I too believe that this DRM thing will be abandoned sooner or later.
For the following reasons:

Lack of internet connection. I know a bunch of people who dont have one due to low income.

Unstable connections

Low speed connections combined with something downloaded from any site using uTorrent or Rapidshare. (I personally use rapidshare too much to exchange files with my friends. Photos, videos, etc. Im a photo maniac)

None likes to be tracked.

Oh, I'm not saying it should!

I just meant, if you are going to get DRM anyway, what do you prefer? DRM with a bunch of assorted goodies you will never use, or DRM with a kick in the balls? :D

Hmmm would that work? I actually never thought of that...potential!

They can add it in the Special Edition LOL :up:

Well, to be 100% honest I have seen USB dongles routinely cracked. Many 3D authoring programs use those, and many are available in torrent sites anyway.

Of course, chance is nobody would bother to go though all that cracking work for a game that costs a few bucks, so you might be right.

:hmmm: not a bad idea
Dongles are pennies in bulk to a publisher - no dongle no play
And something that cant be cracked - well i guess the contents of the dongle could be ripped or the exe altered to not look for it

Much the same as they do now

:damn:

I'm not sure how cracking works... but UBI could release USB1 dongles with just a tiny bit of memory that act as a lan server connection. You buy ONE and activate online which games you can play with the dongle. Let's say 3 games max. Or, if it's unsafe, one dongle per game sold separately for a low price. Heck, a 256 MB USB is costs than a beer.

I dont mind the extra "goodies" (bullcrap...:shifty:) of such a DRM sheme like Steam offers. but i want to turn them OFF. and i mean completely OFF. I want Control of what happens to my connection and my PC, complete control "à outrance".

That's the main concern. Since they'll be dealing with an entire company line of games, crackers will spare no effort in cracking it. I wonder how much effort really went into this OSP :hmmm:

Most of the time, I only read this forum, and I must say something, that is MY OPINION, which does not mean it's true, but that's how I think.

90% piracy rate might be too much, I would say probably, 65-75%.
Since a pirate is a 'n' word in IT community, I will try to walk the fine line.
No, I do not promote piracy, but I feel their opinion must be heard as well....
Some pirates actually buy the game [quite a lot of them still...] if the game is good. Sorta like a demo, try before you buy.
"Support the developers if you like it. We did"
That is written on ALL game cracks by all MAJOR cracking groups.
And if they can, they WILL. It's been a practice for a long time. Just browse their forums. They actually support QUALITY product.
Now, compare games in playability from the 90's like Deus Ex 1! In it's day and age, I would still vote for it to be GOTY material!
We had FINISHED game, good story, stable, and primitive anti-piracy measures which did not matter much... But such games were a success! Because even pirates bought them and recommend them to other newcomers! At this moment, someone is buying that!
Now, what we have? In pirate's own words, mainstream'd and consolized games with nice graphics [even beautiful ones!!!] with limited gameplay, content, story..... Health regeneration, absence of exploring game world, chalenges, lack of modding due to DLC's which should have been in the game in the first place, for which you have to pay, unoptimized PORTS from consoles to PC....
What else are pirates talking about? Well, that games are targeted towards "BRAINDEAD console kiddies".... PC games....
Pirates are bad.... At this moment, many of them are buying BETA keys from online sites for Battlefield 2: Bad Company! Hello, beta, UNFINISHED game yet, and still they BUY keys to play.... and will pay FULL PRICE once it comes out... Because the game is GOOD ENOUGH.... Especially in multi-player....

MESSAGE TO UBI:

People would swallow UNFINISHED war till '43, absence of more u-boat models, even payable dlc's, EVEN 5$ per month multiplayer subscription, that is if it works PERFECTLY in the first place... But, with these restrictions against pirates, they will surely NOT BUY this game at all, so you lost NOTHING FROM THEM! Good graphics =/= good game. PLAYABILITY!
Remember that. IF the gameplay is good, then someone would buy it.
Assuming legit customer is a potential thief is a sign of DISRESPECT.

