View Full Version : Public statement against DRM (yet not SH5)
martes86
03-15-10, 10:42 AM
Hey everybody,
By the title of this thread most of you are already wondering why the hell would we want yet another complaint post out of the hundreds of those already populating the forums. Well, this one is an official complaint from a simulation community like the one I represent, that is, the 24th Flotilla. I don't really know how many communities have officially positioned themselves, but I hope this one serves some purpose.
http://www.24flotilla.com/foro/viewtopic.php?t=36407 (both Spanish and English)
Please note that we're still commited in the fight against piracy, and I've recently banned several new members (since I am the global moderator there) just for the very mention of the group that cracked SH5 (despite what Ubisoft is telling us, it's been cracked, and it works), but if even our own Staff members tasked with exploring SH5's tournament capabilities can't play online for several days, then we can't efficiently and credibly defend the game (or make our community work with it), and tell everyone else that they should buy it no matter what. That this supposedly "so-good" DRM system is actually a total fail that has been preventing legal buyers from playing for several days (yet not a problem for pirates), and still counting, and that it only weakens our efforts to actually help Ubi make money by banning those who just download it, no matter the excuse used. Even those that bought it are going for refunds after several days of not being able to play.
That's why we want to, in a civilized manner, ask Ubisoft to retire this painful DRM, and help us in promoting both our passion and their business.
Also, after having had a go at the sim (I bought it the day it came out, right after work), while it has many bugs to be fixed (and mods to be made), I think it has an enormous potential to become the sim of our dreams, and so I'd like to thank the Devs for their efforts (and their will to innovate, to do new stuff), which I'm sure have been beyond the call of duty in lots of times.
Cheers :rock:
Ubi doesn't need anybody to help them, they've been helping themselves in promoting their own business, by implementing DRM in this game. http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/Panzer_Kamerad/smileys/icon_neutral.gif
Though your request for international assistance in gathering the largest number of players to form a proper anti-DRM committee is quite noble, I don't think DRM will ever be disabled in the future.
:damn: :(
I hold both Neal and the mods in high regard, so let's say that I'm almost ashamed to say that in here... But I'll certainly go the illegal way to disable DRM. :-?
Well, this one is an official complaint from a simulation community like the one I represent...
Sorry, but making something official doesn't mean jack ****. Especially when it comes from someone (and I mean communities in general, not the 24th) that doesn't have the power to change anything or in other words put pressure to a company like Ubi.
As long as Ubi has paying customers from it's bigger selling titles, the subsim community very little to say about how Ubi runs things. We are "expendable".
Sorry, but making something official doesn't mean jack ****. Especially when it comes from someone (and I mean communities in general, not the 24th) that doesn't have the power to change anything or in other words put pressure to a company like Ubi.
As long as Ubi has paying customers from it's bigger selling titles, the subsim community very little to say about how Ubi runs things. We are "expendable".
Unfortunately looking at the numbers, i.e. realizing that SHV is a niche product in a nice of 9% PC market sales that Ubisoft Corporate reported for 2009, I totally agree.
Even worse, the pirates cracking this damn thing and the likely DDOS attacks (disclaimer: unless it was just badly estimated need for OSP server capacity and architecture) will give Ubisoft all the reason now to claim that they released high value products and got screwed by software piracy again. They will not step back from DRM, and I expect even the $10 bin version will have it.
Ubisofts experiments on DRM in the past decade, its new 2010 business strategy paper and the way this company listens to customers is rather indicative of the importance it does not pays to the latter, but the big black $$$ sign it needs to hold up every year for stockholders and investors. The overall picture is just too consistent to expect any change.
Gammelpreusse
03-15-10, 12:38 PM
Hey everybody,
By the title of this thread most of you are already wondering why the hell would we want yet another complaint post out of the hundreds of those already populating the forums. Well, this one is an official complaint from a simulation community like the one I represent, that is, the 24th Flotilla. I don't really know how many communities have officially positioned themselves, but I hope this one serves some purpose.
http://www.24flotilla.com/foro/viewtopic.php?t=36407 (both Spanish and English)
Please note that we're still commited in the fight against piracy, and I've recently banned several new members (since I am the global moderator there) just for the very mention of the group that cracked SH5 (despite what Ubisoft is telling us, it's been cracked, and it works), but if even our own Staff members tasked with exploring SH5's tournament capabilities can't play online for several days, then we can't efficiently and credibly defend the game (or make our community work with it), and tell everyone else that they should buy it no matter what. That this supposedly "so-good" DRM system is actually a total fail that has been preventing legal buyers from playing for several days (yet not a problem for pirates), and still counting, and that it only weakens our efforts to actually help Ubi make money by banning those who just download it, no matter the excuse used. Even those that bought it are going for refunds after several days of not being able to play.
