[101459]

Anyways, I was thinking of picking up all 4 copies there for an old LAN setup me and a few friends play on but then I read the box that said something along the lines that the "DRM may not work with and possibly cause problems with some optical drives" and remembered the ridiculous Starforce copy protection that came with the game.

Needless to say I dropped it like a hot potato. Just goes to show Ubi's short-sighted thinking adding DRM that will cripple sales in the long run.

I lost count of the number of times I've heard this recounted with Lockdown, the Splinter Cell games, and other titles with onerous DRM -- a lot of people that I used to play these games with just aren't around any more because they're practical, drew a line and just aren't willing to put up and pay for this sort of bs.

It's bewildering that Ubisoft lacks the awareness, marking tools, and/or business acumen to make the connection between titles with respectable console sales performance that flop on PC with onerous DRM -- probably has something to do with the DRM. The old saw from Marketing 1001: 'Make your product/service as effortless to purchase and access as possible' comes to mind in the aftermath of buying these games where in some cases many are not even able to play what they paid for.

That the most successful publishers have all taken steps in the roughly the same direction of the model pioneered by Microsoft (later dropped with LIVE with results parallel to and as poor as Ubisoft's) and adopted by Steam, Origin, Impulse, Desura and others that's both transparent and errs on the side of the Customer -- acknowledging: 'the Customer may not always be right but the Customer is always the Customer' (the people paying the bills after all) and are consistently more successful then Ubisoft on PC for having made that choice; should ring bells at Blue Puddle, one would think.

I'm surprised Ubisoft hasn't made an approach to partnering or buying up Impulse or Desura, it would give them a ready made, proven, transparent DRM and e-tailing solution that works, and at the very least more credibility then Origin as both platforms already support other Developer/Publishers and would offer Ubisoft higher margins then any of the alternatives including their current approach...

Edited by 101459, 24 January 2012 - 11:28 PM.

[aragorn777]

DRMs are stupid UBI! Haven't you learned that yet? Keep is Simple Sir, is the Ghost motto for success. Yes, your software is valuable but PLEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEEE stop being invasive! And learn how to provide good protection for your investment- BUILD KICK-BUTT GAMES! at affordable prices and MORE people will buy it than steal it! Plus provide good simple password protection. Enough said.