By Tom Ivan
Ubisoft’s controversial new DRM platform ran into further criticism this weekend after some of the company’s customers were locked out from playing the PC versions of Assassin’s Creed II and Silent Hunter 5.
“Due to exceptional demand, we are currently experiencing difficulties with the Online Service Platform,” Ubisoft community manager Ubi Vigil said on the publisher’s forums. “This does not affect customers who are currently playing, but customers attempting to start a game may experience difficulty in accessing our servers. We are currently working to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience.”
The site is swamped with comments from gamers unable to play legitimately purchased versions of Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter 5.
Ubi Vigil later added: “I don't have any clear information on what the issue is since I'm not in the office, but clearly the extended downtime and lengthy login issues are unacceptable, particularly as I've been told these servers are constantly monitored.
“'I'll do what I can to get more information on what the issue is here first thing tomorrow and push for a resolution and assurance this won't happen in the future. I realise that's not ideal but there's only so much I can do on a weekend as I'm not directly involved with the server side of this system.”
Ubisoft’s new DRM platform requires consumers of the company’s PC titles to connect to Ubi.com accounts to authenticate games online each time they play them, meaning players always need to be connected to the internet.
Contrary to reports, Ubisoft said last week that its new anti-piracy measures hadn’t been cracked, although forum posters said this weekend that illegally downloaded versions of the firm’s games were running without problems, unlike legitimate copies.
