You can’t seem to write anything about Ubisoft that’s news-worthy without it being about their DRM some days. Ubisoft’s release Anno 2070, which if I remember the series correctly is a game built heavily around trading and economics. The game’s DRM limits you to three activations, and as you would expect, torches and pitchforks saw a 500% increase in sales on Amazon.
The DRM is centric to hardware changes, meaning if you replace your graphics card more than twice, that last one better be a custom job. Guru3D had asked about the DRM and Ubisoft’s response is why I’m not buying anything they’ve as much as been in the same room as for the rest of my life.They do say ” if you have used up these activations, simply contact our Support team who will provide you with further activations free of charge and without hassle.”
But contacting the support in itself is a hassle as this is the reply one consumer got:”Sorry to disappoint you – the game is indeed restricted to 3 hardware changes and there simply is no way to bypass that. We also do not have 7 copies of the game for you.”
They are deluded into thinking that this DRM curbs piracy, even though I’m certain the pirated copies of Anno 2070 are cracked to completely circumvent the DRM. In all honesty I don’t plan to give Ubisoft any of my earnings for the rest of this century, I’d sooner pirate the game and send a money order to the developers.
I am starting to wonder if these DRM methods are violating laws anywhere. I’m pretty certain they are at this point, because this kind of treatment being given to paying customers is unacceptable. You’re digging your own grave!
