Getting what you deserve: Ubisoft’s site hacked by disgruntled gamers [Update]

  • March 14, 2010 10:57 pm
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Update: Ubisoft hacked? I’m getting some reports that the image was fake. Though I myself as well as several other friends checked Ubi’s site last night when this was all the rage and did in fact see the hacked image above. The claimed “real” image can be found here — nothing more than a simple “down for maintenance” page.

While Ubisoft may not be the only game publisher that is getting a lot of flack as of late for overly restrictive (and stupid) DRM, but they’re sure as hell the only site within the last few days to have the full force of the gaming/hacking/anti-DRM population focused solely on them. At first, the draconian “always on” DRM that debuted with titles such as Assassins Creed seemed bad enough. Multiplying gamers’ frustration however came not but a few hours later when Ubisoft’s DRM servers crashed, rendering those shiny new “infected” games useless. Clearly some pent up anger is festering here.

Late Sunday, the very gamers who felt betrayed at the hands of Ubisoft revolted. Well…Skidrow revolted that is. The image above was what any and every visitor would see when visiting Ubi.com for a short while. The hack has now been removed and normal operation re-established. But it just goes to show that this new age DRM BS is not in the best interest or wants of gamers today.

Word to the stupid (that means you Ubisoft): Drop this god awful attempt at lacing everything with DRM. It only angers us and frustrates you [Ubisoft] further while doing absolutely nothing for piracy. Sadly, this will no doubt give Ubi the impression that more DRM is the only answer. *Sigh*

ubi
fuykpd


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Gadget lover, smartphone collector, and beer connoisseur. I've been writing about gadgets for three years now and loving every minute of it. Outside of the digital landscape, I enjoy being active outdoors. I'm always up for a good conversation, so feel free to drop me a line!


  • http://cookingvalley.blogspot.com/ Kerin

    Awsome Site….Really love it.
    http://cookingvalley.blogspot.com/

  • dedyradix

    You can retweet this to ubisoft ….

    @ubisoft Please soften ur Draconian DRM or u will get no more transferred of cash on any platform from ur gamer (cont) http://tl.gd/jvpck

  • http://twitter.com/news4gamers/status/10661506711 news4gamers

    [NEWS] Ubisoft's site hacked by disgruntled gamers http://bit.ly/bg2Clq

  • John

    “No Mike, you cant copy, you cant deface, change, whatever.

    The problem with you is on the principle of the buying. You think that just because you bought, you got it IN YOUR HANDS, and then you treat it like a personal property, thus allowing you to do whatever.

    But… you cant. Because you´re not buying the software, you never did.

    You buy the PERMISSION TO PLAY it.

    Assassins Creed 2 will NEVER BE YOURS, unless Ubi Soft grants you a property share on it.

    A DVD, BLURAY, FLASH USB, your HD, they are merely recipients to hold the software that will allow you to play.

    The soft you will own will be the one you develop, and just that !”

    I’m sorry but this is totally off-kilter. I only bought the right to play the game? That’s like saying I bought a cat but can only drive it and not repaint it or upgrade the engine with a supercharger. Why should games/movies/music not be subject to the same things other manufactured products have? Also, previous generations were allowed to record music off the radio on a tape and not be penalized for it? Please refer to the Audio Home recording Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act

    Why should we be allowed to make copies of tapes, but not of our own games? Obviously the US government of the early ninties gave a hell of alot more of a shite about what consumers want then the more recent administrations. DRM not just attempts to prevent you from copying something you paid for, but Ubisoft’s drm is the equivalent, again using the car analogy, of buying a Camry and Toyota saying not only are you only allowed to drive this car and not modify it, but you can only drive on certain roads and highways.

    In previous generations we were not only allowed to copy recordings(IP) but we could also modify it for personal use. Hacking a game for personal use shouldn’t be illegal, only the distribution on mass of a game without the consent of Ubisoft is where piracy is actually piracy.

  • Able89

    I likes dis spin on ubi and the comments. Keep ups duh good works yo!

  • http://twitter.com/gameviewsblogs/status/10603674995 Blunts

    Getting what you deserve: Ubisofts site hacked by disgruntled gamers [Update]: http://bit.ly/bVCDzj

  • name

    ??? crack coming soon?
    i thought they said that silent hunter 5 and assassins creed 2 were fully cracked a few weeks ago.
    funny how their stories change to suit them ay?
    if you ask me its fake, definitely.
    though ubisoft certainly deserve what their getting, i bought assassins creed 2 on PC and now can not play it.
    for the last 3 days i have been trying to play it but cant because its been pissing down raining here and everytime it does my net keeps dropping out.
    LAST! ubisoft game ill ever be buying, shame too i was really looking forward to prince of persia the forgotten sands, splinter cell conviction and ruse.

    thats fine ubisoft if this is how you want to treat your fans than its a massive fuck you too.

