Ubisoft officially dumps Starforce

Citing "complaints," the publisher ends its relationship with the copyright-protection provider.

Following several days of rumors, Ubisoft has officially confirmed that it will no longer use the controversial digital-rights software from Starforce. "Ubisoft has decided to use an alternative copy-protection system to Starforce for upcoming releases," said a rep for the company. The announcement means that Starforce software will not be included in Heroes of Might and Magic V, the publisher's much-anticipated forthcoming PC role-playing game.

Ubisoft's decision caps weeks of controversy surrounding Starforce. In mid-March, an employee of the Russian-German-Chinese-Cypriot company was accused of posting a link to a site where users could illegally download Stardock's space sim Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. Shortly, thereafter, Aspyr Media decided to sever its relationship with Starforce and remove its software from its forthcoming game, Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars.

Ubisoft's motivation for ending its agreement with Starforce was more personal. At the end of March, the company was slapped with a $5 million lawsuit by gamers who claimed that Starforce's DRM system compromised the security of their PCs. "We are currently investigating complaints about alleged problems with Starforce's software," said the Ubisoft rep.

125 Comments

  • morbid_man_guy

    Posted May 12, 2008 7:03 pm PT

    i like the way steam works, no discs etc. it would be nice if all games ran through steam or equivalent program, rather than screwing around with crap like startforce and other annoying disc protection things

  • JackBurton

    Posted Sep 25, 2007 12:09 pm PT

    For a list of StarForce "protected" games go to:
    http://www.glop.org/starforce/list.php

    To download the StarForce Removal Utility:
    http://www.onlinesecurity-on.com/protect.phtml?c=55

  • VfighterX

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:18 am PT

  • gameerkid

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:26 pm PT

    (darth vader from star wars walks in)

    darth vader:wheres STARFORCE they must talk to me about the virus in my ISD compter after i got the game!

  • BmGod12

    Posted Aug 16, 2006 2:27 pm PT

    STARFORCE SUCKS THE GUYS HOW THOUGHT IT IS A UNCEL ****
    GUY HOW **** TAPEWORM INFESTED PIGS

  • ReD_GLoVe

    Posted Jun 15, 2006 9:03 pm PT

  • Teivan GameSpot staff member

    Posted May 16, 2006 5:31 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • Teivan GameSpot staff member

    Posted May 16, 2006 5:29 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • Teivan GameSpot staff member

    Posted May 16, 2006 5:28 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • Teivan GameSpot staff member

    Posted May 16, 2006 5:24 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • PlasmaPlague

    Posted May 3, 2006 6:20 am PT

    soldiers of ww2..
    spellforce...
    ......
    i want but i stopped...
    so many nice games r killed by Starforce....sad

  • quietguy

    Posted Apr 26, 2006 7:07 pm PT

    After taking one look at everything that Star-Force presents to me.............NO! YOU ARE EVIIIIL! MORE EVIL THAN SONY'S rootdisk worm!

  • hakkafixi

    Posted Apr 24, 2006 9:28 am PT

    Wise move Ubisoft,you were losing fans with that ruin of a program.

  • Raime10

    Posted Apr 23, 2006 5:45 am PT

    Good decision for Ubisoft.

  • pbego

    Posted Apr 23, 2006 4:37 am PT

    This is interesting news. A bit late, since I don't think they'll patch their old games, though some publishers have. I just picked up King Kong for $14 yesterday before I knew it had Starforce in it. I'm planning to return it because I'm not going to install anything that loads my system up with Starforce again! (Took lots of playing around with registry edits to purge it the first time it happened). So unless Ubisoft announces updates for old games, this one is still going back unopened.

    But yes, these guys might get business from me in the future if they have a game I want. If they had stayed with the Starforce, I know I wouldn't have bought anything from them.

  • maawal

    Posted Apr 21, 2006 10:07 am PT

    Superb news!the best news i've ever heard in ma life!!!! wOOOOoooHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!cheers users!

  • Justinwwk

    Posted Apr 21, 2006 8:16 am PT

    Ubisoft did the right thing to dump Starforce. I remembered these legally bought games of mine have problems with Starforce protection. It doesn't recognize my original game disc! What's the use of buying original games?! Darn~ Congrats on the dump! ^^

  • AFK4Lifez

    Posted Apr 19, 2006 1:31 pm PT

    Hurrah! No more starforceeeee!

  • abaddon18

    Posted Apr 19, 2006 6:29 am PT

    There must be a God somewhere! This definitely proves it!

  • nicobarengo

    Posted Apr 18, 2006 1:18 pm PT

    Awsome News!!!

  • usoda

    Posted Apr 17, 2006 7:52 pm PT

    Sometimes, dumping the strongest copy protection can be the way to sell one more copy. Nice build-up for Brand Recognition.

  • Lord_Calidor

    Posted Apr 17, 2006 11:35 am PT

    All of the Starforce employees should be given a new 0-24h job of System Admins and be forced to clean their crap from computers all over.
    Oh, and also given a lengthy flogging, just for a good measure.

  • mmaginnis

    Posted Apr 16, 2006 7:49 pm PT

    I don't suppose this means Ubi will be releasing patches to remove the Starforce virus from it's older titles (SC3, etc)...

