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Wow. Well the gauntlet is thrown. I'm about as skeptical as Ubisoft is, to be honest. The new excuse will probably fall back on the tired, and full of crap, excuse: I'm downloading it to 'try it out'. But I hope to be proven wrong. | |
I hate to agree with "The Man" on this one, but people pirate because they don't have enough money to spend on games or don't want to spend money on games. They look for any reaosn to justify theft, and DRM is just one of them. It doesn't even make sense. You know those big bars by the doors of stores that beep if you walk through with stolen property? Well I don't like them, so I will steal tons of stuff I personally want from that store just to get back at them. Pirating is selfish, not some moral crusade. Personally, I love, and think its hilarious, that EA is going to make those people eat their words when this game is pirated as much as any other. | |
I personally just bought the new Prince myself, so hopefully other folks will follow the example and not screw this up for the rest of us. | |
PC Gamers, don't screw this up by pirating this one. | |
It's funny, I was just about to leave my office to go buy that game myself. (not because there is no DRM though :) ) | |
I'll be reading more reviews of this game ; and maybe buy it . I won't use steam though... | |
Yeah, I bought it before I read this article, but still... | |
hmm thats an awesome challenge, i have to say. it really is a shame it's a game i'm not interested in, otherwise i would happily go out and buy it right now. i'm wondering if this game will attract enough of a crowd to really show a difference (should it be there), i imagine it would. but go ubisoft! | |
Funny, I read this article right after coming home from buying Prince of Persia for my PS3. I'm with you in hoping that the sales of the PC version show that those arguing for piracy were being honest the whole time, but I'm putting money on the notion that the sales will show they weren't. | |
Tsk. Tsk. This is a game that needs to played on a big screen, wide screen HDTV. consoles for the win! Seriously though DRM vs No DRM won't make any difference at all, but it also can't hurt so go Ubisoft. | |
I don't feel like even trying it right now , a lot of people are saying how it is too short and too easy... Massive seeding on pirate bay ; depressing. | |
People will still pirate the games DRM or noDRM. However, noDRM really caters more to the actual customers by not fucking with their computer. I am as skeptical as the dude cited, but I applaud the initiative and will probably not borrow this game if I can't afford it yet. However, it is on my to get list when money needs to be tossed. Every new release with a huge title has massive seeds on pirate bay. | |
I applaud Ubisoft for this, If nothing else it will make for an interesting experiment even if it is at their expense. | |
Seriously, you're a moron if you do, this is your chance for redemption. Also, take him up on his offer. Also, I admit, I do tend to sponge off friends versions (Legal) before I purchase, because this laptop was great for gaming... at the start of the year. For the record, demos would stop most piracy. | |
I wish so, so much that this game won't be pirated that much, but I don't know. EA proved to themselves (even if they won't admit it) that DRM doesn't work with Spore. I seriously doubt this game will be pirated as much as Spore. | |
Yeah right, I'm sure this "dare" is going to make me spend money on their game -.- http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a225/HideCollector/sheep.jpg | |
Damn. I was considering buying this game, but after the DRM they put on the two thrones when I bought that I decided not to. They should have told me this ten days ago. Ah well Left 4 Dead is still a fun game. | |
2DBoy guesstimated that World of Goo (zero DRM) was pirated about as much as another game that had DRM. What they didn't have to worry about with WoG is the technical crap that DRM like EA's causes for legit customers. I bought it for the Wii, then bought for PC - it's a good game and I wanted to do right by them for doing right by me. That's all I want, really - to buy games that won't make me sorry I did...like EA's games. It's the dumbest thing ever: I'd like to buy but EA's pointless DRM prevents me from doing it. I don't download either, since I have a conscience about it, but doesn't matter in the end. No money for pubs who don't care about my private property. Props to those pubs that dare to try and keep customers. | |
To all the iconoclasts out there: Ubisoft has just called you out. Here's where we draw a line and you have to look inward and make a choice. Have you really been pirating games just as a form of protest towards DRM, or have you been swayed by the obvious benefits of getting something for free by stealing it from others? If DRM really is the reason, will you stick to your values, or will you prove to be as greedy and corrupt as we think you are? Ubisoft has make the first move. Your turn. | |
Most critics I found were saying how this game is easy , dumb and short ; a game has to be more than good looking to tempt me. I am not downloading it for the heck of it either though. | |
If a game contains intrusive DRM I don't like I don't pirate it, I simply refuse to buy it. Although it's very nice to hear the new Prince of Persia comes without it, I've never really been a fan of the series but I may just take another look now I've seen the company behind it making such a nice gesture. It would be nice for gamers worldwide to show that they really hate DRM, and purchase it legally. Although as everyone else has said, I'm not holding out much hope, because when you get right down to it a human being can rationalize any behaviour no matter how ludicrous the rationalization/behaviour is. | |
If devolpers release more demos, I think less people would pirate games. | |
This will be interesting to see if there is a heavy load of pirating with exactly this excuse. My own opinion is that, despite the many issues with game reviews, there is enough information on the net now allowing one to make a reasonable guess whether one will like or not like a game before making a purchase. Even so, there will always be a contingent that will pirate, DRM or no DRM. | |