That's why we want to, in a civilized manner, ask Ubisoft to retire this painful DRM, and help us in promoting both our passion and their business.
Also, after having had a go at the sim (I bought it the day it came out, right after work), while it has many bugs to be fixed (and mods to be made), I think it has an enormous potential to become the sim of our dreams, and so I'd like to thank the Devs for their efforts (and their will to innovate, to do new stuff), which I'm sure have been beyond the call of duty in lots of times.
Cheers :rock:
Good post and my full support. I recon UBI is just a company under immense financial pressure to get the piracy problem under control. I do not see inherit evil there but a certain lack of creativity and way too much stress to topple the problem.
The DRM has to go, that is an absolute given, and UBI has to find ways to make a DRM that is giving something to the players, instead of taking something away. Reward honest customers instead of accepting collateral damage in this obsessive fight against piracy.
That does not take away that SH V is, though buggy as hell, a true pearl waiting to be discovered and worthy of all the support we can deliver.
Iron Budokan
03-15-10, 12:45 PM
As long as Ubi has paying customers from it's bigger selling titles, the subsim community very little to say about how Ubi runs things. We are "expendable".
^^This.
rsvette12
03-15-10, 01:04 PM
Well said Martes :yeah: :yeah:
Rich
UBI doesn't care about fan clubs otherwise they wouldn't have implemented such hedius DRM software.
I do not subscribe piracy but in this case let pirates win the battle (if they are really doing anything, and if is not UBI incompetence causing the problems!)
Anyway as long time customer of UBI I don't give a f**k if UBI sales go terrible/or if the company gets in trouble. It will be a good thing and would make that company to come down to the real world.
The message must be return faulty games into the shops if you bought it and cannot play when you want. OR DO NOT BUY a troublesome incomplete game such as it is SH5.
The message must be return faulty games into the shops if you bought it and cannot play when you want.
But this message is gone now, thanks to the piracy efforts. Now they can blame it again in the latter, without having to look at themselves for fault. Like they did with SHIV.
Nordmann
03-15-10, 02:03 PM
We might have been able to do something about it, if people could only have restrained themselves from buying the damned game. But no, for all the complaints, they go like lambs to the slaughter.
Ubi must be having a good laugh at our expense (well, your expense, I didn't buy it), because they know that they can release a half finished product, with ridiculous restrictions, and their loyal fans will go right ahead and buy it regardless.
subsimlee
03-15-10, 02:13 PM
Nordmann, GameStop/E.B. gave me my money back and told me Assasins' Creed for Xbox 360 was down for days last week causing a major web flameup..They have been taking SH5 copies back at an ever increasing rate and going after UBI but figure UBI just wants to cut retailers right out of the loop anyway.
martes86
03-15-10, 02:24 PM
Sorry, but making something official doesn't mean jack ****. Especially when it comes from someone (and I mean communities in general, not the 24th) that doesn't have the power to change anything or in other words put pressure to a company like Ubi.
As long as Ubi has paying customers from it's bigger selling titles, the subsim community very little to say about how Ubi runs things. We are "expendable".
I'd like to think that things are a little brighter than that. They may not care about individuals, but whole nodes of players, communities, complaining all at once against this, it must have some effect, some repercussions, how could it be possible that a whole group of people positioned against it, and nothing happens?
Even better... do you really think that if Subsim officially positioned against DRM (and as an extention, the whole community or most of it), that it wouldn't make any difference? The thing of good-press/bad-press doesn't matter anything these days? Just getting money does? I doubt it in this case (maybe true in others with a little less media attention). Sadly, Subsim is far from doing that (I understand that Subsim has a stand to keep), so I guess we'll never know.
We might have been able to do something about it, if people could only have restrained themselves from buying the damned game. But no, for all the complaints, they go like lambs to the slaughter.
Ubi must be having a good laugh at our expense (well, your expense, I didn't buy it), because they know that they can release a half finished product, with ridiculous restrictions, and their loyal fans will go right ahead and buy it regardless.
Well, there's other ways to show disagreement... plain boycott isn't the only way to do things (I find it too extreme a measure), and it might actually be the killing shot to future subsim developments. And, anyways, it seems like refunds are up to date these days, so maybe income is much lower than initially expected.
