Ubi DRM dropped for RUSE

Upcoming RTS RUSE will not use Ubisoft’s hotly-debated internet DRM, the publisher has confirmed.

Speaking in a post on Steam Community a member of the game team stated: When RUSE is released in September, it will benefit from Valve’s Steamworks API to offer the best community experience to players.

Consequently, a Steam account and Internet connection will be required to activate the game, as per Steam policy. For this reason, RUSE will not use the Ubisoft protection. Single player can be played offline.”

However, a spokesperson for the publisher added to VG247 that the publisher will continue to use its DRM on most” of its PC games going forwards.

The digital rights management method employed by Ubisoft has drawn massive criticism owing to the fact that it requires users to maintain a constant internet connection for the title to validate itself, even if the user is playing offline single player.

The result was plentiful reports of users being unable to play the games they had purchased in the event of either ISP problems or, more infuriatingly, when Ubisoft was experiencing problems with its DRM servers. Indeed, said servers have been deliberately attacked on more than one occasion.

Though DRM is seen by many publishers as essential in the battle against PC piracy, critics claim that over-strict DRM can in fact boost piracy as players seek a less restricted playing experience.