Hasta La Gadget!

Piracy on PC is a big deal for publishers, but Ubisoft always seems to be in the spotlight when there’s a new story on piracy or DRM. It’s hardly a secret that Ubisoft has major issues with piracy, but before it’s never really gotten down to hard numbers. Today, that changed in an interview with GamesIndustry International, in which Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that Ubisoft experiences a piracy rate of 93-95% on its PC games.

That’s why the publisher will now be focusing on free-to-play, because Guillemot says that will guarantee income for the company. According to him, free-to-play will allow Ubisoft to get payments from countries where its games are pirated the most, and he continued by saying that such a transition is a way to make sure that the company gets long-term income:

It’s a way to get closer to your customers, to make sure you have a revenue. On PC it’s only around five to seven per cent of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it’s only about five to seven per cent who pay anyway, the rest is pirated. It’s around a 93-95 per cent piracy rate, so it ends up at about the same percentage. The revenue we get from the people who play is more long term, so we can continue to bring content.

Ubisoft has come under fire many times in the past for implementing DRM that forces consumers to have a constant Internet connection while playing. It’s also caught some flak for habitually releasing the PC versions of its games after the launch of the console versions, which is a trend it will be continuing with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed III. There has been no lack of negative comments directed at Ubisoft for these practices, so maybe this increased focus on free-to-play titles will mean less always-on DRM.

That 93-95% piracy rate quoted by Guillemot seems to be incredibly high, but if it’s legitimate, then it’s kind of hard to blame Ubisoft for implementing that DRM gamers hate so much. Nevermind the fact that Ubisoft would be missing out a lot of money that way, but shareholders would be on Guillemot’s case all the time, trying to get him to come up with a solution to the problem. We’ll see if this free-to-play shift ends up working out soon, as the company announced a number of new free-to-play titles at Gamescom. Stay tuned.

Ubisoft claims 93-95% piracy rate on its PC games is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yesterday, Ubisoft made headlines when it was discovered that its UPlay service had a pretty big security hole that could allow malicious websites to access users’ computers. The good news is that Ubisoft has issued a patch for the issue (and managed to do that rather quickly), but the bad news is just starting for the French publisher, which is already on thin ice with PC players thanks to its fondness of always-on DRM. Indeed, this security issue wouldn’t been as big of a problem if Ubisoft didn’t require players to run UPlay alongside many of its games, including most Assassin’s Creed titles and a few games in the Tom Clancy franchise.

Today Ubisoft spoke out about the vulnerability and the patch itself, telling gamers that it takes security seriously and will be monitoring new reports as we begin to move away from this embarrassing blunder. “We have made a forced patch to correct the flaw in the browser plug-in for the UPlay PC application that was brought to our attention,” a spokesperson for the company said. “Ubisoft takes security issues very seriously, and we will continue to monitor all reports of vulnerabilities within our software and take swift action to resolve such issues.”

In order to ensure that the plug-in is updated correctly, Ubisoft suggests that players install the UPlay update without a browser window open. Alternatively, an updated version of the installer is available from the UPlay website, and comes complete with this new patch. Hopefully this fix solves the issue for good, but even if it does, we can’t imagine that gamers will be willing to forgive and forget as quickly as Ubisoft would prefer.

Sadly, this probably won’t do much to get Ubisoft to reconsider its use of always-on DRM. Ubisoft is a company that has major problems with PC piracy, and investors want that rampant piracy reined in, regardless of the hassle it may cause paying customers. It’s an understandable position, but it still isn’t hard to crack a smile when always-on DRM keeps shooting itself in the foot like this.

[via MCV]

Ubisoft speaks on DRM disaster is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’ve played Assassin’s Creed 2 (or other Ubisoft games), you may have installed more stealthy infiltration than you bargained for. Some snooping by Tavis Ormandy around Ubisoft’s UPlay looks to have have discovered that the service’s browser plugin, meant to launch locally-stored games from the web, doesn’t have a filter for what websites can use it — in other words, it may well be open season for any maliciously-coded page that wants direct access to the computer. Closing the purported, accidental backdoor exploit is thankfully as easy as disabling the plugin, but it could be another knock against the internet integration from a company that doesn’t have a great reputation for online security with its copy protection system. We’ve reached out to Ubisoft to confirm the flaw and learn what the solution may be, if it’s needed. For now, we’d definitely turn that plugin off and continue the adventures of Ezio Auditore da Firenze through a desktop shortcut instead.

Update: That was fast. As caught by Geek.com, the 2.0.4 update to UPlay limits the plugin to opening UPlay itself. Unless a would-be hacker can find a way to compromise the system just before you launch into Rayman Origins, it should be safe to play.

Filed under: Gaming, Software

Ubisoft UPlay may accidentally contain web plugin exploit, Ezio would not approve (update: fixed) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NBC mentioned it would deliver two complementary mobile apps for its extensive London Olympics coverage and now they have arrived. Available for Android phones and tablets as well as the iPhone and iPad, they’re built on Adobe technology to deliver the information and live streaming video, as well as handle the TV Everywhere authentication with the cable providers that’s necessary to view all of the content. The NBC Olympics Live Companion is specifically designed to operate as a second screen for users to pull up stats and extra info on while they watch TV, and the NBC Olympics Live Extra app delivers video of every event streaming live to users wherever they are. It supports multiple camera angles, social features like the Facebook tie-ins NBC announced yesterday and users can even switch between the two apps at will.

Check after the break for a quick video preview of some of the technology at work, and if you’re planning to tune into the games, hit NBC’s Olympics site now to sign in and authenticate so once the Opening Ceremony kicks off, all you’ll have to do is press play.

Continue reading NBC’s 2012 London Olympics second screen and streaming apps for Android and iOS launch today

Filed under: Home Entertainment

NBC’s 2012 London Olympics second screen and streaming apps for Android and iOS launch today originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Live Extra, NBCOlympics.com, Adobe  | Email this | Comments