quote:

Originally posted by JunkmailMan:

quote:

NOTICE: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.

I mean "technology intended to prevent copying" pretty much defines DRM.

Apparently it is only true for the downloadable version:

"It's also worth noting that the disc-based version of PoP (which we played for review) doesn't have any copy protection to stifle your system. An Ubisoft rep told us that there will be copy protection for digital versions, although we found few details around the net on the eve of release."

Source: http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/prince-of-persia-next-gen/936785p2.html

Also, one should differentiate between a copy protection and DRM, where DRM is something
that restricts the use of your product (i.e. online activation, limited activations, etc.)

Wait:
That game will have absolutely no copy protection?
Is that confirmed?

Would be nice though and I think if the game is good - and reasonably priced - I think it will sell that way (like Sins of a Solar Empire; which btw. I mostly bought because I wanted to support that it doesn't have any copy protection - well I like strategy games though too, of course; but normally I wouldn't have bought it though ).

Sorry, you have my apologies but I was purely talking about store-bought copies of PoP which have no copy protection.

quote:

Originally posted by UbiRazz:
Sorry, you have my apologies but I was purely talking about store-bought copies of PoP which have no copy protection.

Ok thanks to Securom, I have plenty of game budget to buy this year...

POP is in my list....

BTW... Ubirazz I challenge you here and now that POP PC sales would be higher than Far Cry 2..

Do you accept the bet?

UbiRazz - if the information that Prince Of Persia does not contain DRM (SecuROM) is correct, then UbiSoft just got me back as a customer, and have a guaranteed sale.

I was going to purchase Far Cry 2, but the installation of SecuROM 7.xx turned it into a NO SALE. I've had problems on my PC with SecuROM (including a DVD drive failure) and will not tolerate it on my PC again. If TAGES or SafeDisc were used instead I would have no issue, as my PC exhibits no problems when running games that use them.

Can you confirm whether 'no DRM' means 'no SecuROM' - or that SecuROM is at least NOT installed on your PC with Prince of Persia?

If SecuROM is installed, it would become an instant NO SALE again, because the integrity of my PC takes priority.

quote:

Originally posted by UbiRazz:
Sorry, you have my apologies but I was purely talking about store-bought copies of PoP which have no copy protection.

I should be the one to apologize. I jumped the gun a bit. The retail version doesn't have DRM like you said which makes me very happy.

I was sort of in a state of disbelief. I thought you meant the game had a disk check (Still DRM) instead of online activation. Most people in the industry seem to be implementing stronger forms of DRM rather than getting rid of them so it's a bit shocking to see a major publisher doing something different.

I've missed a lot of EA titles this year because they insist on limiting installs claiming it stops piracy when Spore was in fact the most pirated title of 2008.

You've made at least one sale with me though and hopefully others.

I also hope Capcom follows your lead with Bionic Commando and Resident Evil 5 for PC.

I am not planning to buy Prince of Persia and never was planning to do so. Not that it's a bad game - I am sure it's great, but it is not my genre. As far as Ubisoft games go, I like your Heroes of Might and Magic series (I bought both HOMM5 and the Tribes of the East).

I only found my way to these forums, because of DRM discussion elsewhere and the announcement that Prince of Persia won't have any DRM on the retail version. I just want to say that I am EXTREMELY impressed with Ubisoft's decision. I hope it works out well for you and you implement the policy on other Ubisoft games in the future, especially any future Heroes of Might and Magic (or other Might and Magic) titles. Kudos to you Ubisoft for making this decision!

To be honest, I doubt Prince of Persia will be any less pirated than if it had DRM. But it also probably won't be more pirated either. So you will have the same piracy effect, but save money on DRM implementation and customer support (due to the problems it causes), plus instantly regain credibility with your customers. I really hope this works out for you.

quote:

Originally posted by UbiRazz:
You`re right when you say that when people want to pirate the game they will but DRM is there to make it as difficult as possible for pirates to make copies of our games. A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP PC has no DRM we`ll see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine.

Console piracy is something else entirely and I`m sure we`ll see more steps in future to try to combat that.

