I already wasn’t going to pay for another Ubisoft game ever again but this is absolutely the final nail in the coffin for me. Fucking atrocious.
Can we do something like reporting Denuvo or the kernel anticheats as malware in Windows defender?
A game with a built in system lever logger that could theoretically monitor even your bank transactions should be reported as spyware/malware and users installing it should have to expressly acknowledge / authorise this.
Normally I would say that Microsoft wouldn’t care and they would just make an exception, but after the CrowdStrike error, they might be just a little bit more careful. Or maybe I have too much faith in them
Eyyyyyyy fuck you Ubisoft.
Thankfully there is a very simple, no-effort solution to this: Don’t play their trash.
I already don’t play their excruciatingly mediocre games and this just reinforces my avoidance is justified.
Also good gods they’ve been milking this tired franchise for almost 2 decades now.
Pirating also allows you to play it without the BS if you’re interested in the game.
Thanks to denuvo and there currently not being any active group capable of cracking denuvo, it’s not a guarantee the game will be cracked. Assassin‘s creed mirage took until last month, over a year after release, for a pirated copy to be available and it uses a debug executable, which may not become available for any other games or at least not in a timely manner. It might not be possible to play those games without the BS. Or on Linux, if it doesn’t run without kernel access for RAM monitoring
What happened to Empress or whatever they were called?
I haven’t paid close attention but I think she started a cult or something.
On hiatus, apparently. Hasn’t cracked anything since July 2023. Not sure why.
Ubisoft can monitor nothing but my balls.
A shit monitoring balls?
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Will Feature Denuvo & Account Linking + EULA also requires you to allow Ubisoft to “monitor” your RAM
The game’s EULA also requires you to allow Ubisoft to “monitor” your RAM.
As Ubisoft prepares for the 2025 launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows – a game some view as the developer’s last chance to break free from a year marked by financial setbacks and controversies – the game’s Steam page has finally gone live, revealing two major caveats about the Steam version of AC Shadows that will, unfortunately for Ubisoft, likely drive away some gamers.
If you’re in any way familiar with the PC gaming industry (or have read the title of this article), then you’ve most likely already guessed one of the caveats, and yes, the PC version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will feature Denuvo, a controversial DRM software detested by the community for negatively affecting loading times and framerate in games, something Denuvo’s creator Irdeto categorically denies, blaming its low reputation on pirates and gamers.
While Denuvo’s presence in Shadows isn’t much of a surprise – considering it’s been used in Ubisoft’s previous games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Star Wars Outlaws, the Far Cry series, and others – the decision to keep the DRM could be seen as questionable given the growing trend of developers ditching Denuvo or choosing not to include it in the first place, as well as Ubisoft’s apparent need to steer clear of further controversies and reputational damage.
The second caveat relates to another requirement the community generally dislikes: the mandatory account linking to the studio’s Ubisoft Connect platform when buying Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Steam. Even though, much like Denuvo, this isn’t anything new for Ubisoft fans, it could still negatively impact the game financially and reputationally considering what happened with Helldivers 2 earlier this year when Sony’s now-retracted mandate to link Steam accounts to PSN caused an uproar, buried the game in negative reviews, and, as some believe, tanked the game’s player numbers, with many blaming this backlash as the sole reason we’ve heard so little about Helldivers 2 in the second half of 2024, despite it being universally acclaimed and considered a strong contender for Game of the Year when it first launched.
To top it all off, Shadows’ EULA also includes a provision that allows the game to monitor your PC’s RAM to ensure you’re not running any unauthorized programs like macros, cheats, or hacks, a well-intentioned clause that nonetheless feels a touch out of place in a single-player game and could potentially scare off some of the more suspicious players who aren’t comfortable with their hardware being monitored.
And what’s your take on those requirements? Would it be beneficial for Ubisoft to get rid of Denuvo and account linking while there’s still time?
Well intentionen my ass. If I want to cheat in my single player game it’s my damn right. They just want to make sure you buy their cheats (microtransaction time savers) instead of making your own for free.
Are they trying to usurp EA as the most reviled or something?
Their strategy has worked, their game isn’t even worth the storage space for me to pirate.
Didn’t Helldivers ditch the account linking idea before it even happened?
Calling denuvo malware is sort of leaning towards hyperbole (barely), but, holy shit, “monitor ram”? That’s literally spyware.
It’s for a single player game. Who cares if people cheat.
Exactly!
i don’t know how many years ago i got completely bored with the entire AC franchise, but it was long enough that i find this hilarious
I loved the first couple before I stopped playing games entirely for a decade. But I was a console player and didn’t have to think about things like this.
That one Ubisoft shareholder was right. Ubisofts current management is trying to sabotage their profits. Thats crazy.
Makes no difference to me, since I wasn’t interested in playing it anyway
Will how unfinished and buggy these games are all coming out, I’ll pick them up on sales after they have been finished and their spyware removed.
I forget the last title Ubisoft worked on that I was actually eager to play.
I love them paying for a denuvo license on a game no one even cares enough about to pirate anyway.
Ubisoft may have given up making entertaining games a long time ago but they still provide me with entertainment.
