Ubisoft hopes to negate the need for DRM with support and content
The contentious DRM systems that often accompany Ubisoft's PC releases may be made obsolete, should the publisher's plans for enhanced post-launch/community support prove as effective as its hoping.
The plan is to make pirating the least attractive consumer option by updating, supporting and providing "companion gaming" services for Ubisoft's PC releases, similar to how MMOs generally function. "As the rest of the game industry continues to evolve, the more you hear about cloud gaming, the more you hear about companion gaming, the less a pirated game should work in all of that environment," said Ubisoft VP of digital publishing Chris Early during an interview with Eurogamer.
By providing a healthy regiment of ancillary content and post-launch support, Ubisoft's PC gaming ecosystem will be so irresistible that people will stop pirating, and once that happens the publisher will be able to relax its DRM standards. Now, eradicating the whole world of theft sounds like it'll take some time, but Early maintains that Ubisoft's DRM will be as convenient as possible in the meantime: "We want to find ways that don't inconvenience that player who is paying for it. We've had a variety of degrees of success as we wind our way down that path. Our plan, our hope is we stay on the less intrusive, less cumbersome side of that path as we go on."
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/ub...rt-and-conten/
