Latest Ubisoft DRM measure - all SP saves stored on a cloud server - by EvaUnit02
Pyrian on 11/3/2010 at 02:16
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
Implementing a subscription-based single player game will
hurt their bottom line.
...
Unless they'll be charging 50$/week for the subscription (Which nobody in their right mind will pay), they'll stand to lose money.
Yeah, but if you charge $10 and capture the used market and those who would otherwise pirate... I.e., if it works. You're basically assuming it wouldn't work and stating that in that case, it won't work. Of course not, that's a tautology.
If it would actually accomplish it's goals (and I'm not saying I think it would) then it could be a boon not just to game makers, but to those game players who're currently over-supporting the market (and effectively subsidizing pirates) by actually purchasing new games (and, to a certain extent, keeping them, though the chain of effects gets more complicated and less moral regarding the used market).
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
As for the DOS attack - has it ever occurred that Ubisoft may be lying through their teeth, here? I mean, all we've got to go on is their word that it's a hacker attack - and there are no consequences for them making this up.
IMO it's essentially a given that there
was an attack. That was inevitable, though - such a DRM measure is inherently a shot across the bow of exactly the sort of pirate hackers who can do that sort of thing. Clearly, they were insufficiently prepared for what was essentially an entirely predictable scenario. If you know an attack is coming, as a paying customer I'd expect you to take all reasonable precautions.
Swiss Mercenary on 11/3/2010 at 04:38
Quote:
Yeah, but if you charge $10 and capture the used market and those who would otherwise pirate... I.e., if it works. You're basically assuming it wouldn't work and stating that in that case, it won't work. Of course not, that's a tautology. If it would actually accomplish it's goals (and I'm not saying I think it would) then it could be a boon not just to game makers, but to those game players who're currently over-supporting the market (and effectively subsidizing pirates) by actually purchasing new games (and, to a certain extent, keeping them, though the chain of effects gets more complicated and less moral regarding the used market).
Unless every copy of a game is resold five times over, you're still better off taking the 50$.
I'm not sure how frequently that happens. I may be an exception, here, but I haven't resold a single one of my games.
Also, the used market does *not* hurt the industry. I'd imagine that the people reselling the games are re-investing the resale money into buying different games. Or, if they aren't, they probably wouldn't have dropped the 50$ if they couldn't resell.
While re-sales of any particular title do not benefit that
particular developer any, it benefits the industry as a whole.
WingedKagouti on 11/3/2010 at 09:18
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
Unless every copy of a game is resold five times over, you're still better off taking the 50$.
Only if you do everything you want to in that game for the first subscription period. Single player games would use achievements, high score tables and New Game+ to attempt to prolong their lifetime. For a multiplayer game this could mean quite a bit more than $50 in the long run if the community takes off.
Quote:
I'm not sure how frequently that happens. I may be an exception, here, but I haven't resold a single one of my games.
The used PC game market for feels a lot smaller than the used Console game market. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a fairly large amount of PC gamers keep most or all of their games.
Quote:
Also, the used market does *not* hurt the industry. I'd imagine that the people reselling the games are re-investing the resale money into buying different games. Or, if they aren't, they probably wouldn't have dropped the 50$ if they couldn't resell.
While re-sales of any particular title do not benefit that
particular developer any, it benefits the industry as a whole.
Most Publishers care more about their own bottom line than the bottom line of the rest of the industry. When someone claims it hurts the industry, they really mean their own pockets.
Swiss Mercenary on 11/3/2010 at 12:03
Quote Posted by WingedKagouti
Only if you do everything you want to in that game for the first subscription period. Single player games would use achievements, high score tables and New Game+ to attempt to prolong their lifetime. For a multiplayer game this could mean quite a bit more than $50 in the long run if the community takes off.
Would you really pay, say, 15$ a month for high score tables and achievements with a single-player game?
I'm sure a few people would. I still strongly doubt that there's enough of those people who will play for more then 3 months to compensate for all the other lost revenue.
Quote:
Most Publishers care more about their own bottom line than the bottom line of the rest of the industry. When someone claims it hurts the industry, they really mean their own pockets.
Of course, they benefit from resales of other publisher's games... But I suppose capitalism has never been any good at resolving the tragedy of the commons.
mothra on 12/3/2010 at 16:41
my friend had some assassins creed 2 problems (where we applied the crack to play) and now ubisoft has written him and apologized saying something about a reward:
Quote:
Thank you for your recent purchase of Assassin's Creed 2. We hope you are enjoying the game!
Recently, our servers were temporarily unavailable to a portion of players, meaning they were unable to play the game. Our goal is to offer you a seamless experience with your game and we sincerely apologise if you have encountered difficulties as a result of the server issue.
We will be offering you additional game rewards to show our thanks for your patience and understanding. We will contact you soon with full details. In the meantime, please be assured that our teams are working around the clock to ensure that you continue to enjoy your game experience with Assassin's Creed 2.
Thank you,
The Ubisoft Team
Matthew on 16/3/2010 at 12:28
So, it sounds like Command and Conquer 4 is also using a similar system for its single-player games. Sigh. I've pre-ordered and everything.
WingedKagouti on 16/3/2010 at 12:41
Quote Posted by Matthew
So, it sounds like Command and Conquer 4 is also using a similar system for its single-player games. Sigh. I've pre-ordered and everything.
So? Just cancel your pre-order and give forced online for SP as a reason.
Matthew on 16/3/2010 at 12:58
The 'pre-order' part was more of an indication as to how much I'd been looking forward to it.
I'm actually kind of torn now.
mothra on 16/3/2010 at 13:05
but isn't it an mp/online community game ? at least then it would make more sense. it's still no MMO where it's accepted and logic but I'm sure diablo3 and other games will hop on the bandwagon and require "always on".