Cheers :rock:
...
Well, there's other ways to show disagreement... plain boycott isn't the only way to do things (I find it too extreme a measure), and it might actually be the killing shot to future subsim developments. And, anyways, it seems like refunds are up to date these days, so maybe income is much lower than initially expected.
Cheers :rock:
Though!
Sell me something I want to buy not something you want to sell.
I'm their customer not UBI is my customer. And as customer I do not surrender my information and rights for free in name of piracy. If are hackers doing the job then my contratulations to them. But I suspect that is the shear incompetence of UBI on providing the service and easily blaming hackers/pirates for going fast to a fail!
I'm sorry but I have no pity on UBI regarding that and if they back track and sell a game rather than rubish the I'll be happy to buy it.
I'd like to think that things are a little brighter than that. They may not care about individuals, but whole nodes of players, communities, complaining all at once against this, it must have some effect, some repercussions, how could it be possible that a whole group of people positioned against it, and nothing happens?
Cheers :rock:
They do not care about individuals and they do not care about fanclubs; because this DRM matter has been well discussed even UBI had not released a preview neither a beta game for testers. So UBI ignored everything and everyone so the only thing they listen is money. Therefore hit hard on money, and I as customer do my bit because I dont think that their product named SH5 is worth the money under this conditions even it was a complete game with all details possible and imaginary.
But unfortunatly apart from the good name series then managed to produce a hell of a rubish by adding all the pointless online restrictions to a game that cannot be played if doesn't existe internent or if internent is intermitent.
A rubish SH5 product that isn't worth its money... UBI must be paying their customers to play SH5 not otherwise.
As I said earlier post... Sell me what I want to buy not what you want to sell!
We might have been able to do something about it, if people could only have restrained themselves from buying the damned game. But no, for all the complaints, they go like lambs to the slaughter.
Ubi must be having a good laugh at our expense (well, your expense, I didn't buy it), because they know that they can release a half finished product, with ridiculous restrictions, and their loyal fans will go right ahead and buy it regardless.
That is the best and only point that can be said in a situation like this.
If we are unhappy with the product, as more than a majority of us are, let our wallets do the talking. Many people were unhappy about DRM, and made vows and what not, but they were little more than talk. They bought the game anyways, just as you said being sheep, but now complain when the server goes down and they can't play. It is people like this that make the cause of fighting DRM like systems a losing cause. Because they will still buy the game, giving the company exactly what they want. And once they have what they want, they do not care whether we are happy or not as we have seen with SHIV (thanks to the modding community it is a great game.)
I am surprised at the people on subsim. I have been here since the announcement of SH3. Many times during the development of SH3 and SH4 subsim was given alot of say and respect (hell we changed the release date of SH3 so we could get a dynamic campaign!). Yet with SH5 we were all but left in the dark had it not been for Neal. That first and foremost was the big red flag for me. Slapping a community in the face that has been helping carry your releases in a certain niche. Then the fact that the game only plays out to 43? Big red flag number two. This told me that if fact they were releasing half a product, no doubt with plans to make the "expansion" or "DLC" play out till 45. Last and certainly not least DRM. The thrid and final and most important big red flag. You have to be online and connected to a server in order to play the game you paid for? Pff, what a joke and anyone who bought into that is just the same joke, and the joke is far far from being funny. Willing to give up their freedom in order to play the "latest" and "best" version of SH. All that did was slap SH series. Now those some people are reaping the consequences of jumping on board a sinking ship.
To me this fiasco is not unlike the Empire Total War fiasco. Anyone who knows of that game knows that there were huge promises made during pre-release of how wonderful the game was and the AI and the graphics and the playability and the modding tools. Yet once released the only thing they delivered on was the graphics. The game hardly worked, and even the lead developer of another company called out Sega and CA saying that there isn't even an AI in the game. CA claims to have been happy with the game upon release, yet 9 months after the fact one of the dev teams posted how he was so embarrassed with the game that he wouldn't even give the game to his friends. Yet they had no problems lying to the community they had built so much respect with and selling them a broken game. Then on top of all of that, instead of fixing the game (which is still broke as hell even with some of the best mods) they instead announce that they are working on another game. Not even an expansion, but a different game all together. Nailing the final nail in their coffin for me. Because they slapped me and the TW community in the face I will no longer purchase any TW games upon release and more than likely will not buy them period. AS a result, of not just me but of the entire community (save the few brainwashed ones) NTW sales have suffered greatly. Rightfully so. The same should be done with SH5 and UBI.
