[mrv321]

I told you so... We told you so.... Common sense told you so. DRM DOESN'T WORK.

Anyone who pirates SILENT HUNTER 5 or Assassins Creed 2 won't get too much hate from me. I won't pirate them, but seriously.

Screw with us, we screw with you.

The more those games are pirated the more of a point you'll proove.

[lociefer]

lol, the irony

[Charmers]

I don't generally approve of pirates and cracks. However this new DRM from Ubisoft is so heinous that it needs to be beaten to a bloody pulp as quickly as possible. Nice to see it has indeed been slapped down like it should be.

[morganfell]

Silent Hunter 5 is already cracked and on the web for download. The only customers Ubisoft is hurting are the legitimate ones.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

"Well, Ubisoft’s master plan has collapsed in under 24-hours, as infamous cracker group Skid-Row has tackled the new DRM and rendered it useless, meaning the only people now suffering with this ridiculous DRM are legitimate owners."

Now legitimate owners are the only one suffering. Isn't that how it has always been with these DRM. That is why I just prefer consoles. No drivers and no tweaks to my hardware. Just sit back, pop the disc in with a controller in your hand, lean back on the couch and enjoy!

[RockstarExclusive]

In your face UBI! I mean why even bother, all those restrictions are bad for ppl who buy games, pirates never worry.

But actually they don't care about piracy anymore, they fight used copy market.

[SilentNegotiator]

DRM: Screwing legitimate customers and giving pirates/hackers a fun little puzzle to solve as always.

[FragGen]

So let's see:

Software publisher gets to claim any pirated copies are "lost sales".
Check.
Pirates get game for free.
Check.
PC's rep as haven for pirates.
Totally intact.
Legit consumers grabbing ankles. Taking it from behind.
Check.

Yep. It's situation normal here. Ubisoft/DRM FTL.

[Spiderman]

Well what the hell is the point in DRM. Pirates are going to pirate either way, so they are only hurting genuine customers. And when genuine customers cant play a game because of DRM they will start rooting the internet for solutions, and then will probably end up downloading cracks etc.

If they just make all games drm free then more people will buy it, instead of worrying what crap will be installed when they play the game, and whether it will work or not.

[badz149]

why the hell do they really care that much to implement it anyway? why even put it there in the 1st place and make it hard for the legits? these guys are working in multi-million/billion companies, so shouldn't they be somewhat smarter than this? PC is an 'open' platform unlike consoles and do they really think they can stop piracy on a platform where everybody, yeah...EVERYBODY can write any program on?? like seriously??

the truth is, DRM SUCKS and never will be able stop piracy especially on PC! just put it as minimal so you won't hurt the legits! you can't do anything to pirates beside busting their homes and put them behind bars or fine them sky high! - with solid convict evidence of course!

[Eamon]

You guys!!

Don't forget, the DRM is mainly targeted at used-copy buyers.
I doubt Ubisoft thought their plan would work permanently against hackers.

Ubisoft: Nill AGAIN
Hackers: 999

[PotatoClock]

Bravo Ubi, bravo

[va_bank]

I guess I was wrong - It only took *ONE* day:

http://n4g.com/NewsCom-4790...

[jay2]

For once, I'm actually pleased, I don't like pirates, but Ubi went TOO far with this.

[The Great Melon]

Looks like the pirates fixed the game. Now you can play it without all those annoying bugs such as not being able to play offline. =P

[zack61]

That was fast. LMAO

[omimasum]

never F*ck with pc gamers, they can do all kinds of Shiat

[AliTheBrit19]

hahaha xD

[FragMnTagM]

Don't screw with PC gamers. If you want your game to sell, just make it good. Stop screwing legitimate customers with draconian DRM, and I am pretty sure they will buy your games. Until then: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Faelan]

So... Ubi... how much money did you spend on this DRM thing? Figure it was worth it? How many people did it prevent from getting an illegal copy vs. how many people decided not to buy your product over this?

Yeah... it doesn't take a degree in bean counting to figure out that this was a bad idea.

lol...

[Aaroncls7]

Dang, that's gotta feel humiliating.

[Rowsdower]

another reason why the PC is no longer a financially viable gaming option for devs. You know what this gets you more draconian attempts to protect the data, less and less dedicated servers, and the further consolization of gaming in general since that is where the money is at. Who is ruining gaming, gamers are. If you dont like the way someone is doing buisness then find a better way, the answer is not theft. In what other scenario is this applicable, dont like the credit check when buying a car just steal one, think home ownership is too expensive become a squatter, that girl wont sleep with you just rape her. Gamers are one of the few groups who are proud of their selfishness, you can see it all over n4g.

