Ubisoft's Internet-required DRM Already Cracked

Last month, we found out about a new Ubisoft DRM scheme that requires PC gamers to be constantly connected to the Internet in order to play an authenticated game. With the highly anticipated Assassin's Creed II and Settlers VII being some of those titles protected under the new scheme, gamers voiced their concerns over such restrictive and potentially inconvenient DRM.

Of course, it'd be naïve to believe that pirates won't be doing their best in order to circumvent this protection. One of Ubisoft's first titles to use this new scheme, Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic, released earlier this week – and it didn't take much time for pirates to crack the DRM.

In the release notes for the pirated version of Silent Hunter 5, the hackers instruct not to use the Ubisoft launcher or to block any connection to the Internet, and then use some modified files to run the game. At the end of the note, the hackers also urge gamers to support the companies that make the software they enjoy.

We cannot verify whether or not the cracked files effectively bypass Ubisoft's copy protection schemes, but it's clear that the pirates are tinkering with it.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • bison88
    Victory for PC Gamers! This DRM business and anti-pirating schemes are doing nothing more than hurting the already dwindling market share of PC games, NOT helping. When will they learn? Stop destroying out platform for gaming please, we would appreciate it much if actually built games that revolve around the PC's and not turn them into console ports.
    Reply
  • SuckRaven
    If it's man made, it will be cracked. It's only a matter of time. In this case, it seems, not too much time at all.
    Reply
  • dman3k
    DRM or no DRM. Both games still suck on PC.
    Reply
  • kavic
    I knew it would only be a matter of time, all DRM does now is make it a pain for those who are legit to play there games.
    Reply
  • rodney_ws
    I remember when I heard about this I actually had to ask myself if I owned any Ubisoft games... I actually found 2. One was TERRIBLE... the other was pretty decent, but neither was this Draconian in its efforts to thwart piracy. In full disclosure... I bought both new. Not now!!!
    Reply
  • formin
    the ratio of total work hours for programming DRM : time taken to crack it is probably around 1000:1
    lol gotta love it
    Reply
  • kyeana
    When will the developers learn...

    I'm all for them getting paid for their work, but that sort of DRM just isn't the way to do it. So far my favorite 'drm' is steam hands down, simply because it complements the legitimate users instead of harming them. (I love not having to worry about physical media).
    Reply
  • justsomeone
    If you hack a system, you're a hacker. So if you crack DRM, are you a cracker?
    Reply
  • drksilenc
    completely agree kyeana and the fact u can activate on as many pcs as you want makes it better to boot
    Reply
  • cscott_it
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/2/19/

    That's really all I have to say on the issue, because that's the common mind-frame on the subjuct matter.
    Reply