UBI is doing the same thing and I see the writing on the wall. I do feel a certain pain for the people who bought the game with high hopes. I had done the same with ETW. I know you pain and your frustration. But just as SEGA/CA didn't care, UBI will not care as well. They are and have turned their backs on the subsim community, period.
But maybe this is a great thing. I imagine a better run company who respects their customers more will pick up the SH series and make it better than UBI ever tried to (with the exception of SH3).
Bilge_Rat
03-15-10, 04:28 PM
Except to a few (unmentionable) gamers, their OSP infected games are not selling. Over the weekend, they sold one SHv copy through Amazon. The much hullabalooed Assassins Creed 2 is also down the toilet.
where do you get such detailed info?
There was a series of excellent article on 2d Games analysis or piracy from rockpapershotgun.com. They had an interesting reaction to about 80%+ of their PC audience pirating their game
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/11/15/world-of-goo-piracy-rate-82/
I’m sure that many will pick at the maths above and argue their reasoning why they think this number might be lower (or even higher), but I’m not sure that’s relevant. Unless there’s a dramatic proof out there that slashes this figure into a quarter, it strikes me as a distraction. If one can’t destroy this number, and therefore the 82% figure is close enough to accurate, given that it might be slightly lower or higher, what then? That’s the interesting discussion. Is this piracy a problem?
2D BOY certainly don’t believe that adding DRM to their game would have made any difference. (I would argue that logic dictates this – something that is always cracked on Day 0/1, and only affects the legitimate customers and not the pirates, is going to do nothing realistic. But clearly very few publishers agree, so there’s still much debate to be had). But have they been robbed of 86% of their sales? Again, the implication from the company is they think perhaps 1 or 2 of every 1000 of those pirated copies could have been a sale. But there’s still tens of thousands of people with a copy without paying for it, far more than those who did pay.
Here’s another question. If piracy figures don’t represent lost sales, what do they represent? Is it an indictment of humanity? Are they free advertising? Could 2D BOY have benefited in any way from them? Or are they causing active harm?
Whatever the significance of the PC’s piracy rates, the results from 2D BOY make one thing very clear: While some of us are paying for our fun, a lot of us are not.
Edit: A rather significant statement from 2D BOY’s Ron Carmel appears below in the comments. It’s helpful to put it up here:
“by the way, just in case it’s not 100% clear, we’re not angry about piracy, we still think that DRM is a waste of time and money, we don’t think that we’re losing sales due to piracy, and we have no intention of trying to fight it.”
They later decided to release the game for whatever people would pay for it, and they got some interesting results.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/20/world-of-goo-sale-provides-fascinating-results/
Now, 2D boy is a much smaller company than Ubisoft, so there is more money to go around and also they do not have a huge R&D and art cost.
I feel this other article was relevant. Just so you know what you are up against.
Sorry to get into this again, but as much as I want to ignore it, this one’s significant. Ubisoft have stated that they’re artificially delaying the launch of EndWar on PC because of, you guessed it, piracy....
Michael de Plater said,
“To be honest, if PC wasn’t pirated to hell and back, there’d probably be a PC version coming out the same day as the other two.”
He continues,
“But at the moment, if you release the PC version, essentially what you’re doing is letting people have a free version that they rip off instead of a purchased version. Piracy’s basically killing PC.”
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/10/08/endwar-delayed-because-piracys-killing-pc/
Stardock Games Brad Wardell responds to this attitude type of attitude at http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gamin
Recently there has been a lot of talk about how piracy affects PC gaming. And if you listen to game developers, it apparently is a foregone conclusion - if a high quality PC game doesn't sell as many copies as it should, it must be because of piracy.
Now, I don't like piracy at all. It really bugs me when I see my game up on some torrent site just on the principle of the matter. And piracy certainly does cost sales. But arguing that piracy is the primary factor in lower sales of well made games? I don't think so. People who never buy software aren't lost sales.
Is it about business or glory?
Most people who know of Stardock in the gaming world think of it as a tiny indie shop. And we certainly are tiny in terms of game development. But in the desktop enhancement market, Stardock owns that market and it's a market with many millions of users. According to CNET, 6 of the top 10 most popular desktop enhancements are developed by Stardock. Our most popular desktop enhancement, WindowBlinds, has almost 14 million downloads just on Download.com. We have over a million registered users.