Actually you're right for the most part. Although, I'de imagine sales will increase. Not dramatically, but there will be more. As somebody who does this bad deed I don't care about DRM as it will be bypassed and I don't care if it's same day or a week I'll still get it. However, here's the kicker, I'm buying this game for my cousin in Israel who is getting a new computer for new years. So yeah I won't buy two copies for me and my cousin as how it should be, but you are getting a sale you wouldn't otherwise and yes it's specifically because of no DRM. Was going to get him Far Cry 2 originally. See you still get something. The way I see it it's just so easy to get games the "bad" way that you can only drive sales down with DRM. With no DRM sales will likely increase somewhat and if not then they will remain the same. Simple logic.

quote:

Originally posted by UbiRazz:

quote:

Originally posted by FireEmpress:
Did anyone here mention how devs blame piracy for everything these days?
If the game sucks to begin with, they blame piracy.
If they don't have money or are just lazy to make a decent PC port...they blame piracy.
All in all, internet piracy doesn't hurt the sales all that much, because pirates are a minority of broke failures, and if you make a good game in the first place most of them would be willing to fork out their dole money on it.

Plus take comfort that most game downloads online are loaded with trojans and viruses, kekeke.

Well this time we've got a good game with no DRM so there really is no reason to pirate it, right? We should expect good sales because there's no reason to not buy a copy

After reading this thread, I've decided not to cancel my Steam pre-purchase. So you have my sale... but I can't let this comment go without mentioning the 1-week delay. I'm sure plenty of people who own multiple-consoles and PC's passed on the PC version because they wanted to play last week.

That aside, great job with no DRM. Secured my purchase for sure, hopefully the game itself lives up to Sands of Time's quality.

quote:

Originally posted by UbiRazz:
Sorry, you have my apologies but I was purely talking about store-bought copies of PoP which have no copy protection.

mm, I think Steam copies have the DRm stuff

quote:

Originally posted by PersianLegends:

quote:

Originally posted by UbiRazz:
Sorry, you have my apologies but I was purely talking about store-bought copies of PoP which have no copy protection.

mm, I think Steam copies have the DRm stuff

Of course they do. Steam itself has DRM tied to every game, but Valve's implementation is great. No adverse hardware affects, no installation limits, and even supports offline play for a limited period of time (Set by dev, usually 2 weeks or so). I have no issues with Steam DRM.

Oh, well I did no know that Good to know

quote:

Originally posted by UbiRazz:
Well this time we've got a good game with no DRM so there really is no reason to pirate it, right? We should expect good sales because there's no reason to not buy a copy

UbiRazz, this is awesome news. I'll definitely be buying this game. Just don't be shocked if you see the piracy rate is high for it. It'll likely be high with or without DRM. I'd direct your attention to the World of Goo game for an example. They released the game DRM-free and it was heavily pirated, but the devs posted that while it's disheartening to see such a high piracy rate, it turns out (from their research) that it's really no worse than if they'd put some kind of DRM on it anyway.

Pirates are going to pirate no matter what you do. But I'll say this: you've guaranteed a sale to me simply due to the fact you're putting no DRM on this game. This wasn't even on my radar until I read bout it on a DRM discussion thread, but I'll buy it just to show my support for this no-DRM stance. (I passed on Far Cry 2 due to the DRM).

Awesome news, UbiRazz. Awesome!

^^^
I was thinking the same thing, piracy stats would be about the same with or without DRM and the difference would come from how well regarded the game and the dev/publisher are by actual buying gamers. By going DRM/Copy-protection free w/PoP PC & making it known to the community(market) I think Ubisoft would definitely gain some brownie points
I was on the fence about the game itself but it being DRM free had pushed me to go ahead and pre-order the other day also. Personally I don't have a problem with non-intrusive disc based protection though and I'm surprised that it apparently doesn't have any kind of disc protection either.

quote:

Originally posted by Daroth_343:

quote:

Originally posted by Khaser:
It's a bit optimistic to keep the fact that it's "DRM/Copy-Protection free" quiet and then expect any effect, by default everyone assumes that it's using a DRM scheme like that of your other games or those that have been heavily publicised lately -even covered in mainstream media-, as I'm sure you're well aware of.

Since they're not making a big deal out of it, I guess it could simply be a matter of Ubisoft acknowledging that DRM, at least in its current form, simply doesn't work. Since it doesn't matter whether they use it or not, they might as well not invest time and money into it. Their technical support staff will no doubt be thankful for that as well. The only question that remains is whether or not Ubisoft actually put some effort into the PC conversion and it's not going to be another broken game like BG&E, Warrior Within or Raving Rabbids. I guess we'll found out soon enough.

lol, it probably does save quite a few man-hours work for the tech support staff!
In any case, it's one thing to make a big deal out of it and another to not publicly mention anything (well I suppose the forum is "public" but word hadn't even spread to any news sites I visit since UbiRazz mentioned it a few days ago), as of now I've only seen that GameSpy's review was informed that it was DRM Free.
Stardock and CD Projekt both recognise it adds value for their customers and has been a big conversation piece for PC gamers, it's a point of difference that's created awareness of their brands and stirred up alot of goodwill in the community for them.
It's like what you said in your earlier post - Ubisoft should make it known, it's good marketing; in any case they've done so many QAs & interviews recently where it could have been brought up without the effort of doing a press release. And it doesn't really make sense to say .._

quote:

UbiRazz wrote:
[...] A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP PC has no DRM we`ll see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine.