I dont like DRM, but this is nothing to be proud of.

Oh and to you folks with all the talent and drive to facilitate pirating, why not take that energy and come up with a better business model or go make a game and give it away. Do something more than being the guy who throws the trash can through the window during a riot so everyone can loot.

Dont pretend that if there were no DRM then there would be no piracy, piracy created DRM. The genie is out of the bottle, but just because it can be done does not make it right.

Finally disagrees dont make you right and me wrong. Let me come over to your place I'm sure there is something there I deserve more than you.

[Charmers]

The PC is a financially viable gaming option for developers that put out quality work. This is the reason why Ubisoft has adopted draconian DRM their PC ports are crap and this is just a quick smash and grab on the PC for some extra dosh.

There has been zero work done on the PC version of Assassins Creed 2 it is an exact carbon copy of the console version and they expect PC gamers to pay more for a 4 month old game on top of that.

Do a good game, make it run well, reward your customer for purchasing the game and don't cripple it with DRM and you will find people buy your game (after all it works for other companies).

This is why people don't buy/pirate Ubisoft stuff because they treat PC customers with utter contempt by firstly using the horrid Starforce protection and now this useless always on line DRM. They don't have any faith in their products and see the PC as a chance to make a bit of extra cash for very little work.

Oh and piracy never created DRM, the whole point of DRM is in the name "Digital Rights Management" the producers want to manage peoples rights to the content they pay for. If you got rid of all piracy tomorrow you would find it a lot harder to get rid of DRM because it is a way for publishers to control and restrict peoples usage of their products.

[Rowsdower]

dont buy the game, but folks take it one step further and steal the game. folks need to show some maturity and self control. one cannot take a stand in this situation and at the same time act as unethical as those they are trying to protest. This isnt food, pirates arent Jean Valjean, we are talking about games here. Games are a luxury and not a necessity.

like I said I dont agree with drm but I also dont agree with piracy

both are wrong and it saddens me as a gamer

thanks for the mature response, have a good one

[Charmers]

Oh I agree with you there, people shouldn't buy the game and I agree that people shouldn't pirate it either, after all we don't want to give Ubisoft "excuses".

However it is equally important that this protection does get broken. If this protection remains unbroken it may encourage other publishers to hop on board. Even though there has been a massive outcry about the drm I could easily see publishers thinking "well the drm is unbroken the outcry has died down so lets use it".

As I said earlier I don't condone piracy or cracking but in this case this drm needs to be pummelled into the earth to demonstrate to publishers that a) the drm is massively unpopular and b) even if you ignore how unpopular it is the drm still won't protect your game.

Ah there are still some good people on N4G willing to debate things lol, good to see we can have a discussion on N4G sometimes. I do understand where you come from, it is never nice to show support for these kind of activities. However I feel personally that Ubisofts behaviour in this case have been even more heinous so I go with the "slightly not so bad guy" crackers this time round.

[UltimateIdiot911]

Get rid of DRM. Honestly, it's never going to stop pirates and these company should know that. Companies can spend millions of dollars on creating the world's best DRM and somewhere out there is a hacker just ready to have a field day. It's just another fun challenge for them.

So why push away actual customers and waste resources in a fruitless battle against hackers. There isn't a point. Also, DRM originally had intentions to stop the secondary market but in this day and age, the secondary market for PC games isn't that big. To keep DRM around is pointless.

The best a dev can do is give incentives to get the PC version of the game not give reasons to not buy the game and tempt pirates. You also need to remember that most pirates never intend on getting the game but by pirating a good game, so actually will turn around and buy the game out of respect and try to make up for guilt.

[squeeb]

I certainly hope the PC continues to receive support. When I have the option, for most games I prefer the PC port. This usually means:

-better graphics/resolutions
-a wider array of control options (sorry, but I'll take Keyboard+Mouse any day over a controller for an FPS)
-better communication in game (text and mic chat).

Not to mention the MOD communities..

[FragMnTagM]

What about legitimate customers like me who get screwed? I like to reinstall windows from time to time and some games will only let you install X amount of times when you have a physical copy of the disc, go figure. It's not right and it's not fair, I paid the money for the game and should have the right to install and re-install as i so choose. That is why I keep a crack for the game handy if I should so need it.

Is it wrong for me to use a crack on a game that I own?

