Ubisoft sues disk fab over game leak

[safan80]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...-fab-game-leak

Employee posted pre publication pirate

By Stewart Meagher: Friday, 08 August 2008, 9:42 AM

GAME PUBLISHER UBISOFT is suing its disk manufacturing partner for millions of dollars over the leaking of the PC version of crusading action game Assassin's Creed.

The title, which sold just 40,000 copies to PC gamers, was reportedly downloaded more than 700,000 times after an employee of the duplication house, Optical Experts, allegedly liberated a copy of the game's code and posted it on the internet.

Ubisoft maintains that the OEM ignored strict security guidelines written into its manufacturing contract. The company tracked the first posting of the code to an unnamed Optical Experts employee and a copy of the game was later found in his home.

Ubisoft are also claiming that a bug – which was deliberately placed in the code prior to release for security reasons, and which caused pirated copies of the game to crash – lead to negative reviews of the game which further eroded sales and damaged the company's reputation.

D'oh! µ

L'Inq
Gamespot

[Solus Corvus]

Why would you send a bugged copy of the game to a duplicator?

[zanzabar]

so the bug that u need a crack to fix was put their on purpose thats good to hear, and its not like every other game dosnt get this u could get madden 2.5 weeks ago for 360 and psp

and i thought that the leak was a beta, why would they have it

[[XC] gomeler]

Woah damn. Maybe Ubisoft will make some money off the game after all

[Speederlander]

sold just 40,000 copies to PC gamers, was reportedly downloaded more than 700,000 times

This is why the PC video game industry is spiraling down. What motivation could there be to spend years making a game only to have the vast majority of people simply steal it the first opportunity they get?

[metachronos]

I would think part of the reason that it sold so poorly is it is a game I'd rather play on a console.

[Sly Fox]

I love the logical fallacy that everyone makes...

Every download = A lost sale.

Sorry... That's not true, the fact that someone will download a game for free doesn't mean they would have EVER paid $50 for it.

When you make sub-par products, just blame the consumer! That's the ticket!

And I buy my games personally, so don't give me a bunch of nonsense, I don't want to nor need to hear it.

[rogueagent6]

What motivation could there be to spend years making a game only to have the vast majority of people simply steal it the first opportunity they get?

Produce quality games perhaps?

I can honestly say I'm not one of those 700K that downloaded it as I already finished the game on Xbox. I paid $50 for for the game and finished it in little over a day, and never re-played it. What I did though, was recoup some of the money spent and traded it for Mass Effect, which I have gone through three times now, and probably will again here soon.

I will admit though, had I known then what I do now about Assassin's Creed, I wouldn't have purchased it. Then again, I only have myself to blame, this is Ubisoft we are talking about here... I should have known better.

[Omastar]

This is why the PC video game industry is spiraling down. What motivation could there be to spend years making a game only to have the vast majority of people simply steal it the first opportunity they get?

They need a better game distribution model. Think Steam. If people want to pirate your work, then make it harder for them to do so--not by DRM (which can always be broken), but by a strong content delivery system, WITHOUT the price gouging.

[GAR]

Not many pc gamers want to buy a $50 single player game. But its sad to see pc gaming go down because of piracy, in 2008 we have all this new video cards, but no new games to play, a 9800GTX, hell a 8800GTX can even play any single game out with a 24" lcd. WITH the exception of CRYSIS as its been said to be unplayable intill Q4 2015.

[The0men]

WITH the exception of CRYSIS as its been said to be unplayable intill Q4 2015.

Why are people still going on about it being unplayable, I finished it on a athlon64 3200 at stock speed with 1GB ddr1 and didnt have a problem. I merely had to sacrifice some eye candy, and even then the game looked better than any of the other games that the computer was capable of playing.

[iddqd]

This is why the PC video game industry is spiraling down. What motivation could there be to spend years making a game only to have the vast majority of people simply steal it the first opportunity they get?

What motivation could there be to spend years making a game only to have the vast majority of people not even bother to steal it because it sucks?