And as most people here said, do not pursue quick cash and milking strategy. Go back to the old roots, and money will come to you naturally.
I just wanted to tell you what the "other side" is thinking....

Note to mods/admins: This is NOT promoting piracy. No links or clues to location of cracks have been given. No dissing towards devs or ubi in any uncivilized manner. If there is a breach of rules that others have not committed, delete this and send me a warning via PM. Thank you.

I understand Ubi's position, and it's nice that he replied. Must not be easy to see the revolt, I'll give him that. We all love the series, that hasn't changed. He did forget however that we can accept something like Steam and gamers worldwide already have. I do not like being told as if we don't accept any of these distribution/authentication networks and are to be responsible for the end of Ubisoft or the world ending in 2012.

You don't catch a thief by filtering out and chaining all the innocents. That's not something I associate with the plunk-plunk-plunk-plunk logo I still find very nice to see when I start a game.

We are angry with good reason, don't tell us we are responsible for the end of pc-gaming, because we are not. That would be the pirates and game industry itself for releasing below standard games. I'm not saying SH5 is one of those, because it has yet to be released. See? I'm not jumping to conclusions, and neither should this dev. Respect is a two way street.

Moo

Relax Bad Pirate, I've said the same things a few times. As long as you don't say "I can't wait for the game to be cracked", or "I won't buy the game, I'll crack it" you're not offending anyone. Piracy is a fact, just like child pornography. You can talk about it here, but not encourage it :O:

As for the UBM addon, they quickly bundled it with SH4 back in 2008. I own such a copy. One disk.. pretty neat.

If it can be made by humans, it can be cracked by humans. Overly invasive DRM like this will do nothing to deter the pirates. In fact, it will inspire them. Ubi has thrown down the gauntlet, and they will respond. This thing will be cracked within hours of release, if not before.

dcb is right - the carrot and stick approach is the way to go. Giving people a reason to legitimately own the game is a lot more effective than trying to discourage illegitimate ownership. Extra bonuses included with the game - a HUGE and comprehensive manual, a free copy of a book on the Battle of the Atlantic, a miniature U-boat model...things like that would certainly deter the people who have a true interest in the game from just simply pirating it. It probably wouldn't work for the hardcore pirate for life types, but we're back to my first point now - NO system will stop them. Might as well just license something that everyone is already comfortable with, like Steamworks and go from there.

Thanks, karamazovnew :salute::yeah:

No we wouldn't have a clear picture of what piracy is actually detracting from the sales. There are several reasons for it:

1.- You would add the sales of the current pirates who have money & interest in the game, and would buy it. But you would also need to detract the number of legit users that will not buy the game because of the intrusive protection system. Like me :hmmm:.

2.- You would need the opposite situation to compare, and that means either SH2, 3 or 4. But none of those is comparable. Today internet is more widely spreaded, as are game stores in many countries, as is in general the consumer base. SH5 would sale to legit users more than SH3 to legit users, just because there are currently more users in total. Plus from what we have seen so far, the scope of the game might have actually changed a bit, in arcade direction.

In all, it looks to me as if SH5 is follwoing the trend of modern mass-sales games: Unfinished product, quick thrill, more arcade, less depth, please a more naive crowd, attract more pirates, and as such need to take stronger security measures against them.

All the previous SH2,3 &4 ended up in the bargain bin with DRM removed, so I guess you can say that:

-The more pure simulator, the less appealing to masses and more to serious, mature simulator enthusiasts with money, who will buy it. Simulators have the peculiarity of continue selling very well after their prime time date. Hell, SH1 is still being sold today!! Thus, removing protection is considered OK when you adress the mature simulator enthusiast who is not looking at the latest release, but at a good product. And will buy it.

-The more arcade, the more appealing to the wide crowd, with less money and always willing to rip it pirate like.

The silent hunter series is, regretably, facing in the wrong direction....:nope: