Ubisoft Breaks Steam's TOS With From Dust DRM; Valve Offers Refunds

[MusicallyInspired]

"Ubisoft Breaks Steam's ToS With From Dust DRM; Valve Offers Refunds"

Author: William Usher
published: 2011-08-18 18:27:44

Big publishers never cease to amaze me how far they will go to screw gamers over for a quick buck, even at the expense of business integrity and consumer trust. Well, Ubisoft proves they’re no less evil than Activision or EA by breaking Steam’s terms of service agreement and forcing DRM into the PC version of From Dust after they said they wouldn’t.

It seems like lately publishers have been proving time and time over again that maybe Valve and the Steam powered digital distribution service really are the champions of the people.

In an article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Ubisoft has changed their tuned about only requiring gamers to log-in once via a standard issue DRM security measure for their recent god-game, From Dust. Supposedly, after the one-time log-in gamers would be free to use the game from then on without requiring to be online to play the single-player game. Unfortunately, that’s not true anymore. Ubisoft has changed their tune and you will now always be required to be online each and every time you plan to log-in and play the game.

According to Lo-Ping, Valve is offering refunds to anyone who purchased the game. You’ll have to hop through a few loops and sign a ticket but I think the hassle would be well worth it in this case.

Take note that Ubisoft recently announced that they would be scaling back on the DRM for Driver San Francisco, which is a little scary because the same thing they said that wouldn't be included in From Dust WAS in fact included in From Dust in a backdoor manner. Does this mean that gamers can potentially expect the same fate from Driver San Francisco when it launches for PC in late September? If Ubisoft lied once about their inclusion of DRM I don't see why they wouldn't lie about it again.

Without a shadow of a doubt I’m now convinced that Valve removing those EA games from the Steam service and preventing the likes of Battlefield 3 from appearing on the service due to a breach in terms of service was actually for the betterment of the PC gaming community.

Time and time over it looks like one of the few e-tailers out there with consumers' interest in mind is Steam, and despite some people not being entirely fond of the service, you at least have to tip your hat off to them for not screwing gamers over and for looking out for gamer interests when it comes to software purchases.

Sadly, I doubt Activision, EA or Ubisoft will alter their ways to become more consumer friendly and it probably means we won’t be seeing a lot of PC ports appear on Steam in the future for the same reasons listed above.

You can get the full low-down on Ubisoft’s underhanded tactics over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. And I’ll go ahead and say it for the readers…Ubisoft, that was a real d*****-bag move right there.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Ubisoft-Breaks-Steam-ToS-With-From-Dust-DRM-Valve-Offers-Refunds-34397.html

EDIT: Apparently people on reddit are saying that they are NOT offering refunds, but that Ubisoft is asking customers to go directly to them instead.

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/jnefp/valve_is_not_honoring_refund_requests_for_the/

[Baggins]

Grr... what does this mean for the next Assassin's Creed? I've been buying the series on steam (since they come with the most complete DLC content), and want to keep it that way...

[wilco64256]

Grr... what does this mean for the next Assassin's Creed? I've been buying the series on steam (since they come with the most complete DLC content), and want to keep it that way...

I would assume it's not going to happen.

[Baggins]

Steam is still selling 'From Dust', hmm.

[MusicallyInspired]

Yes, they're still selling it, but they are offering refunds for people who bought/pre-ordered it under the impression that there would be no online DRM (other than Steam).

[Fierce Deity]

So that means that Assassin's Creed will still have a chance of being on Steam, as long as people are content with Ubisoft's DRM, I assume. I don't mind their DRM, it's better than Securom, but what Ubisoft will have to understand is that Steam IS DRM. You can't steal games from a digital distributor. That would be reason enough to take the DRM out of the Steam licenses.

[Baggins]

Yes, they're still selling it, but they are offering refunds for people who bought/pre-ordered it under the impression that there would be no online DRM (other than Steam).

I'm curious to where this "refund" is actually. It seems some of the articles claim Valve is offering it. But there are several threads over on Steampowered.com where Valve says they aren't offering it. Some are saying take up complaints with Ubisoft.

As for Ubisoft 'refund'. No idea where they are giving them out.

Could this be based on unstantiated rumors, and wishful thinking?

