DRM

Capcom has admitted that the controversial always-on DRM it has used in recent PlayStation Network releases has had little impact, with the publisher saying it had proven "as much a hindrance as a help." More >

Rock Paper Shotgun reports that Ubisoft has fulfilled its promise to remove From Dust's always-on DRM in a patch; update the game through Steam now and play offline to your heart's content. Meanwhile, Ubisoft confirmed yesterday that the Eric Chahi god sim will finally be released for PlayStation 3 on September 14 in Europe, and September 27 in North America.

Martin Edmonson, founder of Driver San Francisco developer Ubisoft Reflections, has thrown his weight behind the publisher's controversial always-on DRM that has been a constant source of frustration among PC gamers since its debut last year. "You have to do something," he told Eurogamer. "It's just, simply, PC piracy is at the most incredible rates. This game cost a huge amount of money to develop, and it has to be, quite rightly, quite morally correctly, protected. If there was very little trouble with piracy then we wouldn't need it." Edmonson also defended the recently introduced Uplay Passport, saying: "If people don't buy the game when it first comes out and wait and pay for rental or for second-hand usage, then the publisher sees absolutely nothing of that. [The online pass is] just one of those things we have to get used to. It's going to happen."

The publisher has pulled a series of volte-faces regarding From Dust's PC DRM, with conflicting statements and forum posts promising the DRM would be removed or toned down. If the latest one is to be believed, however, the controversial always-on DRM is to be removed. "We recognise that one of our posts in the From Dust forum regarding the need for authentication in the game was not clear," it reads. "We sincerely apologise for the misunderstanding. Our tech teams are working on a patch that should release in approximately two weeks that will eliminate the need for any online authentication."

Ubisoft has been busily raising the ire of PC gamers for some time now, delaying the release of many of its games and, in Driver San Francisco's case, requiring a persistent online connection for the game to be played. "We've heard your feedback requiring the permanent internet connection requirement for Driver and have made the decision to no longer include it," the publisher told Rock Paper Shotgun. Instead, the game will only require an internet connection for a single check when the game is launched.

The publisher once again got on the wrong side of PC gamers this week when it was revealed that the PC version of the upcoming Driver San Francisco requires a constant internet connection. Speaking to our friends at PC Gamer, an Ubisoft representative said the end justified the means, with the publisher seeing "a clear reduction in piracy of our titles which required a persistent online connection, and from that point of view the requirement is a success."

Ubisoft has confirmed, in a tweet from the game's official Twitter account, that the PC version of the upcoming Driver San Francisco will require a constant internet connection to play. Ubisoft's PC DRM has been the source of some controversy since its debut in 2010 and in January, the publisher said the inclusion of its DRM in future titles would be decided on a case-by-case basis. In a bizarre attempt to head off a fan backlash, a subsequent tweet reads: "Bear in mind though that the PC version of Driver San Francisco is released simultaneously to consoles."

Corporate officer and senior VP Chris Svensson confirms plan to patch out DRM shortly after launch, following outcry over requirement for constant Internet connection that restricted offline players to 15 of 39 characters. "We had it wrong...The argument that legitimate users would have a worse experience than pirates was the loudest and most convincing."