We Support SavyGamer’s DRM Assassination Scheme
By Gavin Allmond on Saturday, February 20th 2010
Lewie over at SavyGamer is tired of intrusive and experience-destroying DRM in games, Ubisoft’s new DRM in-particular. It requires a constant internet connection to be able to play your games. Not a connection to validate the install or to update the game files, but rather one that must be active AT ALL TIMES, lest the player be booted from the game mid-session.
Rather than whining about it on the Internet to no ends, he’s come up with a plan of action.
We want you to help.
Essentially the plan boils down to this: Disrupt a large retailer’s sales of a game through complaints of the DRM on the new purchases. The retailer, now burdened with many copies of the game at a lower value than they once were, can only blame Ubisoft.
To take part (something which I strongly encourage) in the plan, follow these simple steps:
- Order Assassin’s Creed 2 from Tesco (here).
- Email SavyGamer with the subject of ‘Ubisoft are baddies’ so that a rough estimate of participants can be made.
- When it arrives, do nothing, don’t even open it.
- Wait until the 13th of April.
- Post it back to Tesco, explaining that you do not want it because you find the DRM to be unacceptable. Then get a full cash refund (the game will ship with a return slip that you fill in explaining why you want a refund).
Unfortunately, postage will have to be paid for the complaints slip in the amount of 90 pence for first class, but that is a small price to pay for your FREEDOM FIGHTING.
Even more unfortunately, only UK residents will be able to take part in this, Tesco being a UK-based retailer.
Ubisoft can easily ignore the blogs and the individual complaints of gamers, but they can’t ignore one of the UK’s largest retailers.
For full details and Lewie’s thinking behind his plan, read the post on SavyGamer.
YouTube
iTunes
Tumblr
Friend Feed
So…. You’re going to hurt Ubisoft by inflating their launch sales numbers? A better option might be boycotting it outright. Or if everyone preorders it, then nobody pays or comes in to collect the game.
@anon: to pre-order you have to put down money and boycotts just don’t work. This way it costs them money. It also costs Tesco a bit of money, which is just an added bonus.
I think it’s a fantastic idea myself.
If it states clearly on the box that a constant connection is required to play I don’t see them accepting returns
People will buy the games and then be stuck with them
This really won’t do anything. All it will do is hurt retailers needlessly. They have to purchase the games upfront from the publisher. Bigger retailers may be able to acquire copies through an account or on a tab, but they still are responsible for the copies they get. They usually can’t return them to the publisher. All the while the publisher has made out like a bandit regardless. The publishing company won’t care. You’ll just annoy the hell out of retailers who’ll only react by putting more restrictive return policies and end up harming future customers more.
You are also assuming that these retailers, knowing the score, will allow cash refunds. Chances are they’ll give store credit at best.
The only way to really combat this is to not play, buy, or even pirate the game. Write it off and move on. The only way publishers feel anything is when copies of the game collect dust. But, since they make plenty of money off of the console market… They just not release a PC version for future titles.
It’s an uphill, losing battle. It’s a Catch 22. As much as it is silly to assume every pirated copy was a lost sale, it is just as silly to assume every game released on the PC is an honest attempt to support the PC market.
@BubbaBrown:
Heh, thats why Tesco is a good place to do it – we all have to buy food, so getting store credit isn’t a big deal.
They misspelled Savvy… They literally cant even spell their own name!
Those pointing out that this will hurt Tesco unfairly should know that Tesco pocket something like £1 for every £8 spent on UK high-streets.
Oh, and their ready-meals suck.
Fuck you stupid cunt. If everyone thought like you, developers protecting their shit would go broke and we would all still be playing CS.
UK distance selling regulations allow consumers to return almost any product for a complete refund within 7 days of receiving it. Exceptions do however include software that has been opened, so it is essential not to open it.
@arnon The distance selling regulations apply to allow consumers to examine a product as they might do if they were in a shop but for products purchased remotely. So buying from Tesco online not in store, is the best way to accomplish this.
@Arnon: It’s clearly on the box, but it’s not mentioned when you order the game online.
@honest martin: If everyone thought like you the world would be nothing but YouTube quality comments.
Personally I think that this is the most sensible way to get the message to Ubisoft. If no one buys the game or pirates it then they will just use that as an excuse to stop releasing PC versions of their games. But if a big retailer like Tesco complains to them about people returning the game because of the DRM, they’ll have to take notice.
Tesco are under no obligation to take the game back are they?
I believe their obligation to accept a return under Distance Selling Regulations only apply for 7 days following delivery?
I live in student halls, with an internet connection that requires me to login. They do it to track our download usage and every hour it logs me out, without fail. I literally couldn’t play any Ubi game on PC because of this.
Don’t buy original copies, support pirate groups who are cracking this then. I own more than 2000 titles, all original and legit copies and they EVEN managed to make me think like this.
Game and movie companies are now falling into the same trap Music companies fell in 90′s. Well, I guess one man can be stupid as he is. If you get a room full of stupid men, you can call it a company.
I will support and buy all titles, even if I don’t play the game, and limited versions of any company that ignores DRM and understands the consumers.
If these companies are so much willing to be constantly connected to me, I have some available… items making it possible to connect at certain points of interest.