Crippling anti-piracy measures destroying reputation of PC game companies

It seems that games publishers will stop at nothing in their inexplicably mishandled attempts to prevent piracy damaging sales of new releases. The latest high-profile debacle came from Ubisoft in the form of Assassins Creed 2’s ‘always connected’ requirement, which causes players to lose progress in single-player if their internet connection goes kaput.

Until now, little has been done to respond to the backlash from irate gamers, with DRM (digital rights management) seemingly becoming more and more intrusive on legal copies.

One Twitter user spoke for many when he pleaded “it’s not gonna stop pirates so please stop so PC gaming stays alive.” Elsewhere, a YouTube video called A Real-World DRM finds humour in the situation, showing what might happen if there was a form of DRM on everyday household objects.

Public outrage on the topic has understandably boiled over to the point that today Valve Software decided to remove Ubisoft’s DRM-riddled offering from its Steam service. According to a ‘PC games industry insider’, the move was made in order for the development giant to protect its own “reputation for customer service”.

What makes all this worse is that any anti-piracy systems implemented so far have been easily bypassed by pirates, who then upload the games to torrent sites without a care in the world. Publishers recognise this and the fact that it is causing previously honest buyers to turn to hassle-free cracked versions, but carry on nonetheless.

Companies tend to shy away from giving explanations as to why loyal paying customers have to put up with these obstructions. When they do coyly speak up or agree to be grilled by games journalists, we are subjected to deceitful gibberish such as "requiring a permanent online connection is not a happy point for a lot of PC gamers, but it is necessary for the system to work.”. That quote comes from a truly cringe-worthy interview with a Ubisoft spokesperson, who when backed into a corner about what would happen if the servers required to play the game are taken down, spluttered “that's written into the goal of the overall plan of the thing.” No, me neither.

Accusations have been made that publisher’s bizarre actions are an attempt to leave PC gamers with no choice but to migrate to consoles, therefore reducing piracy. Reaction to these sadly plausible theories is typically nonsensical and apprehensive.