Well that was kinda obvious wasn't it. They tried to make a steam-a-like without offline mode and with less benefits for the consumer, and it blew up in their faces. Lots of complaints.

The problem is, it was totally predictable that this would happen. It is hard to make good DRM, most kinds are cracked in very little time.

You can retweet this to ubisoft ....

@ubisoft Please soften ur Draconian DRM or u will get no more transferred of cash on any platform from ur gamer (cont) http://tl.gd/jvpck

You can retweet this to ubisoft ....

@ubisoft Please soften ur Draconian DRM or u will get no more transferred of cash on any platform from ur gamer (cont) http://tl.gd/jvpck

You can retweet this to ubisoft ....

@ubisoft Please soften ur Draconian DRM or u will get no more transferred of cash on any platform from ur gamer (cont) http://tl.gd/jvpck

You can retweet this to ubisoft ....

@ubisoft Please soften ur Draconian DRM or u will get no more transferred of cash on any platform from ur gamer (cont) http://tl.gd/jvpck

You can retweet this to ubisoft ....

@ubisoft Please soften ur Draconian DRM or u will get no more transferred of cash on any platform from ur gamer (cont) http://tl.gd/jvpck

You can retweet this to ubisoft ....

@ubisoft Please soften ur Draconian DRM or u will get no more transferred of cash on any platform from ur gamer (cont) http://tl.gd/jvpck

You can retweet this to ubisoft ....

@ubisoft Please soften ur Draconian DRM or u will get no more transferred of cash on any platform from ur gamer (cont) http://tl.gd/jvpck

As one of the members of the group responsible for the release of SH5, I just have to say this:-

Do you know how many people you're pissing off with your DRM? Do you think it's doing your reputation any favours or generating more sales?

Methinks not...

However, Ubisoft are right in that we have overlooked some issues with regard to the DRM. Unluckily for you idiots at Ubi, we've already figured out how to rectify these issues and are already coding the required tools. So enjoy your tiny moment because it won't last long!

And to leave you with some final thoughts: How much did it cost you to develop your DRM? Cost us much less to break it! Your new DRM at the moment is interesting and fresh! so much better than the usual we see, so by all means, keep updating and keep devising new techniques as that just keeps us interested and turns you into a bigger target.

Sorry for the inconvenience people, normal service will be resumed soon.

First off, these companies need to realize that pirates will always be. They don't do it for profit or to get a free game. They do it for the challenge!!!

2nd, Many of the people who pirate, weren't going to buy the game anyway. Why hurt the people supporting the Publishing Companies, by raising prices and forcing us to be online?

I figure the pirating breakdown like this:
X will fully pirate and never spend money. (freeloaders. Heck, we have them in the non-gaming world too)
Y will pirate to see if a game is worth spending the money (possible buyer).
Z will pirate because the publishing companies charge too much (another possible buyer).

So, it's important to look at Y and Z and forget about X. Stupid companies, like this one, waste millions on trying to combat it, because they think X will change their minds and start spending money.

If I were a publishing company, I would not exactly embrace piracy, but use it.

1. You could spend less money on advertising, because the pirates are doing it for you.
2. Not waste loads of money on anti-piracy research and technology.
3. Charge less for games because of 1 and 2, which would help generate sales from the Y and Z people.
4. Quit hurting the game supporters, with DRM and other hassles. As you can see, it has an affect!!!

In closing, as a gamer, and for the good of video gaming, do your part and buy games that are worth it!!!

I'm sure there is stuff I (and you) could add to it, so feel free.

Happy Gaming!!!!

PC gaming has given way to consoles as the predominant gaming medium. Companies have said thaat PC gaming is dying. Then they release DRM measures such as this, ensuring that people do not buy their titles. They then look at their figures and see that sales are down and piracy is up - ignoring that this is as a direct result of their draconian DRM. As such, they say that developing for the PC is no longer feasible, and PC gaming dies.

They seem to miss the fact that if they remove gaming from the PC, then only console games will be pirated - and pirated they will be. I guess the existing console pirate scene, especially for the 360, just isn't as "convenient" to note in their figures.

They seem to miss the fact that, no matter what medium they force us to, people will still revolt against their increasingly freedom-crushing methods. And I aint even a hippy liberal.

Erm, sry to burst your bubble but the theory about 'mostly cloud based code' being almost impossible to crack is a bit far fetched considering people already host pirated MMO's (which, as I recall, rely on huge amounts of code kept on online servers).

Why do you think Ubi went this way? They see the huge amounts of dollars that MMO's (well, WoW) and multiplayer games make and the general lack of complaint about maintaining a connection and then (il)logically came to the conclusion that the same system would work great for single player games...

All your copy protections are always circumvented in some way.

You will never stop piracy.

GIVE UP NOW AND STOP WASTING YOUR MONEY AND TIME.

Release games with NO DRM. No copy protection and NOTHING AT ALL that could possibly piss off people who buy the game.

Guess what?

IT WILL BE CHEAPER.
YOU WON'T BE SPENDING $$$$ ON DRM R&D.
YOU WILL SAVE MONEY.

MORE PEOPLE WILL BUY YOUR GAMES.

When you piss people off, they don't want to buy your products.

I will not be buying your products with this crappy DRM either, I will pirate them, because it's just so much less hassle.

Like vast areas of the world I have a somewhat less than 100% reliable internet connection. As such I will never buy software which requires you to be online to function. I don't know what fantasy world UBIsoft are living in I only know that I will not be part of it.

