Sounds like a cop-out to me. What’s wrong with Steam?

So modded Xbox 360s, PS3s, PSPs, DS w/ flashcarts, etc. don’t exist? Please.

That is hilarious, Ubisoft blaming piracy for losing profits on PC games when they perhaps more than anyone else have encouraged piracy with their ridiculous draconian DRM schemes that penalise legitimate users without having any impact on pirate copies at all.

It’s this that’s hurt their sales as thousands refuse to be subject to their often game breaking DRM.

Marco is also correct about chipped consoles, after all a large percentage of the PS1′s popularity was how out of all it’s competitors at the time it was the easiest to run copied games on.

I buy a lot of games on steam and other digital distros, but I REFUSE to buy ubisoft (and others) games which have draconian DRM. Its a matter of principle

You know what he said next? That “no one” means fewer than 50,000 sales.

Yep. You heard this right.

That’s bad

He’s right. Piracy *IS* rampant on the PC.

Yea. So terribly rampant. That’s why nobody buys PC games anymore, and everyone who made them went out of business. Oh, wait…

Does this guy play PC games?

I’d figure this depends heavily on the company’s approach to producing games and their profit margins and how they maintain them. Yes, piracy is a real thing. Yes, their DRM schemes are really a headache. I doubt the DRM CAUSED the piracy, though. Probably it’s more like the DRM caused legitimate purchasers to hack their own games so as not to deal with it.

I suspect it’s got more to do with the fact that they expect lower sales on PC, so it just ends up not being worth it to spend the money to do a decent job. Chances are the game is designed primarily for consoles, and modifying it to make it more PC-friendly would cost XYZ amount of dollars. And they’d have to impose their DRM on it per company policy. And they know people are already pissed about how their DRM works and are more likely to say “PC? Screw that. I’m going with console.”

Which brings me to a theory. What if that — the “Screw this, I’ll buy the console version” IS their ultimate form of no-cost piracy protection? Make a few bucks producing some big marquee-name games for PC, but slap an outrageously bad DRM scheme on an otherwise good game, and maybe you can justify shutting down PC production because you’ve driven away your PC customers….to buy it on console instead.

Thus, you get the more protected form of DRM which is less intrusive, AND you didn’t have to spend a dime!

What if that — the “Screw this, I’ll buy the console version” IS their ultimate form of no-cost piracy protection? Make a few bucks producing some big marquee-name games for PC, but slap an outrageously bad DRM scheme on an otherwise good game, and maybe you can justify shutting down PC production because you’ve driven away your PC customers….to buy it on console instead.

That’s precisely their goal. The industry wants PC gaming dead and will do just about anything to make it happen. Ubisoft is part of the vanguard who makes no secret of their disdain for the PC gamer. Problem is, a good 50% of those people don’t own a console and have no intention of getting one. That’s a pretty big market to simply ignore. Oh, and even the most skewed figures regarding PC vs. console sales prove that Ubi is full of it – again. Their ludicrous claim regarding piracy is all about one thing, and that is greed. For some reason the entertainment media can’t come to terms with the reality that there is always “shrink” with any industry: i.e. some people will figure out a way to steal your product. There’s almost nothing you can do about it, and most of the time the effort TO do something costs more than the actual loss in potential sales. That’s an important word when discussing game piracy: “potential”. Every study or bit of research I’m aware of on the subject clearly shows that, at best, 20% of software pirates *might* consider paying for a game. Their pirates for a reason, and that reason is rarely “just because I can”. Most pirates would never pay for a game under any circumstances, either because they don’t have the money to waste on games or because they consider them momentary distractions unworthy of purchase (not unlike the person who listens to the radio frequently but never buys music). These folks might rent or borrow a game, assuming they even owned a console or decent gaming PC to begin with..but PC games can’t be rented and license codes make borrowing problematic. Then there’s the DRM angle others have brought up: much like with gun control laws, only law-abiding citizens are inconvenienced by copy protection. The hackers will always win, and the more you fight against them the more determined they become to not only break your DRM but distribute the bootlegged product. Over the last year, we’ve seen the majority of triple-A titles for PC launching with game-breaking bugs that are mostly due to Steam or other protection schemes. So what happens? People buy the game and then download the pirate copy because, unlike the buggy retail version, it actually works. The way the industry is approaching the piracy issue is wrong-headed and disingenuous. Let’s be frank here: their real concern isn’t DRM, but DLC. If you can crack a game you can also derail the money train of extra content that either should’ve been included on launch day or that users are forced to buy in order to stay competitive in online competition. You also embarrass the developers and expose their lazy console ports for what they are. If its all about piracy then why are the publishers also doing all they can to shut down the used console games business? Again, simple greed, blinding them to the fact that every new money grab they come up with turns more of us into “pirates”. I will never own a game console until they make one that (a) ships with full keyboard and mouse support and (b) pretty much IS a PC but with a single hardware platform (i.e Mac-like). And, since I have crap for internet, even that’s unlikely since consoles now rely on the ‘net for patches, etc. just like PCs do..but unlike with PCs, you can’t take your flash drive to a buddy’s house and get what you need to update your Xbox. I just hope the gaming industry wakes up and realizes their cutting their own throats by trying to drive PC users to consoles, because it ain’t gonna work. The day they stop making PC games is the day someone releases a really great Xbox 360 emulator for Windows.

