Ubisoft drops old DRM system

Ubisoft's digital rights management policy has been a source of many headlines over the last few years. Most of them have been negative; from PC gamers affected by crippling demand upon the launch of Assassin's Creed II, to a server transition resulting in legitimate buyers of Splinter Cell Conviction and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 being unable to play their games.

Gamers are now hopefully going to have a smoother ride of things, as Ubisoft has announced that it is ditching its old DRM system. Ubisoft’s worldwide director for online games, Stephanie Perlotti, explained to website Rock Paper Shotgun that the old system has been ditched.

“We have listened to feedback, and since June last year our policy for all of PC games is that we only require a one-time online activation when you first install the game, and from then you are free to play the game offline," she explained. "And you will be able to activate the game on as many machines as you want.”

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently stated that the company was seeing between a 93 and 95 per cent piracy rate on its PC games.