  • TheInquisition

    Oh my lord,

    to the dude that stated that the concern here is to protect piracy its not. It a total nuissance especially if ur internet connection is wireless and ur router keeps fucking up.

    Are you even sure that gamers do not support the action of those pirates???
    stop living in a cave…

    You are very ignorant sir, i will totally agree on this type of DRM if i myself had a stable connection, sadly i dont. You are one of them, the bastards that live on wall street. people that do not care about how other people are living. So heres a tip, YOU SHOULD CONCERN YOURSELF WITH THE POPULACE. fool

    • Mike

      What the hell are you talking about? I don’t live anywhere near Wall Street nor do I have their pockets. And I specifically and very clearly criticized this type of DRM *multilple* times, stating that any game requiring a net connection to even load is ridiculous. I don’t know if you skimmed or just didn’t read it at all, but the entire point of the article was lambasting their DRM — not supporting it.

      Oh geeze, my bad. You were directing that at someone else…

  • SlaughterMeister

    “Getting what you deserve”?

    You’re right, what a terrible thing for these companies to try and protect the intellectual properties which they spend millions to produce.

    The ignorance of people is astounding.

    • Mike

      Another one of you…it has nothing to do with “protecting property”. It has everything to do with incompetent management as well as pure greed. More so incompetence. How many times do we have to see the various flavors of DRM fail before they realize it’s not worth it. For every one that gets locked up, 3 more pop up. They waste time, money, and other company resources fighting a losing battle while the only person getting hit the entire time is the normal, law abiding customer.

  • dark

    not everyone has a perfect connection.their DRM fail!! and they dont even talk about it anymore cause they know wtf they have done no one liked their DRM

  • dark

    they deserve it because of their insane DRM it stays connected to the net but what if you dot have net? then you’d you play?most ppl do but not everyone has a net facility most ppl’s net goes off constantly bit everyone has a perfect connection which is constantly running ubisoft sucks and i used to love their games a lot ever since i was a kid but anymore they disappoint me with their DRM i’m not gona buy splinter cell or prince of persia if they have the same DRM issue ubisoft underestimated the skill of crackers and disapointed their long time fans..

  • Seba

    hey Mike, do you know the Design of Firefox in this pic? Thanks ;)

    • Mike

      design of FF…?

    • young juice

      its windows 7, thats why its transparent

  • Cody Roser

    DRM is making me not buy games i should love..My internet blow..i could loose signal at any time why whould i buy a game that adds crash factor..b/c of my connection..should,t games i buy be running smoother instead of worse then the free/pirate versions

  • roney

    @tyger: you are an idiot, if everyone would adopt the DRM protection then how would you play?

    If you want to play you pay, it’s been like that for ages, and I’m not talking here about games, everything that gives you pleasure in this world comes with a cost. Stealing something just cause you can afford it, doesn’t make an excuse. If the punishment for hacking would be more severe then you would pay for the original game (not only Ubisot games – pay attention, and don’t take off your helmet), that of course if you want to really play that game, if you like it or whatever. You could raise money, beg for them do sexual favors and then buy the original game (still not only Ubisoft games, HEY! what did I told you about the helmet, leave it on!) the satisfaction is always bigger when you get something through your own strengths, even if it’s just a pair of shoes, or a car, or a house, or..(examples may vary).

  • roney

    “Getting what you deserve”….are you for real? I would like to see you work for several years and someone would come and steal all that you’ve worked for and leave you with nothing. But I guess it takes all sort of people to make a world…hackers,jerks,developers,gammers,etc…it’s all a vicious circle.
    If you can’t afford it don’t buy it, if you can, buy it! It is as simple as that that’s how things work in a monetary system, if you don’t like it move in the woods and live quiet. Hacking is just a form of disrespect for the work of others. But i guess there are all sort of lazy bastards who would download even a piece of bread if they could.