I am also for trying a game out before you buy it. A lot of PC games do not get demos and I like to try a game before I buy it as some are iffy. It is not like a console game where you can rent it and try it out to see if you like it. If I download a game and hate it, I delete it right away. If I like it, I delete it also and go out and buy the darn thing, but keep the crack for future use if I should need it for some stupid DRM crap.

I do not condone piracy at all, I just firmly believe PC gamers are unfairly treated. Some people hate Steam, but I applaud them for their efforts in treating PC gamers with respect. I can buy many games from them, and transfer them from PC to PC with ease or redownload them if I choose to reinstall windows.

Am I a bad person Rowsdower?

[Eamon]

Rowsdower, maybe you've just got to face reality.

There will always be filesharing.
There will always be hackers.
There will always be pirates.

Why is Valve successful? Because their games are amazing and not over-priced. And they have good community support.

To be honest, some people think piracy is theft, others think it's not. It's such an ambigious and intangible concept that it really just comes down to your personal opinion.

[Rowsdower]

interesting....

obviously no one here makes their living in the gaming industry

in terms of facing reality....

its easy to be confident about your thievery when you do it from the comfort of your own home.

Someone also mentioned Valve.....

Steam is one giant DRM, read :

http://www.steampowered.com...

I agree they are successful they have just created an environment that they control using techniques like

Valuable Platform-Dependant Features

Customers won't want to pirate a game that's connected to 20 million gamers and a feature-rich platform. Features like Steam Achievements, Anti-Cheat, Auto-Updating, and Steam Cloud simply dont exist outside of Steam.

Furthermore, constantly updating your game with upgrades and content leaves the pirates in the dust they are relegated to a featureless game with no community of players.

I appreciate all the responses it was interesting to here all your rationalizations that wouldnt stand if you had to spend one minute in court over it.

I pay for all my games, always have always will. If I dont like the way a company is acting then I dont support with my money and I dont play their games. This is the simple, honest, and ethical way to deal with a situation like Ubisoft and AC2 on the PC. Yet I am wrong in some of your eyes.

I realize their will always be piracy, just like there will always be crime. I'm just doing my part because it is obvious that you are doing yours. Good luck.

[Eamon]

Rowsdower, how about someone who buys the game and uses the crack so he can play his games offline?

I understand your opinion about piracy but I think the crack is good for people who bought the game and don't want DRM issues.

Also remember, DRM is really only effective against people who purchase the game preowned since we all know hackers will find a way to crack it.

[NMC2007]

Next step, don't port your games to PC, problem solved.

[Letros]

this is probably what will happen, not to worry tho, the majority of the ports they provide are trash. It's just too bad this was first to happen with a PC exclusive title. Ah well, make good games and they sell, this holds true always.

[cpuchess]

I agree, this logic can be applied elsewhere to:

Ok car manufacturers remove all the key requirements, because we know they will steal the cars anyways and the only ones you are hurting is the legitimate owners by forcing them to use car keys.

[DiffusionE]

Actually, piracy does not automatically equal 'loss of sales'. It's more like 'illegal copying' rather than 'stealing'.

Your example is flawed. If you steal someone's car, he loses his car. But in piracy no actual game copy is lost. It's just that it is 'copied/duplicated/cloned without permission'. To equate piracy with car theft, the car has to be literally copied/replicated and the original car would not be lost to the owner.

A better example would be if you use a copyrighted property without the permission of the legal rights owner(on second thought, this is not even an example, it's the actual meaning of this whole 'game piracy' debacle).

[cpuchess]

No Piracy is like stealing since you are required to purchase the software license before you can use it. The ones who created it are not getting the money that you owe them.

[Eamon]

In reality, when a product is pirated, nobody loses money, BUT YES, the developer loses POTENTIAL sales.

There's a difference between losing money and losing potential sales. In a competition, a company can lose potential sales due to another competing company.

And I've never believed in this "license" bullcrap. If you buy a product, you've bought it and it belongs to you. You can do whatever you want with it. Including, sharing it on the internet.

If you want to introduce the "license" rule, then before you sell me your product, make me sign a contract first. Not dictating and enforcing your rules upon me.

[DiffusionE]

IMO, pirates are gonna pirate anyway regardless of whether a game has DRM or not. In actuality, the devs aren't losing anything from those people. So, they should just drop their excuse about losing tons of money to pirates.

Instead of worrying about pirates, they should worry about making better games people will actually want to buy at the right price. Take Assassin's Creed 2 for example. It's already 6 months late, is way overpriced, has only DX9 graphics and then there's the draconian DRM. That kind of setup is not gonna be attractive enough for many people to actually want to spend their money on.