  • adomolis

    Posted Apr 16, 2006 4:02 am PT

    Last week I bought Colin mcrae rally 2005, and it was with starforce. After launching a game it just said: Your serial number is wrong or something. But the game is original!!!! Good thing the UBI screwed the starforce! I am so happy!

  • Anthriel

    Posted Apr 15, 2006 4:10 pm PT

    Starforce is officially dead for most of us. Even if the next version of their copy protection would include a cure to cancer, people would still hate it.

    That basically limits them to games which don't have any customers who use the Internet. That would be the next Barbie game, I guess. Naturally, most of the audience doesn't know how to copy games, so Starforce would still be silly for that.

    Starforce is only useful for games with an audience that frequents the Internet and can circumvent basic copy protection. However, those audiences absolutely loathe it and will refrain from buying games with Starforce.

    So yeah, it is dead. Not all employees may know it yet, but they should look out for a new job.

  • dj_lee_1989

    Posted Apr 15, 2006 3:16 pm PT

    result!!!!!!!!

  • balljacker03

    Posted Apr 15, 2006 11:37 am PT

    this is really good

  • Dive992001

    Posted Apr 15, 2006 11:33 am PT

    What games had the Starforce encryption?

  • akshayasok

    Posted Apr 15, 2006 5:27 am PT

    HAIL UBISOFT , **** STARFORCE

  • kmilo_rws

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 10:38 pm PT

    Yipee!

  • ohmygodandyours

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 8:33 pm PT

    What some of u guyz miss is that starforce acts like a virus.
    1) it installs itself on the C drive without users intention or notification
    2) it not only corrupts illigal games it also corrupts many other programs that may be copy protected.
    3) the user has no option to turn off or uninstall the program

    im happy that this happened and my favorite publisher (ubisoft) is the first one to take a step. Lets see how things go from now on...

  • grievance8

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 7:31 pm PT

    Break out the beer & hookers! W000t! Best news ever!

  • jiang5chen15

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 6:59 pm PT

    Hurray ! GRAW will sell another copy. Splinter cell too.

  • martok

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 3:00 pm PT

    E-e-e-e-excellent. I was crestfallen when I found out HOMM5 was going to include Starforce, as there was no way I was going to purchase it (and I'd really been looking forward to the game). Ubisoft has just gained themselves another sale!

  • vinnie123456789

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 2:53 pm PT

    w00t! -- but i never had a problem with Splinter Cell 3 -- oh wel, it's ggood that devs are f***ing 3rd party malware companies. POWER TO THE 3RD PARTY MALWARE COMPANIES!! ----um, i meant to say "PEOPLE". Just so u know. ok then. i'm gonna stop writing now. yup, sometime soon...

  • phoenix14

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 2:14 pm PT

    i never played starforce but everyone is happy about it so i guess it's good news

  • decebal

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 12:39 pm PT

    THIS IS THE BEST NEWS I'VE HEARD IN A WHILE!!!!

  • Kfoss

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 12:18 pm PT

    and how is the new company any better?..who is the new company there using anyway?!?!..

  • Gromul

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 10:56 am PT

    {Cartman mode directed at Starforce}: Nje nje nje nje nje nje! Hehehehehehe!

  • johanvliet

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 10:28 am PT

    well done ubi

  • Hybrid094

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 9:15 am PT

    About God damn time. It looks like I can start buying Ubisoft games again.

  • dinodude64

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 9:00 am PT

    mr_squibble
    Goodbye Starforce. Nice never knowing you!

    ditto that and now im going to buy HMoMV cuase i dont have to worry bout my computer doing a compy and blowing up in my face.

  • qiwihead

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 9:00 am PT

    This is great news. Now if we could just get Ubi to dump Massive and their friggin annoying in-game ads. If they did that and finally fixed the crappy netcode they use in all their multiplayer games, Ubi would be right back up there on my list of the best devs.

  • kainenable

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 8:48 am PT

    Woot!

  • mr_squibble

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 8:46 am PT

    Goodbye Starforce. Nice never knowing you!

  • Blazer88

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 7:41 am PT

    Wow,..good news.I definatley be getting Heroes V now.It's always a good thing when a company listens to it's consumers,..or at notices thier sales are taking a hit because everyone is avoiding thier games like the plague because of it's copy protection.

  • Naruto-freak

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 7:02 am PT

    This is awesome!!!

  • altorcaydr

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 6:59 am PT

    "i think starforce is the only copy protection that really manages to keep pirates at bay."

    Hahaha, you're clueless. Starforce takes a little longer to crack, but not by much. Like, it takes 3 days instead of just 1 to figure it out. I use a crack on *every* game I have so I can protect the discs - at least 5 of them that I know of use Starforce, and every one has a working crack.

    I've never played any of the HoMM series but for taking a stand like this and actually giving a damn what the customer thinks for once, I'll at least seriously consider trying it.

  • fitbabits

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 6:57 am PT

    If UbiSoft knew what was up, they would not have signed up to use Starforce in the first place.

    This is evidence of people power, nothing more.

  • sam1013

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 6:41 am PT

    Thank you Ubisoft. You do need copy protection from the scumbags that want to steal your hard work but not the kind that has the possibility of damaging computers

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