    • Mike

      Get off your high horse. The only reason they “deserved” it is because of the ridiculous “always-on” internet connection/DRM BS. Clearly the consumer was not in the minds of the developers or company when they coined this brilliant idea. And as far as not supporting it…I don’t. I haven’t purchased OR downloaded an Ubisoft game thus far that has their DRM-laced crap on it.

      Furthermore, blatantly labeling any and all “hacking” as disrespectful is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Are people that “hack” into their phones or overclock their computers, or crack DRM on a movie to make legitimate backups for themselves all disrespectful criminals? That last fact alone — being technically labeled a “criminal” because of the BS anti-circumvention clause in the DMCA — is one of the worst injustices to the human race in the digital age.

      It’s that mindset that is literally destroying the planet as more and more governments rush to further restrict digital landscapes. If I were you, I wouldn’t run for any government office. You sound like the type of person that thinks only about their own wallet/bottom line rather than considering the common sense and functionality of the community.

      *resumes downloading bread…*

      • roney

        oh mikey, mike you really should stop smoking all that green

        first of all when you hack someone else work and you gain profit from that (through donations and other “features” ) is not so legit “hacking” anymore… and brining on the table the hacking of one’s phone (which is done because you want to install all sort of, what do you know! other hacked programs is kinda the same thing – when you bought the phone you knew what it offers and nobody forced you to buy it) as well as the overclocking of computers (which is being allowed by the manufacturers and it’s another good procedure for bringing more cash into their pockets as we all know some “dexters” manage to fry their computers) is just a method of putting a nice shiny penny in your “popularity jar” and defending th “hackers” or the “hacking” processes

        And for your information I’m not thinking only at my wallet cause I do think the monetary system is destroying the planet and i can’t wait for it to happen cause as a race we still have more to learn (ex: I’m waiting my time in debating the benefits/non benefits of “hacking” with you).

        Anyway have a great life and play whatever the hell you want hacked or non hacked, btw watch out for hackers you never know when they may hack you, and you will lose all the advertising banners/bread.

        Take care ;)

        • Mike

          I understand the whole “you knew what it offered when you bought it” mantra, but the basic point is still — if I buy something, digital or physical, I have every right to change it, copy it, deface it how I see fit for my own personal uses. And hacking, whether for personal fun or monetary gains has both directly and indirectly shaped (and even helped) the digital world we live in. It’s exactly how viruses are patched (have to “hack” around a virus developers “hack”). But the latter is getting off topic a bit.

          In the end, just because someone slaps a warning, notice, or claim on a box claiming this is how things are going to go, doesn’t mean it’s legal, right, or just. Tying it all in with the likes of hacking and such, I’ll highlight Apple and the iPhone as an easy (and current) example. Many iPhone users jailbreak to add functionality that should have been there from the beginning and Apple has failed to implement so far — no harm done. Apple constantly rebukes such things with updates that break the hacks. Going over the top, Apple has been found in the past to be toying with the idea of pushing a law that makes it illegal to “jailbreak”/hack their/any phone. Again, just because they claim this is how it is with their stuff doesn’t mean it’s legal. As such, I know there plenty of other smartphones out there in the world. But none looked as well put together as the iphone in ’07. Even still, it’s one of the best. But for Apple to go out of their way to punish and alienate users who simply want to change the theme on the phone, the placement of icons, etc. etc. is stupid and in and of itself should be illegal.

          It all comes back to piracy, DRM, yadda yadda yadda. Pirates and the bad guys will always be there. As we’ve seen over the last several years, the harder companies try to force DRM laced crap down our throats, the worse and worse it (A) works and (B) turns out for the majority of society.

          • Mr Hertz

            No Mike, you cant copy, you cant deface, change, whatever.

            The problem with you is on the principle of the buying. You think that just because you bought, you got it IN YOUR HANDS, and then you treat it like a personal property, thus allowing you to do whatever.

            But… you cant. Because you´re not buying the software, you never did.

            You buy the PERMISSION TO PLAY it.

            Assassins Creed 2 will NEVER BE YOURS, unless Ubi Soft grants you a property share on it.

            A DVD, BLURAY, FLASH USB, your HD, they are merely recipients to hold the software that will allow you to play.

            The soft you will own will be the one you develop, and just that !

            When you pay, they must deliver the game to you, and then you choose, if will be by dvd, by bluray, or digital download.

            Most of this wrong thought comes from the past, when we bought nintendo cartridges (at that time they didnt have other means to deliver software), and it felt like there was no software, just the CARTRIDGE as a whole piece.

