According to new reports, Ubisoft’s oft-maligned DRM is so zealous in its protection of software that it cannot tell the difference between a new computer and a new graphics card. Yep, if you switch out some of your computer’s hardware, the DRM will supposedly think you’re trying to install Ubisoft games on a new machine.
The issue was discovered by Guru3D when performing benchmarking tests with Anno 2070. The game had been installed on three computers (the activation limit allowed by Ubi’s DRM) but when they replaced the nVida GTX 580 with a GTX 590, the game stopped working. It demanded re-activation, which was promptly refused due to install limits.
In order to perform its usual tests, Guru3D would have needed to buy Anno 2070 seven times. It emailed Ubisoft to ask for an activation reset (which Ubi claims it can do), but has heard nothing back. Understandably, the outlet is pretty sure it won’t be reviewing Ubisoft titles anymore.
Ubisoft’s DRM didn’t need anymore bad press, let alone press this ridiculous. This is just another reason to cease considering Ubisoft’s PC ports as real games. As soon as we all agree that Ubisoft isn’t a PC publisher, and ignore its rubbish ports, we can all move on happier.