What. I wouldn't accept a free copy of assassin's creed if someone were to offer it to me.

[[XC] 2long4u]

They need a better game distribution model. Think Steam. If people want to pirate your work, then make it harder for them to do so--not by DRM (which can always be broken), but by a strong content delivery system, WITHOUT the price gouging.

QFT

[natty]

pirating should motivate game companies to always include great multiplayer modes in their games... this will force people to buy a cdkey to play online

[NickS]

Well lets see. The game is a mediocre console port, which was brought to the PC late. Even though it was brought late, they didn't add anything on. In fact, they didn't even implement multi-player support. Plus, they removed DX10.1 support. Why would anyone buy this game? If you make a good game it will sell.

[dr.noob]

pirating should motivate game companies to always include great multiplayer modes in their games... this will force people to buy a cdkey to play online

Correct, but u still can crack multiplayer games, but again, craked servers are terrible cuz of cheaters

So, i think all games should include multiplayer mode!

[insurgent]

Correct, but u still can crack multiplayer games, but again, craked servers are terrible cuz of cheaters

So, i think all games should include multiplayer mode!

I agree with your avatar... I mean, yeah...

There are games without copy protection (or non-intrusive) that sold really well.. because they were great games for the intended audience. Sins of a Solar Empire and Oblivion to name a couple. Blaming piracy is just an excuse.

[STEvil]

This is why the PC video game industry is spiraling down. What motivation could there be to spend years making a game only to have the vast majority of people simply steal it the first opportunity they get?

I never paid $50 to play it.

I never downloaded it either.

In fact i've never played it on any system at all because from everything i've seen by watching others play it, it sucked.

And besides, if 700,000 people downloaded it and kept it for more than a week dont you think there would be a more active fan base? So out of 700,000 that downloaded it quite a large percentage less felt the game worthy of their hard earned money let alone their time to run around like fanboys telling all their friends about it.

[dr.noob]

The only 3 games i bought were: css, cod4 and Company of heroes cuz im paying for the keys and for the multiplayer mode!The other you know where did i get them!

[Aberration]

I played it on the XBox360 for a few days and then never bothered again. It was just the same crap over and over.

I cant think of a single game that I have pirated. Assasins Creed just sucked.

[Mk]

I have downloaded a pirated Assasins Creed copy and the game was good but the copy it self was bad it crashes allot plus i cant get in to Jerusalem.
but its a good game i recommend it for any one.

[Psykocyber]

I love the logical fallacy that everyone makes...

Every download = A lost sale.

Sorry... That's not true, the fact that someone will download a game for free doesn't mean they would have EVER paid $50 for it.

When you make sub-par products, just blame the consumer! That's the ticket!

And I buy my games personally, so don't give me a bunch of nonsense, I don't want to nor need to hear it.

Of course not. But saying that everyone who downloaded a game never would have bought it, is also nonsense. And no matter how sub-par some must think the game is, almost 12 times more people downloaded it. That is crazy no matter how you look at it.

They need a better game distribution model. Think Steam. If people want to pirate your work, then make it harder for them to do so--not by DRM (which can always be broken), but by a strong content delivery system, WITHOUT the price gouging.

The game is avaible on Steam.... didn't really help. The price is only $25, not really a fortune. About 1/3 of the price in stores here in Denmark.

[Cooper]

tbh i really like the concept of the game. It's repeativness which kills the title

[mrcape]

Assassin's Creed was like Pitfall '08.

[Kingcarcas]

It was a gift when i got my Ps3, played it for a while and eventually got bored and sold it.

I love the logical fallacy that everyone makes...

Every download = A lost sale.

Sorry... That's not true, the fact that someone will download a game for free doesn't mean they would have EVER paid $50 for it.

When you make sub-par products, just blame the consumer! That's the ticket!

And I buy my games personally, so don't give me a bunch of nonsense, I don't want to nor need to hear it.

I agree with this guy.