            Today is different and because of digital delivery were getting to understand that dvds and blurays are just physical media, separated from sofware.

            Read the EULA… you said yes to get the game installed.

            And about this whole shit, im NOT AGAINST companies trying to protect themselves against piracy.

            DRM just exists because of piracy. Wanna stop DRM, dont support piracy. This is the ONLY way you can argue against DRM stuff.

            Most stupids out there dont want DRMs, but dont wanna buy games too.
            Stupid kids who think everything should be free, except their work.

            BUT… restricting access to a game this way is STUPID, and all i get to know is “or they are in dispair, or they are greed and stupid enough”.

            But we know they arent in dispair, so we get to know something worse… if no one does anything, they would ride us like a jockey on a horse, even spanking the butt.

            Another thing… Didnt you realise they´re asking 60,00 $?

            I remember the day when people got amazed to see 50,00 $… now a single game costs 60.00, with no delivery fees, no prints, whatever.

            Piracy is is bad, but on this case, it will help to keep balance. I know they gotta be paid, but they deserve it… thats my point!

          • Mike

            Have you not looked at the history of DRM? EVERY single instance it’s been used, it has failed. DRM does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for piracy. In fact, it increases piracy because people get tired of bullshit restrictions such as having to connect to the internet to play a game that may not even feature any web enabled content directly.

            PIRACY IS FUELED BY DRM

            “Not supporting piracy” somehow leading to the abandonment of DRM will never happen because someone, somewhere will always pirate.

            The most recent perfect example of how worthless DRM is can be seen witht he Ubisoft snafu. Because customers now must rely on Ubisoft, they’re completely at their mercy for gameplay — a dick move no less. Not only that, but this DRM that supposedly goes towards fighting piracy and is better for the customers and developers alike hurt no one but the legally obtaining customers as users of pirated games such as Assassins Creed are able to get around the stupid “constant web connection” requirement.

            The whole “you don’t own the product, you own the license” — I get that. Always have. I’m arguing against that philosophy because it is flawed. You rationale of the software developers owning the software is baseless. Just like any other good, they own the IP of the product, not the finished product itself, physical or digital. Does a car maker own the car after you buy it? No. Does a CD manufacturer own the CD after you buy it? No. Should a software company tell you that you can’t make a backup copy of a *legally* purchased, downloaded software (hardware failure anyone?) for your own personal use? No! Just because some software company slaps some words into an EULA doesn’t make them right or “legal”.

            When I purchase a game, movie, cd, whatever, i OWN that disc or download. If you want to talk licenses, at the very least I should own a license for myself and at least one or two other machines for again, either hardware failure or, multiple computer households. Justifying the practice of “you have to buy 1 license for every computer” is nothing but a cash grab.

            So again, I do agree developers should be paid for their hard work. But not at the expense of basic common sense and price gouging.

          • n/a

            You do realize that Ubisoft tried also way WITHOUT DRM with earlier prince of persia etc. And sales were worse than with DRM cause every shitmuppet could copy the damn games without issues, and they did…

        • http://www.christianrusch.com Chris

          You write shit like this and then accuse others of smoking the green? Dude… First of all, when you hack someone else’s work, you don’t automatically gain profit therefrom. Hacking in itself is not by default disrespectful, given that many hacks (in this case removing the DRM, which I will do asap ON MY LEGALLY PURCHASED GAME) improve the end product; if anything I reckon it (in this case) is respectful of the game (given time spent on improving it) and disrespectful (imo rightfully so) towards Ubisoft. I don’t have much time to play, and if I do, it’s not seldom on my laptop on a flight or train. I’m disgusted with the suggestion that I am required to be constantly connected to the Internet to play a game that I have paid a fair amount of money to legally purchase in the first place. You want to talk disrespectful? Let’s talk hyping a game for quite some time, and then all of a sudden revealing that I most likely won’t be able to play a single player campaign game (that really warrants no connection to the Internet what so ever) properly, or even at the location of my choice, as choppy or a non-existent Internet connection will hinder me from even starting the game. Let’s talk punishing me, the paying customer, for the actions of non-paying people out there. Let’s talk not catering to me, the one helping them pay their bills etc, and instead fucking me over by forcing me to suffer the effects of an ill thought through DRM system that ultimately only hurts us legitimate customers?

  • Tyger

    @ all gamers, here’s a solution for you: If you’re the sort that buys games instead of pirating, STOP BUYING UBISOFT GAMES.

