Ubisoft dialing back DRM for Driver: San Francisco on PC

News
By published

Always-on DRM replaced with launch verification

Ubisoft is backing away from plans to saddle PC Driver: San Franciscoplayers withrestrictiveDRM - but just barely. Responding to backlash over its initial decision to make the open world driving gameunplayable without a constant internet connection, the studiostatedit will be switching to aless demanding DRM systemwhereby players will only have tologonlineonce at the beginning of the game to prove they aren't dirty ruthless pirates.

“We’ve heard your feedback regarding the permanent internet connection requirement for Driver and have made the decision to no longer include it. So this means that Driver PC gamers will only need to sign in at game launch but can subsequently choose to play the game offline,” said a Ubisoft rep toRock Paper Shotgun.

Ditching always-on DRM should appease law abiding PCplayers who feel most inconvenienced by such anti-piracy measures (other than, you know, the pirates who already know how to bypass these requirements). Still, the need to prove one's legitimacy at the start of every games makes this more of a half measure than one that fully addresses its fans' DRM concerns. But then, that's probably because Ubisoft has absolutely no desire to fully address its fans' DRM concerns. Last month, a Ubisoft rep toldPC Gamerits DRMmeasures weredoing an excellent job of creating“A clear reduction in piracy of our titles which required a persistent online connection, and from that point of view the requirement is a success”.

Ubisoft's always-on DRM last appeared in its From Dust PC Port, citing outrage froma large number of ownerson the game'sFacebook page. We'll see if the switch to 'always-at-launch' DRM will be received better when Driver: San Francisco arrives for the PC on September 27th in North America, and September 30th in the UK. The game will also be released earlier in reverse regional order for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii on September 2nd in the UK, and September 6th in North America.

Aug 19, 2011

Driver: San Francisco requires constant connection and more marketing time
Release date slips for Bay Area reboot




Driver: San Francisco screens are dreamy... as you'd expect from a game set in a coma
We're starting to get very excited about this one

Driver: San Francisco Multiplayer hands-on preview
Can the latest Driver game make its revolutionary Shift function work with multiplayer?

Matt Bradford

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.