Ubisoft Server Switch, DRM Lock Players Out of Anno 2070, Assassin’s Creed, Driver: San Francisco

Last week, it became apparent that Ubisoft’s painfully heavy handed digital rights management software, which requires an Internet connection for many PC players to access even the single-player portions of many games, was going to screw up a lot of stuff. Today, we’re finding out the screwing is more widespread than even Ubisoft previously believed.

PC Gamer is reporting that players are having trouble accessing Anno 2070, one of the titles Ubisoft said would not be affected by the server migration it’s currently exercising. According to the publisher’s Twitter feed, it’s currently working on trying to fix the issue.

Bigger titles such as Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Driver: San Francisco supposedly aren’t affected by the migration, although users are complaining in the Ubisoft forums that that isn’t the case. Players are saying they can’t access either game, since part of Ubisoft’s DRM is to put saved game files in the cloud — meaning while the servers are down, some players can’t get into their save files at all.

All this trouble started when Ubisoft announced it would be transferring its servers, and it had no backup to handle its DRM system. The effect is that games can’t authenticate online, which means they can’t be accessed. Previously, it seemed that Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2, The Settlers 7 and Might & Magic: Heroes 6 would be the only games really affected. Guess not, however. What’s more, Ubisoft still hasn’t said how long the migration will take.

The Ubisoft forums are packed with some angry commenters. How do you feel? Is this going to affect your decision to purchase the next Assassin’s Creed title? Or is Ubisoft’s intense DRM and the lack of ability to play during the migration just the cost of playing PC games?

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