[warning: spoil alert]

Bleed till death Ubisoft, for being such an naive bastard. May thee DRM Curse eat your toes while you sleep in the sea of black sand!

All I know is that there have been 5 recent titles that I was looking forward to playing, but after reading reviews about the DRM, I decided that I don't need to play them, legal or otherwise.

I know it's a drop in the bucket, but there's five sales that were never made because of invasive DRM.

Mark G

I have a feeling more developers are going to give up on PC games and focus on consoles. You know its coming its just a matter of time before developers wont develop for insecure platforms like the PC and steam becomes the only outlet for PC games to acquire them.

The game is cracked but there is an inability to choose missions onece finished with the tutorial mission, though many have said this is related to the release of the 1.1 patch NOT the crack (confirmation required) Once again Ubi fail to realise that by implementing such draconian drm measure they are ONLY pi$$ing off legitimate buyers and dangling a red rag in front of the crackers who see it as merely another challenge. The servers required to play the game have been at best patchy with more time spent looking at disconnection screens than pericopes. This ultimately led me to seek out and pull the crack rather than get pi$$ed off at spending hard earned cash on a buggy dumbed down version of SH that was NOWHERE near release standards. Ubisoft should be ashamed and I hope they (among others) get the message that they are helping to kill off PC gaming.......the muppets!

Ubisoft's DRM servers are down already.

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4721051016/m/7481010838/p/1

Now it's cracked, I'll probably buy SH5. That ill conceived on-line DRM was the only thing putting me off.

"Even if it wasn't crackable (it is), the next thing that would happen was a DDOS-attack on Ubi's servers. It's how things work on the net. Piss off the wrong people and you're out.

Actually, someone go do that right now. I'd love to see the shitstorm unleashed on Ubisoft."

Amen to that. When will these publishers learn (if ever) that copy protection schemes do nothing to prevent piracy. All they do is screw over, and piss off, the legitimate paying customers.

Even if it wasn't crackable (it is), the next thing that would happen was a DDOS-attack on Ubi's servers. It's how things work on the net. Piss off the wrong people and you're out.

Actually, someone go do that right now. I'd love to see the shitstorm unleashed on Ubisoft.

One problem with cloud based DRM is that there are considerable latency issues whenever the "cloud-based" code is run.

The other issue is that, given that the game is most likely a console port, by looking at the console version of the game, it would be possible to work out no only what the cloud-based code is doing, but how it is doing it.

If some group wanted to, they could just DDOS one of the servers and see how many people got pissed off...

Ok maybe nowdays everyone have internet but what if you dont? Are these people not suppose to play new games? if i was the journalist i would ask Ubisoft this.
also the fact that this sort of DRM solution simply make people like me who usually buys the good games simply download the cracked version as i hate to fund companies who pull these nonsense protection schemes.

For the non-pirates...Todays menu is no server, so no game for you...
Thankyou UBIsoft!

@Calamari

Unless a huge portion of the game itself runs on the server, it doesn't matter which scheme they use, it'll be cracked easily by people in the know.

Ubisoft is just delaying the invitable.

I decide the future of this concept with my wallet.
I don't like it, I wont buy it , and i'm not interesting in pissing about with stupid hacks and stealing software that took years to develop.

Nathen:

I never said it won't be cracked, I said a properly implemented cloud based DRM would be almost impossible to crack. If a large portion of the code is run on the server, then cracking the game would require a huge amount of reverse engineering. It would be unfeasible to do it in a reasonable timeframe.

However, I doubt Ubisoft is doing this (at least not yet). The server might just be sending the game "keep alive" packets, periodically. Or maybe just a very small portion of the games code is run on the server (which could make developing a crack take several months).

Gaz:

Comments on torrent sites also indicate that the crack is not fully functional.

i can assure you that the silent hunter 5 crack does work. i'm using it and can say with certainty its fine.

the dev says it doesnt work? well what a surprise lol

" f some of the code is run on the server, this could be a very difficult protection to crack. I'm not sure if this is how Ubisoft has implemented the protection, but cloud based DRM, implemented properly, would be virtually impossible to crack.
posted by : King Calamari, 06 March 2010 "

LMAO Jesus dude. You really need to go out doors and breath some fresh air. You seriously think this won't be cracked?? LMAO, lol .
The ony way this could have sounded more amusing ii if George Bush would have said it.

Just wait a bit and then you will see how impossible it is.

Very poor "journalism", here. The crack does not work, according to Ubisoft. One of the actual developers that works on Silent Hunter 5 also says the crack does not work.

If some of the code is run on the server, this could be a very difficult protection to crack. I'm not sure if this is how Ubisoft has implemented the protection, but cloud based DRM, implemented properly, would be virtually impossible to crack.

Hahahah take that Ubisoft....

You wanna rip off legal buyers by putting your garbage DRM.

I hope your company goes bankrupt & more & more people pirate your games!

Unless of course you change your mind & remove copy protection all together...

Until then... BURN BURN BURN!!!

give it the weekend... we'll see.

Right now the copy protection of the recent Ubisoft titles Silent Hunter V and Assassin's Creed 2 are not fully cracked. Some of the implemented hooks were not removed so the singleplayer campaign of Silent Hunter stops at the 2nd mission and Assassin's Creed crashes after entering the Animus. Claiming the protection was beaten seems a bit premature.