_.. and not make it well known to the PC gaming community, who are the people Ubi is supposed to be trying to sell the game to.

quote:

Originally posted by UbiRazz:
A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP PC has no DRM we`ll see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine.

Hi UbiRazz.

I'm one of the (non-pirating) people who are boycotting titles that utilize SecuROM and over-the-top DRM. Until I saw your post, and confirmed it from other sources, I had not even contemplated purchasing POP because of your recent DRM-choice history.

Very excited, I was about to order POP from Amazon when I decided to check the system specs. Unfortunately, I only have a 3.5 GHz single-core Pentium 4 processor so likely cannot run it.

I almost decided to do what I normally would: wait until such time as I upgraded to a new PC then buy POP (by then in the bargain bins I'm sure since I have no immediate plans to upgrade). But then I changed my mind and ordered POP anyway right now to ensure that you get full price for your efforts and for doing the right thing with regard to DRM. (I'll still get to play it when I eventually upgrade my pc after all.)

I get the impression that you're highly sceptical of the move, and maybe you believe that the anti-DRM community really are a bunch of pirates like one of your competitors CEO claimed recently. If so, then I hope that POP suffers only equivalent or lower piracy rates than comparably spec'ed DRM-laden games.

I probably can't convince you otherwise but, speaking for myself and dozens of other gamers at the ReclaimYourGame website, and the prism forum, I thank you for listening and being prepared to chance it. So I'm here demonstrate that I'm putting my money where my mouth is.

Amazon O/N: 103-3633353-8265832

And for what it's worth, most of us would have been content with the old style disk-check only form of DRM using software like Tages or safedisc. But those are just as futile as SecuROM (even if less objectionable) so I think you're likely saving licensing fees by not using anything at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Roman_Lajciak:
I am not planning to buy Prince of Persia and never was planning to do so. Not that it's a bad game - I am sure it's great, but it is not my genre. As far as Ubisoft games go, I like your Heroes of Might and Magic series (I bought both HOMM5 and the Tribes of the East).

I only found my way to these forums, because of DRM discussion elsewhere and the announcement that Prince of Persia won't have any DRM on the retail version. I just want to say that I am EXTREMELY impressed with Ubisoft's decision. I hope it works out well for you and you implement the policy on other Ubisoft games in the future, especially any future Heroes of Might and Magic (or other Might and Magic) titles. Kudos to you Ubisoft for making this decision!

To be honest, I doubt Prince of Persia will be any less pirated than if it had DRM. But it also probably won't be more pirated either. So you will have the same piracy effect, but save money on DRM implementation and customer support (due to the problems it causes), plus instantly regain credibility with your customers. I really hope this works out for you.

Wrong, if the DRM is hyper nasty, it has the opposite effect.

1st pirated game of this year is Spore, and was launched in september....

quote:

Originally posted by CDolphin:
I get the impression that you're highly sceptical of the move, and maybe you believe that the anti-DRM community really are a bunch of pirates like one of your competitors CEO claimed recently. If so, then I hope that POP suffers only equivalent or lower piracy rates than comparably spec'ed DRM-laden games.

I'm fairly skeptical as it's an easy answer given by a lot of people why they pirate games but if you're going to buy this game instead of pirating purely because of no DRM in the store version then if I ever meet you in real life I'll happily shake your hand and buy you a drink

I'm still waiting for PC version reviews to trickle in before making the purchase. If the PC version is solid, then I'll definitely buy the retail box.

I am no fan of the series. However, I have bought the game to pay my respect to the company for trying to do the right thing: No DRM. Keep it up and thank you.

I've seen the game call home. No idea what it sends (although I am curious). I can live with that.

A slight problem, though. There was really no need to send those armed men while I was trying to make a backup copy. :P

Now... Let's find out if I like the game.

I just got the PC version, and even though there's no trace of any copy-protection, the game box still mentions that the game contains copy-protection "that might conflict with some DVD-RW...". I don't really understand how they could make such a mistake, seeing how it's a rather big deal that Ubisoft finally releases a game with no copy-protection at all. This, combined with the fact that Ubisoft only revealed the lack of copy protection when asked about it, almost makes it seem that they want people to think it has copy-protection. Anyway, time to finally play the game