    Pirate it if you really want to play it, but DONT give them your money for as long as they’re using any sort of DRM at all. That’s the only message that will really reach the suits at the top of the company

  • guest

    Haven’t you noticed the borders on the 2 pictures?
    http://gadgetsteria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/fuykpd-300×300.jpg – here they are present
    http://i40.tinypic.com/9693dl.jpg – and here they aren’t
    The simple conclusion is that an administrator that was on duty replaced the lines of the skidrow message (including the borders code) with the “under maintenance” message in a hurry. And thus thought that he fixed the problem …

  • http://twitter.com/blacxthorne/status/10534731235 Ersen Akçay

    RT @gamingpro101: Getting what you deserve: Ubisoft's site hacked by disgruntled gamers: Gadgetsteria (blog)
    Multiplying gamers' fru… http://bit.ly/byncVf

  • Zetsumei

    We are always going to have people hacking games, if they give them out or not, hackers find this fun and its nothing to do with getting the game for free for them. and any company that thinks piracy affects the market so much need to rethink, the main problem with the gaming, music, film industry’s is they are lagging behind with availability on-line with a comparative market. being heavy handed on one person does not solve anything as the one person downloading the music or games they like is just mixing up more hate for the companies and developers.
    people who download a game or a song they like are not the ones who would have EVER brought it, as they don’t have the money and don’t really want it. if they do like it the and really do most people will buy if.
    For a good example of why copyright programs and such does not help market. look at Sins of a solar empire, it was the best selling game of 2009 and had no CD protection as star dock understand putting heavy protection on the game will not stop them getting it.
    /rant

  • http://twitter.com/gamingpro101/status/10534663483 Jeremy Adams

    Getting what you deserve: Ubisoft's site hacked by disgruntled gamers: Gadgetsteria (blog)
    Multiplying gamers' fru… http://bit.ly/byncVf

  • http://twitter.com/delixe/status/10511768123 Ashley Martin

    RT @Gadgetsteria: Getting what you deserve: Ubisoft's site hacked by disgruntled gamers http://bit.ly/apIdwv

  • http://twitter.com/yinchie/status/10511624816 Yee Chie Tu

    RT @Gadgetsteria: Getting what you deserve: Ubisoft's site hacked by disgruntled gamers http://bit.ly/apIdwv

  • anonym

    Omg its fake, if it really was true we will se more pictures on the internet. but theyre all the same so dont waste youre time on this rubbish!!

    • Jordan

      Why would more pictures be released? If they did one site change on the servers, then that would be it. I’ve seen many sites hacked and only one thing changed. The only other pictures would be if people took screenshots on different browsers.

      Either way, they haven’t released anything taking credit yet, no .nfo as of right now, but I’m sure that either they’ll release an .nfo stating what they did, or they’ll just release a crack for the online servers…

      What does it really matter anyways? They’ll be hacked soon enough, who really cares.

  • Jordan

    Skidrow hasn’t released anything saying the screens are fake or legit, so we actually aren’t 100% sure if they are fake, but I know for sure the site was down for a bit, so that seems like something happened.

    Either way, that isn’t the point, the point is, they are trying to prove a point. Ubisoft is really f00king over the PC platform with all this crap. It is ridiculous. I know that all the legit customers at Ubi are going to play a little price, but they all just need to calm down. Ubisoft is screwing everyone over with all this crap lately, so they need a lesson taught to them. And I think just cracking games isn’t enough. This is just showing them they the Scene will never stop, no matter what Ubisoft, or others alike try to do.

    This won’t stop, but ubisoft took this path, now they are going to have to deal with the speedbumps along the way.

  • ybbt

    You do realize the screenshot is fake right?

    • Mike

      (I fell behind on that thread…have to sleep sometime…)

      Though I checked ubi’s site last night after this was made known and saw the image above on their site…fake?

  • Mikes

    Hey Mike,

    hope that you do not have an alarm in your apartment / house, or would be thiefs might torch it.

    That would be getting what you deserve too.

    Gamers did not revolt. Hackers & pirates did. And penalized legitimate clients.

    • Mike

      “Hackers” may have been the actual people who hacked Ubi, but they were “gamers” too. I won’t deny that it isn’t the best solution, but somehow I feel a little bit better knowing that a few Ubisoft web administrators had a difficult time last night in return for the pain in the ass they caused me over the weekend. Will it eventually trickle down to us? Highly possible. but again, my sadistic side feels great pleasure in their misfortunes…