Driver: San Francisco Developer Defends Ubisoft's Online-Only DRM

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These days, it seems like Ubisoft is more known for implementing their controversial online-only DRM than they are for their actual games. Though fans may be slowly winning the war against Ubisoft and their very restrictive requirements, Ubisoft Refelctions – the developer of Driver: San Francisco – has stepped up to defend their parent company’s decisions.

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, Ubisoft Reflections founder Martin Edmonson defended what he thinks are necessary decisions made in the face of “unbelieveable,” piracy:

It’s just, simply, PC piracy is at the most incredible rates. This game cost a huge amount of money to develop, and it has to be, quite rightly – quite morally correctly – protected. If there was very little trouble with piracy then we wouldn’t need it. It’s difficult to get away from the fact that as a developer, as somebody who puts their blood, sweat and tears into this thing… And from the publisher’s point of view, which invests tens and tens and tens of millions into a product – by the time you’ve got marketing, a hundred million – that piracy on the PC is utterly unbelievable.

I don’t think anyone is arguing that Ubisoft doesn’t have the right to defend their investment – on the contrary, Ubisoft is responsible for bringing us some truly great games, so I think there’s a good number of players that want to see this publisher succeed. What everyone is arguing, however, is that Ubisoft is punishing their paying customers for something they don’t participate in: piracy.

Since Driver: San Francisco will be cracked within days of release, this means that pirates can have access to their Ubisoft games whenever they want, while paying customers are left at the mercy of their internet connection and the stability of Ubisoft’s servers to play the games they bought outright.

Look, Ubisoft, we need to have a talk here. Yes, you have the right – nay, the responsibility – to protect your investment, but you also have the responsibility to do it in a way that doesn’t end up screwing over your paying customers, lest they get angry and demand a refund because of your shady business practices (or, even worse, take their business elsewhere). Ditch the DRM that prevents everyone but pirates from enjoying your games, come up with a different strategy, and I’m sure you’ll find that not only does piracy decrease, but your paying customers keep coming back for more.