If you want to talk about piracy, talk about desktop enhancements. The piracy on that is huge. But the question isn't about piracy. It's about sales.
So here is the deal: When you develop for a market, you don't go by the user base. You go by the potential customer base. That's what most software companies do. They base what they want to create on the size of the market they're developing for. But not PC game developers.
PC game developers seem to focus more on the "cool" factor. What game can they make that will get them glory with the game magazines and gaming websites and hard core gamers? These days, it seems like game developers want to be like rock stars more than businessmen. I've never considered myself a real game developer. I'm a gamer who happens to know how to code and also happens to be reasonably good at business.
So when I make a game, I focus on making games that I think will be the most profitable. As a gamer, I like most games. I love Bioshock. I think the Orange Box is one of the best gaming deals ever. I love Company of Heroes and Oblivion was captivating. My two favorite games of all time are Civilization (I, II, III, and IV) and Total Annihilation. And I won't even get into the hours lost in WoW. Heck, I even like The Sims.
So when it comes time to make a game, I don't have a hard time thinking of a game I'd like to play. The hard part is coming up with a game that we can actually make that will be profitable. And that means looking at the market as a business not about trying to be "cool".
Continued:
Our games sell well for three reasons. First, they're good games which is a pre-requisite. But there's lots of great games that don't sell well.
The other two reasons are:
Our games work on a very wide variety of hardware configurations.
Our games target genres with the largest customer bases per cost to produce for.
We also don't make games targeting the Chinese market
Finally he speaks a Truth that Ubisoft really needs to hear.
The reason why we don't put CD copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor - we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it. This is also known as operating like every other industry outside the PC game industry.
keltos01
03-16-10, 01:16 AM
:o
can we buy the source code for SH3/SH4 then ?
keltos
NefariousKoel
03-16-10, 01:18 AM
We might have been able to do something about it, if people could only have restrained themselves from buying the damned game. But no, for all the complaints, they go like lambs to the slaughter.
That's the gist of it.
Take away all their false excuses and see what happens.
In the end, they're not making as much as they seem to think they should. And you, the fans, are the ones paying for it.
I hope you, the loyal subsim customers, don't make the same mistake next time. :nope:
I purchased my game from Steam but I applaud the news it has been cracked.
-I purchase all my games but this DRM is an outrage.
609_Avatar
03-16-10, 07:38 AM
I feel this other article was relevant. Just so you know what you are up against.
Sorry to get into this again, but as much as I want to ignore it, this one’s significant. Ubisoft have stated that they’re artificially delaying the launch of EndWar on PC because of, you guessed it, piracy....
Michael de Plater said,
“To be honest, if PC wasn’t pirated to hell and back, there’d probably be a PC version coming out the same day as the other two.”
He continues,
“But at the moment, if you release the PC version, essentially what you’re doing is letting people have a free version that they rip off instead of a purchased version. Piracy’s basically killing PC.”http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/10/08/endwar-delayed-because-piracys-killing-pc/
Stardock Games Brad Wardell responds to this attitude type of attitude at http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gamin
Recently there has been a lot of talk about how piracy affects PC gaming. And if you listen to game developers, it apparently is a foregone conclusion - if a high quality PC game doesn't sell as many copies as it should, it must be because of piracy.
Now, I don't like piracy at all. It really bugs me when I see my game up on some torrent site just on the principle of the matter. And piracy certainly does cost sales. But arguing that piracy is the primary factor in lower sales of well made games? I don't think so. People who never buy software aren't lost sales.
Is it about business or glory?
Most people who know of Stardock in the gaming world think of it as a tiny indie shop. And we certainly are tiny in terms of game development. But in the desktop enhancement market, Stardock owns that market and it's a market with many millions of users. According to CNET, 6 of the top 10 most popular desktop enhancements are developed by Stardock. Our most popular desktop enhancement, WindowBlinds, has almost 14 million downloads just on Download.com. We have over a million registered users.
If you want to talk about piracy, talk about desktop enhancements. The piracy on that is huge. But the question isn't about piracy. It's about sales.
So here is the deal: When you develop for a market, you don't go by the user base. You go by the potential customer base. That's what most software companies do. They base what they want to create on the size of the market they're developing for. But not PC game developers.
PC game developers seem to focus more on the "cool" factor. What game can they make that will get them glory with the game magazines and gaming websites and hard core gamers? These days, it seems like game developers want to be like rock stars more than businessmen. I've never considered myself a real game developer. I'm a gamer who happens to know how to code and also happens to be reasonably good at business.
