'Far Cry 2' to feature less-odious PC DRM

Based on a post on the Ubisoft forum today (via Blue's News), it sounds like the French game publisher is trying harder than its Electronic Arts to make digital rights management less cumbersome on its customers. An Ubisoft forum manager outlined the DRM plans for the PC version of its upcoming shooter Far Cry 2. Assuming it works as described, you'll get a bit more freedom to reinstall the game at your leisure than EA has offered with Spore and Crysis: Warhead.

According to the Ubisoft Forum Manager:

• You have five activations on three separate PCs.
• Uninstalling the game "refunds" an activation. This process is called "revoke", so as long as you complete proper uninstall you will be able to install the game an unlimited number of times on 3 systems.
• You can upgrade your computer as many times as you want (using our revoke system)
• Ubisoft is committed to the support of our games, and additional activations can be provided.
• Ubisoft is committed to the long-term support of our games: you'll always be able to play Far Cry 2.

The biggest difference between Ubisoft's and EA's DRM is that EA lacks the "revoke" function. Once you've installed one of its games on three systems, you need to contact EA's customer support and ask for authorization for future installs.

Far Cry 2 will feature a forgiving DRM scheme.

(Credit: FarCryGame.com)

Interestingly, EA CEO John Riccotello was quoted yesterday by PaidContent saying, "We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 percent of users wouldn't notice." That speaks to the question, who needs to load a game on more than three systems? We suspect that Riccotello is correct, and that install limits on its games won't affect the majority of its customers.

Still, we applaud Ubisoft for taking the extra step and empowering PC gamers to, in effect, manage their own digital rights. We'll also confess a personal interest, in that we've had our eye on Far Cry 2 as a new PC gaming benchmark. We still need to learn more about how it really works, but what we've heard so far sounds promising.

[AaronMK]

While better than Spore, it seems you are permanently locked to three PCs. That would really hinder your resell rights. What if I install on all three of my computers, get bored of the game, and wish to uninstall and sale the game? Will the revoke process also refund a system?

[rhbrown]

I updated this post, because you raise a a good point regarding the fact that you could still be locked into three PCs. I admit I read it differently at first. If you were to revoke the first install, would it still lock you into that hardware? I suspect it would.

If that's the case, we might be 0 for 2 for new games to use a PC benchmarks. This is getting frustrating.

[justdenny]

Ummmmm.....copyrighted material doesn't usually come with 'resell rights'. Resell rights are not something you are entitled to. Simply because you bought something and don't want it anymore, or are "bored of" it, doesn't mean you automatically have the legal right to sell it.

[surfbum279]

wrong actually, the supreme court has upheld the consumer's right to resell goods (a bought computer game being included in goods) regardless of it being copyrighted or not.

[wilsoch]

That's not entirely accurate. Copyright law incorporates the first sale doctrine, which allows the purchaser of copyrighted material to sell the particular copy of the copyrighted work that he purchased (or legally obtained). Under copyright law, then, the holder of the copyright loses the right to control distribution of a particular copy of a copyrighted work once it is sold the first time. (I.e., if I buy a book, the first sale doctrine says I can sell the book to someone else. I can't photocopy it or perform it, but I can sell my copy.) The first sale doctrine is a resell right.

[mindgamez]

But does it install a SPOREish rootkit?

[mmntech]

Well, it's an improvement, but not much of one. I can't help but feel gamers are getting taken out of the fire just to be put in the frying pan. This approach is still rather backwards and the huge disparity between PC games and their console counterparts still exists. It's interesting EA is mentioned here after they basically admitted that torrent downloads didn't equal lost sales. Yet they still treat the honest PC gamer like a common criminal. PC gaming is dead to me until they admit that they've been mistreating gamers. EA and UBISoft are the worst offenders for this.

[luckyseen]

It comes with a rootkit that vandalizes your registry. It leeches your CPU 24/7 - like malware. And it degrades your OS, inviting internet criminals to "backdoor" their into your system.

DRM is all risk for the consumer.

[spoJohnny]

Quote: John Riccotello: "We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 percent of users wouldn't notice." -- -- To me this implies that the game does not have longevity; or that they are sticking to premature assumptions. A lot of tech-heads reinstall their OS every few months, and even the slightly tech inclined will reinstall once a year. In my experience, any game I've played for more than a few months has needed a reinstall-or-two over its life-time. With that in mind it seems EA is either being naive in thinking user won't need to reinstall; or self-professing that Spore doesn't have replay value and longevity.

AaronMK makes an excellent point also: any kind of DRM that limits installs is a spit-in-the-face of gamers who re-sell when they are done with a game. This is no accidental side-effect though; the game companies get nothing from used game sales, and they know they are missing out on a large market there - so they are trying to prevent it.

The install limit that EA did with Spore (is doing with Crysis, and UBISoft is doing here) is annoying, but most can get over it. What EA did that was unacceptable was putting the rootkit-ish/malware-ish/spyware-ish files and registry entries on peoples systems, without telling people, AND making it difficult to remove.

[Philips]

"# Uninstalling the game "refunds" an activation. This process is called "revoke", so as long as you complete proper uninstall you will be able to install the game an unlimited number of times on 3 systems."

Well, people routinely had to reinstall Windows once per one-two years to get rid off uninstallable software. Did that already twice. Also, during normal routine Windows reinstalls (after e.g. total total OS crash (== unbootable)) one would have to keep in mind that he also have to somehow magically uninstall something from OS which cannot be booted anymore.

Binding something important as revocation to "clean uninstall" in Windows is pretty much joke.

[shwhjw]

So does Far Cry 2's SecuROM install the rootkit malware? or is that only EA games like Spore? i'm having trouble finding information about which version is in which game :s
ing about
i bought Crysis about 6 months ago. Apparently that had SecuROM on it, i didnt know anything about it then because it was pre-Spore, so that cant be the spyware version. Hopefully the Far Cry 2 version is the same that was included in Crysis?

[Renegade Knight]

This is broken. I don't uninstall everthing when I reformat a computer. I make sure my data is safe and reformat the drive. I also don't create accounts with the dozens upon dozens of companies that want me to create accounts. I just run software on my computer to do my fun, and enjoy my spare time.