Ubisoft officially drops always-on DRM. Won't strictly admit it was a mistake, but drops it anyway

In a turn of events akin to the Munchkins' realisation that the Wicked Witch of the East had taken up a new career as a building foundation, long-protesting PC Gamers can today celebrate the official death of Ubisoft's never-popular always-on DRM policy.

A new interview over at the ever-lovely Rock, Paper, Shotgun with Ubi's worldwide director for online games Stephanie Perotti (in conjunction with the company's corporate communications manager Michael Burk) reveals that no longer will PC players of Ubisoft's games be required to maintain a constant internet connection to the company's servers in order to play, nor will they suffer the kind of limits previously seen on the number of possible installations of any given game.

"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."

Perotti stops short of admitting any regret or mistake, however, stating instead when questioned,

"We’ve listened to feedback, we will continue to listen to feedback, we will continue to make sure that we deliver great games and great services, and are now operating under this policy."

Head over to RPS for the rest of the interview, which also discusses Ubisoft's often staggered console and PC game release schedule, as well as the mysterious never-revealed numbers which backed its previous anti-piracy policy. And don't forget to drop a line in the comments on whether this admission will change your attitude towards Ubisoft's PC games in the future.

David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.