I would not call the gauntlet thrown until a big-name title with a playable demo hits shelves without DRM. If and when that happens, what excuse would be left? I suppose there is "I need to check system compatibility," so maybe this is all a fool's gambit anyway. | |
Well, that's set it in stone. I'm buying this game. | |
Wow, this is quite an interesting challenge. The gauntlet has been thrown (I totaly did not rip off the first poster here...), and we will see how honest people will be. I pray to god that PC gamers won't screw this up (I totaly did not rip that off the 5th poster...again). If this is successful, this could really possibly hopefully truely be a step towards less restrictive DRM. Though, if what Ubisoft says is true, then this will completely backfire on the gamers. Either way, Ubisoft is risking their money on this. We'll see what happens. | |
i am now planning on buying this game, if only to give them positive reinforcement | |
Well, I'm definitely going to have to buy it now. Regardless of the reasoning why, I'm glad that Ubisoft has at least tried cater to their customers. Hopefully, the hand won't be bitten... | |
If this game is pirated less than expected, we win the argument because it shows that people really do pirate because of DRM. If the game is pirated around as much as expected, we win becuase it shows that DRM has no effect on piracy (More of a semi-draw, this one). If it is pirated more that usual, EA is proven right, and hell will freeze over. I really can't see this turning out badly for us gamers. | |
Wasn't that the original reason for demos? There is, of course, the faction that has no moral justification, because they don't care, and thus DRM will not really matter. In any case, Vanguard is right: gauntlet thrown. Let's show that we're not hypocrites. Personally, I'm actually with dcheppy on this; Xbox 360 with HDTV for the win, but if I were an adamant PC gamer, this would definitely pique my interest. | |
I'd be very curious as to what metrics Ubi is using to determine if this effort is successful or not. | |
Y'know, I was actually going to skip this until now. I'm buying this game just because of this news. As for demos decreasing piracy by a significant amount...I don't think so. I think the ratio of people who pirate because they want to try it out and not spend money on a game they don't like and the people who pirate for other reasons is more in favor of those who pirate for other reasons (if that makes any sense). But we'll see. Hopefully people buy this game in significant enough numbers for it to actually make a statement. | |
My gut instinct would be their metric is the added value of not paying anyone to put DRM on the disc in the first place. | |
I bet what they will find out it the exact same number of people pirate the game as have pirated Assassin's Creed, Previous Prince of Persia games, Mass Effect, Spore, GTA IV, et al. The lack of DRM won't have an impact on the pirating, but will drastically reduce the number of people bitching in their forums about SecuRom issues and save them the money they would have spent on it. | |
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Ubisoft Challenges Gamers With DRM-Free Prince Of Persia
Ubisoft is challenging DRM-hating gamers to put their money where their mouths are by releasing the new Prince of Persia title with no copy protection whatsoever, even though the company doesn't appear to have much hope that it will work out.
DRM is a touchy topic for both gamers and game publishers these days: Publishers keep searching for new and better ways to protect their investments, while gamers push just as hard in the opposite direction, pirating games as much for spite as anything else. Electronic Arts easily leads the pack in terms of both aggressive implementation of DRM in its games and vicious and focused consumer backlash against its policies: Spore, which quickly became emblematic of customer dissatisfaction with the company, was burdened with possibly the harshest form of SecuROM copy protection ever seen, and yet was recently cited as the most illegally-downloaded game of 2008.
Whether or not rampant EA hate had any bearing on Ubisoft's decision is debatable, but there it is nonetheless: The retail version of Price of Persia has no DRM at all. (Copies purchased via Steam will still make use of Steam's validation system.) How much of an impact that will have on illegal distribution of the game remains to be seen, and Community Developer Chris "UbiRazz" Easton, for one, isn't holding his breath for good things.
"You're right when you say that when people want to pirate the game they will, but DRM is there to make it as difficult as possible for pirates to make copies of our games," he wrote in a post on the Ubisoft forums. "A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP PC has no DRM we'll see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine."
Despite his weary tone, however, Easton offered a little personal encouragement to people who don't copy the game. "I'm fairly skeptical as [DRM] is an easy answer given by a lot of people why they pirate games," he wrote, "but if you're going to buy this game instead of pirating purely because of no DRM in the store version then if I ever meet you in real life I'll happily shake your hand and buy you a drink."
So what do you think? Will the absence of DRM lead to lower rates of piracy (and more drinks bought in Montreal), or just a new batch of excuses and rationalizations? There's no doubt the game will be pirated; the only question is how much. To paraphrase Shane Kim (and Reggie Fils-Aime and just about everyone else in the business these days), I'm cautiously pessimistic: I'd love to see gamers use this opportunity to demonstrate that their beefs are legitimate and not just easy justifications for bad behavior, but I'm not particularly hopeful.
via: Ars Technica
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