Ubisoft softens Driver DRM

The Tech Report writes Ubisoft has relaxed the DRM of Driver: San Francisco. Instead of requiring you to be connected to the Internet at all times when you're playing the game, the new DRM scheme will will only demand you to connect to the Internet to launch the game. It's slightly better than before, but still sad that people who actually buy the game have to suffer from these restrictions, while those who pirate the game enjoy a freer game experience.

DRM doesn't get much worse than "always on" implementations that require an Internet connection to experience a game's single-player component. That's the kind of scheme that was supposed to be included with Ubisoft's upcoming Driver: San Francisco. An outcry ensued, and the publisher has softened its stance in response to the outrage—sort of. Instead of demanding that players maintain Internet connection for the duration of their time within the game, they'll only be required to sign in to Ubisoft's servers to launch the game. After that, they'll apparently be able to switch into offline mode for the rest of the session.