[Eamon]

They're lying.

They're using "piracy" facade since their true objectives is preowned buyers.

[ReBurn]

That's kind of funny. I hate draconian DRM schemes that only hurt legitimate owners. I chuckle a little every time one falls.

[Scenarist]

YESS .. I CAN PLAY ... and i dont have to worry about not being able to play offline !!!!

IF they ever stop making games for the PC .. then Im going to buy a 360 and pirate on that instead ...

Only games I buy are ps3 exclusives... and a few multiplayer games for pc

[Vortex3D]

If AC2 stores the saved game file on the Ubisoft server, does the DRM crack now stores the saved game file on a pirated server?

[hazelamy]

the games still save on your own hard drive anyway, there is apparently an option to switch off saves on ubi's servers, but you still need a constant net connection to be able to play the game.
well, if you buy it you do, pirates won't have such a requirement.

[artsaber]

DRM only makes games and software for LEGITIMATE honest paying customers a pain in the azz. It has yet to stop ONE SINGLE PIRATE. Hell, I have even know users who BOUGHT software to download a cracked version of it and use it instead, because the pirated copy WORKED like it was supposed to, whereas the DRM store bought version was a pain. If companies invested more time and money into making solid products, they'd be better off than paying Millions for worthless 25hr DRM protections, etc.

[SolidSystem]

this is why you dont fight pirates. they are more tech savy than you will ever imagine and will get around it. now the consumer is hurt and your sales will only dive.

[champ21]

I was going to buy AC2, however with this DRM in place and the 59usd price i see no reason for purchase.

Infact I will not be buying anymore Ubisoft games. I have a copy of Farcry 2. I use it sometimes to benchmark my system. Recently after some hardware upgrades and a windows reinstall the game wouldnt allow me to install because i had reached the maximum install limit. I am not paying for using the game as a benchmark, Id rather crack it.

[Cernunnos]

I usually buy games, but with DRM's like this in place I'd rather download them...

[1nsp1re]

I did the same thing with gta4...

i bought the game....then i downloaded a crack to play it

[Bubble and Squeek]

It did the same thing.

Perversely, I *had* to do this. I bought my copy off of Steam, so I wasn't getting it to avoid a disk check. The DRM caused constant errors (such as the notorious WS10 Fatal Error), I stopped thinking of it as a crack and more as an "unofficial fan patch" since it actually allowed me to buy my legally bought game.

:-D

[BYAAHHH]

that piracy is like counterfeit money. Yes, the original is not lost, but you still have "money". The same goes for games, except it is an actual legit copy...

[Bubble and Squeek]

I am glad this has happened. I'm not going to buy it, not even for the Xbox360, I'm not going to pirate it either. When it comes to Ubisoft - I'm picking up my ball and going home, with only Beyond Good & Evil 2 having a chance to change my mind. Depending on the DRM arrangements for that, hopefully they go all Prince of Persia (2008) for it.

tbh, Ubisoft are moribund at this point, so it isn't really too much of a self-sacrifice. My attitude toward Ubisoft noticeably got icier following Assassins Creed 1, where the DRM was such that it "called home" every time an assassination was made, flag collected, templar killed etc. Making the game unplayable because it would noticible stop for up to 5 seconds. Pulling out the internet cable solved that problem though, bizarrley (think about it ;) )

I'm not one those anti-DRM zealots either. But if the DRM is such that it negatively effects me, a legitimate customer, then it can, bu*ger off, I'm not paying for it.

Steam have reached the sensible level, online activation is the most extreme to get. There will always be a hard core pirate community. There is no point investing millions to try to get people who will never pay to play, to pay. That's Steam's view of it, sensible people.

[GamesLatest]

Excuse me for asking, but many comments just flamed Ubi, fair enough, but did anyone download the cracked version and tried it out with no problems?

[Letros]

good point, was reading Ubisoft's forums and they claim that its fake and the DRM is working just fine.

[artsaber]

If it wasn't truly cracked in 25hrs, then it will be cracked eventually. A few days, next week, 3 weeks from now? It doesn't really matter, 9 chances out of 10 says that it will be cracked.

DRM is a waste, no matter who pays for it or uses it.

[squeeb]

Of course they claim its fake. Its called "Damage Control"

[Senden]

Ubisoft have been hurting their pc customers long before DRM was introduced into their games.. karma is a bich!