I think you overstate the situation. I doubt Ubisoft wants PC gaming itself to die. If the market is so small, they’d rather just ignore it. If the market is big enough, they’ll design for it or factor them out of their plans for profit purposes.

I don’t think Ubisoft intends to kill all PC gaming everywhere — I just don’t think they want to participate in it, so by saying “We had weaker sales on PC and can’t justify the expense when compared to piracy” after those weakened sales came as a result (arguably) of Ubi’s draconian DRM scheme, they just dodge a PR bullet rather than saying “PC gamers? F— ‘em.”

If Ubi doesn’t want to develop for PC, what do I care? I’ve got a 360 and I’ll play their games on there….or I won’t. I was a PC-only gamer for a long time (until 2006, actually), and there were plenty of games that came out on consoles only that I never played until I had one of my own. I was cool with that. I had other avenues to get my game on.

I expect that PC gaming will not die simply because there will be independent, smaller-scale developers. You might see more AAA titles transitioning to console-only but…really..would you even be able to tell with something like Modern Warfare? Actually, if anything happens, I’d expect console gaming to get closer to PC gaming in terms of game design, if not necessarily processing power. I mean, I’d play plenty more games on console if I could use a mouse and keyboard. I think eventually they’ll develop consoles that have this as an option, at least. Plus, with consoles moving towards “media centers”, it’d just make sense.

I’m pretty upset that I have to buy this game on a console. It looks like a great game and I was looking forward to playing it. I won’t not buy it just because I can’t get it on my favorite system… my PC.

I’m still upset that Rockstar won’t bring Red Dead Redemption to PC either.

^ Yes. As am I!

Man im going to Lol , again , when i go over to my buddys place and see this one hacked, running on his xbox.. Whatever they want to say about piracy the Pc has become the outcast platform for a lot of developers. What makes me laugh is every time they dont release for pc, they LOSE money on total sales overall .. and all the while the scene groups hack thier console titles.. What a Joke..

@ Solo4114: part of me hopes your right but I don’t see any evidence the industry is even considering a move towards more “PC-ish” consoles. Truthfully I wish game consoles and computers were one and the same. I’d love it if there were basically three computers for sale. A level one would be the general purpose PC for office work, light gaming and internet apps. A level two would be the machine most people would get and be able to run just about anything you could find at Best Buy reasonably well (games on medium quality settings, Adobe files that weren’t too humongous, etc.) Games rated for level II machines could usually be played solely with a controller..in short, you’d need a level II PC to play most “console ports”. A level three rig would be the top-end and would be certified to handle whatever you could threw at it. This would also make piracy much, much harder because you could lock down the systems to a much greater degree. Determined hacks would still find a way around DRM but this would be a fairly small community much like the relatively limited number of console pirates. Of course, the more we see games released only for consoles the faster the ranks of console pirates will increase. And yes, I realize that in the broadest sense this is already how PCs are marketed, but I’m talking about certified, Apple-esque platforms that would need to meet stringent requirements for compatibility and performance.

@ Vapus: too true. All too true.

@psycros,

I think MS’ development of the X360 as a real multimedia platform is indicative of the shift. It’ll be awhile before it really happens, I think, but the overall trajectory seems to be more towards making the “console” a true “entertainment center.” Frankly, I’d LOVE to have the stability of console hardware (well, when you don’t get RROD) and the control schemes that PC has. Although I’d miss dedicated servers and mods.

Lets Not forget That selling more outdated consoles is Definately part of this formula of Back dated progress. Its like when the {oh just pick a country} uses leftover world war 2 ordanance to bomb somone into the stone age.. hey , we got it.. lets SELL IT !! for MORE than its been worth in ages !!

Lol ??