So when I make a game, I focus on making games that I think will be the most profitable. As a gamer, I like most games. I love Bioshock. I think the Orange Box is one of the best gaming deals ever. I love Company of Heroes and Oblivion was captivating. My two favorite games of all time are Civilization (I, II, III, and IV) and Total Annihilation. And I won't even get into the hours lost in WoW. Heck, I even like The Sims.
So when it comes time to make a game, I don't have a hard time thinking of a game I'd like to play. The hard part is coming up with a game that we can actually make that will be profitable. And that means looking at the market as a business not about trying to be "cool".Continued:
Our games sell well for three reasons. First, they're good games which is a pre-requisite. But there's lots of great games that don't sell well.
The other two reasons are:
Our games work on a very wide variety of hardware configurations.
Our games target genres with the largest customer bases per cost to produce for.
We also don't make games targeting the Chinese market
Finally he speaks a Truth that Ubisoft really needs to hear.
The reason why we don't put CD copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor - we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it. This is also known as operating like every other industry outside the PC game industry.
Piddyx, great post! (That's why I quoted it in full) Obviously Stardock and Co. have a good perspective on this and that's the main reason, being good business people, that they have survived and are doing relatively well. Too bad Ubi just does not seem to understand these points... :nope:
Kron161
04-02-10, 06:01 AM
We might have been able to do something about it, if people could only have restrained themselves from buying the damned game. But no, for all the complaints, they go like lambs to the slaughter.
Ubi must be having a good laugh at our expense (well, your expense, I didn't buy it), because they know that they can release a half finished product, with ridiculous restrictions, and their loyal fans will go right ahead and buy it regardless.
I was here with Silent Hunter 2... and oh boy! that really was a mess. The community had to literally pay out of their pockets to have the game more or less fixed, because out of the box in vanilla state it would not work. and Ubi did NEVER apologize, they took our money and promised they would keep the saga alive. They had sold a significant amount of SH2, so they decided to revive a niche saga that is a far cry away from blockbuster sales. This brought us SH3. A game with many shortcomings that the modding comunity has honed to a more than acceptable state. Followed by SH4 and its sequel... and now what? DRM!
A friend of mine purchased the game and on my request did me a favour: copied the license terms and sent them to me by mail.
Have you guys, read the license attached to the game??? i do really mean read in detail, including the small letters... and if necessary, check it with a lawyer.
Read point 2. ownership rights...
The purchaser does never adquire the game. The purchaser adquires the right to use a game that remains propierty of Ubisoft. and this is the beginning of the rip off.
If I buy a car, I own the car. If I buy a book, its content protected by copyrights and all, I own the book. The same with a CD movie... but in this case, you don't own the game.
now read down point 6. warranty limits
By accepting the license, the purchaser asumes any risk due to possible lose of data, errors, malfunctioning, etc...
so you don't have the right to complain for lost accounts, errors, bugs, lost savegames, etc...
This was something else and this issues made my decission. I did not purchase it. I do prefer to play SH3 with GWX mods rather than lining Ubi's pockets with a rip off. Those big corporations do not react to complains. (in fact, as per the license, you are not even entitled to complain for a broken game or bad DRM fuctioning) Big game corporations react to lose of sales. That is the big thing.
The day that the gamer community learn that truth and assume that buying a bad game or a game with something we don't like means that we have fulfilled the corporation's business aims by simply satisfying our curiosity to see the product installed in our computers, that day we will start to change the gaming industry.
Unlike car sellers who must provide a vehicle with reliable functioning standards, software industry is the only industry who sell products unfinished or unreliable and afterwards, users and communities expect patches to get the issues fixed, and the industry is allowed to do as they whish... fix issues or not....
I've had SH5 in my hands at least 3 times in 3 different ocassions at a shopping mall and all 3 times was tempted to take it home... but then I remembered the SH5 trailer.
"after all those years supporting the saga, the community, of contributing from my own pocket to fix SH2, installing enless mods, playing as I wanted when I wanted, not having to depend on internet... was I going to give in? was it all? HELL NO! "
My ONLY power as a consumer faced to a behemoth like UBI is to put my money somewhere else.
I'll wait until Ubi steps back out and fixes DRM out of SH5 or until a cracked copy falls on my lap. Whatever comes in first. You can bet which one is more likely to happen.
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