[MusicallyInspired]

It was mentioned elsewhere that it's probably due to people trying to get around things by getting a refund for reasons other than the DRM issue. I have no idea what the process is myself as I have no first-hand experience. I never bought the game and don't intend to so I don't need a refund.

[Fierce Deity]

The game is a self-acclaimed 'god' game, but doesn't really present itself like such. It's almost like Lemmings. Black and White was a god game. I saw gameplay videos and have decided that Ubisoft couldn't pay me to play From Dust. It's pretty horrendous.

[Baggins]

I notice the game only costs $14 on most sites... which should tell you something?

It doesn't sound like Ubisoft was trying to make much money with this game to begin with... Advertisement seems to portray it as an 'art' project by some famous individual (no idea who he is, but Ubisoft seems portray him as somebody famous or innovative).

[Fierce Deity]

Eh, it looks too much like a tech demo. You alter the terrain, and then move on to a new level where you do the same thing. I assume that there is some kind of lore or story to it, but it is revealed after you beat the game in what appears to be an Unlockables section of the main menu. It's too lackluster for me to get interested. If anyone is curious, I believe they have demos for the consoles, but I haven't seen a demo on Steam yet.

[darthkiwi]

It's by the guy who made Another World (also titled Out of this World in some areas), which is a very highly acclaimed platformer (to the extent that it's apparently more of an atmospheric experience than a platformer). I could never get past the third screen though.

I did like the look of From Dust, though. And for only about £12 I thought it was a done deal. Then they go and pull this ridiculous stunt.

I mean, you can't really steal from Steam, as far as I can tell. They seem to have pretty good security. If you're desperate you could disconnect from the internet and play the game offline, but that's only a solution for people who have access to each other's steam accounts, so you're talking about family or friends, which is not a huge threat to the industry's solvency.

[MusicallyInspired]

I mean, you can't really steal from Steam, as far as I can tell. They seem to have pretty good security. If you're desperate you could disconnect from the internet and play the game offline, but that's only a solution for people who have access to each other's steam accounts, so you're talking about family or friends, which is not a huge threat to the industry's solvency.

Not to mention it's against the Steam ToS and if you're found out doing that there are hefty punishments to your account.

[Fierce Deity]

I mean, you can't really steal from Steam, as far as I can tell. They seem to have pretty good security. If you're desperate you could disconnect from the internet and play the game offline, but that's only a solution for people who have access to each other's steam accounts, so you're talking about family or friends, which is not a huge threat to the industry's solvency.

Not to mention it's against the Steam ToS and if you're found out doing that there are hefty punishments to your account.

Yeah, like disabling your account entirely, thus losing every game you've ever purchased. So if you want to pull this trick, make sure to do it with no purchases, or do it with a friend's account. 

[MusicallyInspired]

Ubisoft has redacted the always online DRM for From Dust.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/22/ubisoft-u-turn-on-from-dust-drm/#comments

[darthkiwi]

Excellent! I won't buy the game just yet, since the patch still isn't out, but as soon as it's out and proved to work I will buy it to show approval (and because it looks amazing).

[Baggins]

I wish they'd redact it from their other games as well... It's kinda of annoying when I play many of these games on laptops and thus portability is an option, LOL (they work great on an Alienware M11x R3 btw).

[MusicallyInspired]

This is what these large game corporations are all about. They test the waters to see what they can get away with. We as consumers and video gamers have to stop just taking whatever it is that they give us. If we speak up they will have to listen.

*COUGHCOUGHTELLTALECOUGHCOUGH*

[Baggins]

Valve has all kinds of games with multiple DRM. BioShock 2 uses DRM through Microsoft. It's another one of those "log-in" to use the program type DRMs.

There is another one I was looking at the other day, that has a 4 copy install limit. In which case you go into a 30 day period in which you can't reinstall the game. After which, one of your installs is released back to you at the end. I think every 30 days, it unlocks another installation.

The valve store though tends have a warning, whenever there is one of these third party DRM's in the game. So the buyer knows ahead of time.

[MusicallyInspired]

What? Valve's games all use the same DRM. Steam itself. That's all.

EDIT: Ah, I see now you meant Steam has all kinds of games with multiple DRM. Big difference.