Topic: UbiSoft --> Update: PS4 + PC game-sales topping XB1 sales by far.

[MysterD]

NEW - 9-5-2012:
Destructoid -> UbiSoft's games are selling much better on both PS4 + PC, way over their XB1-game sales.


OLDER POSTS:
Geek.com -> UbiSoft drops always connected DRM from their games.



ORIGINAL POST:
And, UbiSoft goes off the deep end...

Destructoid -> UbiSoft claims 95% piracy rate, will likely go F2P in response.

Ubisoft, the worst PC publisher on the planet, is now claiming that it suffers a 93-95% piracy rate on the platform. As a response, CEO Yves Guillemot promises it will jump into the free-to-play market.
"The advantage of F2P is that we can get revenue from countries where we couldn't previously -- places where our products were played but not bought. Now with F2P we gain revenue, which helps brands last longer," he told Eurogamer. "It's a way to get closer to your customers, to make sure you have a revenue. On PC it's only around 5-7% of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it's only about 5-7% who pay anyway, the rest is pirated.

"It's around a 93-95% 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."

Guillemot makes this claim despite Ubisoft famously using gross DRM which it claims has never been cracked. So, either he's lying about the piracy, or the company's been lying about the effectiveness of its DRM. Of course, it's more than likely both claims are total bullshit, because Ubisoft has never been able to get its story straight on this stuff.

[Pugnate]

Is it April 1st?

[Quemaqua]

If that figure is actually right (which it isn't), it wouldn't be that surprising. Why would anyone actually buy a game from those creeps? They've got about the least goodwill in the industry about now.

[Pugnate]

I think considering Asian markets like China, that figure is possibly near the truth. But then again, those markets would never pay $50 for a PC game anyway. For them, they need a different strategy. Realistically speaking, actual piracy rate -- i.e. people who would buy the game if they had absolutely no way to pirate it -- is probably a lot lower.

That being said, I am sure a lot has to do with Ubisoft being the most hated name in the PC games business. This is the first time a PC game publisher is bemoaning PC piracy, and I have no sympathy for them at all.

[MysterD]

If that figure is actually right (which it isn't), it wouldn't be that surprising. Why would anyone actually buy a game from those creeps? They've got about the least goodwill in the industry about now.

I don't know, but I've bought a bunch of UbiSoft PC games from digital services.
Granted, I made damn sure I did much money on their releases, given how they treat their customers.

I wonder how their PC digital sales went this past weekend on UPlay, after all of them $1 deals they had going on...

[Xessive]

It takes a lot of effort to beat EA and even Activision for title of most hated PC developer. That says a lot about how low Ubisoft has sunk over the last few years.

I was one of the poor saps who actually paid for Ghost Recon Future Soldier on PC and that game is broken. A lot of people are still unable to play. Fortunately I can technically play but it's far from satisfactory. Framerate issues, control issues, connectivity issues, miscellaneous bugs, etc. It's a mess. It's been two months since release day and still no fix and no official response from Ubisoft. Customers are pissed off, naturally.

When Ghost Recon Online went live I jumped on it and came to the realization that it is the far superior product; leaving me wondering why the F did I pay for GRFS?

Anyway, I'm on an Ubi-ban. Not consenting to any more Ubi purchases until they compensate us for GRFS by either fixing it or giving us $50-worth of GRO credit.

[Xessive]

Ubisoft drops always-connected DRM from its games

Ubisoft has decided not to use such DRM for future titles. Now when you buy a Ubisoft PC game you will need to connect once to activate the title. After that, you’re free to play the game offline. There’s still going to be some issues with how many activations you get and what classes as an activation: how do you get an activation back when upgrading, for example. But it’s still a lot better than always requiring a connection and Ubisoft has apparently upped the activation limits significantly.

So, it's finally official but it's still "restricted" to an extent.

[idolminds]

Well its at least better. Now I won't outright dismiss Ubisoft PC games just because its Ubisoft.

[scottws]

I still hate the limited activation thing, but that's a lot better than what they had.  Like idol, I simply was ignoring Ubisoft titles on PC.

[Xessive]

Yeah, thankfully this means they've removed it from existing games and will not provide it with future titles. One-time online activation is acceptable for me. Yet it's almost like saying "Ok, we won't be blatantly evil, we'll just go with the status quo villainy."

[idolminds]

Heh, pretty much. Is this good? Yeah. But the activation stuff is still pretty shit. Its just shit that everyone else does and seems to accept.

[Xessive]

Heh, pretty much. Is this good? Yeah. But the activation stuff is still pretty shit. Its just shit that everyone else does and seems to accept.

Absolutely. If no one had spoken out would Ubi have reconsidered their DRM? No way, man. They would have probably pushed it further by adding a subscription fee to play singleplayer games! Thankfully not all consumers are sheep.

[MysterD]

Heh, pretty much. Is this good? Yeah. But the activation stuff is still pretty shit. Its just shit that everyone else does and seems to accept.

If this is the case, they should when the game gets VERY OLD just pull the DRM -- especially when the game gets OLD and CHEAP.
By that time, everybody has or will likely buy a copy.

EDIT:
The thing is - we'll still need to log into UPlay (into offline mode or online mode) to probably play most of our recent Ubi-games, huh?

EDIT 2:
Saw this on Joystiq...


EDIT 3 -- 9-11-2012:

[MysterD]

Destructoid -> UbiSoft's games are selling much better on both PS4 + PC, way over their XB1-game sales.

Ubisoft is doing more PC business than ever (despite uPlay), and more people might own the last generation PS3 and Xbox 360, but Ubisoft's games are selling best on current generation consoles. Well, on PlayStation 4, anyways.

According to a recent financial report, the PS4 represents 27% of all revenue from Ubisoft games in the quarter ending June 30, 2015.
That's followed by the PC at 23%, shot up from last year's 14% over the same period.

Then it's PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360, each accounting for near 11% of revenue. So, Ubisoft is making as much money on the PS3 as it is the Xbox One, but is making twice, close to thrice that on the PlayStation 4.
Not surprising given the console's sales lead.[/quotte]