Ubisoft's DRM servers unreachable as gamers try to play Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter V.
Gamers have been up in arms ever since word got out about Ubisoft's internet-required DRM scheme. It seems that a worst-case scenario has happened, as owners in of Silent Hunter V and Assassin's Creed II were unable to play due to Ubisoft's authentication server being down.
Ubisoft's latest DRM effort will not allow its game to play unless there is a connection between the player and the publisher's servers. If anything should happen at either end, the player – even if in the middle a game – will be ejected to the main menu screen. Over the weekend, Ubisoft's servers went down, which left gamers with relatively new games unable to play.
North American weren't as largely affected by the downtime as Assassin's Creed II doesn't launch here until Tuesday, but those in Australia and Europe held back from their games show a critical weakness in this form of DRM.
An Ubisoft UK community manager commented in the official forum:
I don't have any clear information on what the issue is since I'm not in the office, but clearly the extended downtime and lengthy login issues are unacceptable, particularly as I've been told these servers are constantly monitored.
I'll do what I can to get more information on what the issue is here first thing tomorrow and push for a resolution and assurance this won't happen in the future. I realise that's not ideal but there's only so much I can do on a weekend as I'm not directly involved with the server side of this system.
In another post, the same community manager wrote:
Due to exceptional demand, we are currently experiencing difficulties with the Online Service Platform. This does not affect customers who are currently playing, but customers attempting to start a game may experience difficulty in accessing our servers. We are currently working to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience.
Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
Related links:
Ubisoft Patch Makes its Internet DRM Less Painful
Maybe there should be a disclaimer on the game box saying something like
"Caution! Only playable during regular office hours. Because if the server goes down outside those hours, nobody's on it until the next day."
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what really happened was ALL legitimate paying customers were refused access to the game they just purchased - yet the pirates had complete unrestricted access and essentially a better game from day 1 of release
i can see the incentive right there - lets buy a game that might not work each time i go to play it due to idiots overseas and watch the pirates gloat on the other side having the merry time
you really did hang the jury with the innocent ubisoft - i only wish i could be a fly on the wall at the first quarterly sales figures for your games when managment packs a tanty because for some completley unknown reason no one is buying your games anymore!
And i would be that this isnt going to be the last. It sucks that people want to do this and spoil the game for those who actualy paid for it, but then I guess ubisoft were pretty stupid thinking that something like this wouldnt happen.