Ubisoft's finally seen fit to pipe up about Anno 2070's extremely sensitive (read: prone to detecting minute graphics card changes - not penning tear-jerking poetry) DRM, and well, perhaps no news actually was good news. In short, Ubisoft told RPS that its DRM is functioning precisely as intended. Worse, the publisher really doesn't see why everyone's making such a big deal about this.



“While it’s correct that copies of Anno include three activations and that changing hardware may trigger the need for reactivation, the vast majority of Anno customers never encounter this scenario. On the rare occasion when a customer does need additional activations, Ubisoft customer service is available to quickly resolve the situation, and we encourage those customers to contact us directly so that we can ensure they are able to continue to enjoy their game,” said the publisher in a statement.

Moreover, the draconian-even-by-Ubisoft's-usual-standards DRM system doesn't allow de-activations, so when you hand over one of your three installation cards, it's out of your deck for good.

So then, stop me if you've heard this one before: Legitimate customers get treated like pirates, pirates get treated like kings, and sane human beings are left scratching their heads in confusion until they draw blood. Ubisoft, folks. Let's give 'em a hand.

Ubisoft's DRM isn't exactly known for its gentle, loving caress in matters near and dear to PC gamers' hearts, but the latest tightening of the cuffs seems a bit overkill-ish even by Ubi's standards. In attempting to review Anno 2070's performance on a range of hardware configurations, Guru3D made an extremely disappointing discovery: The second the site switched out a GTX 580 for a GTX 590, Anno demanded another, separate activation. On top of that, the game gives you a whopping three whole activations to work with, so think carefully before spelunking around in your machine's brittle innards.

I've fired off a mail to Ubisoft asking whether this is an intentional piece of extra armor plating for its DRM Voltron, or merely a glitch the publisher plans on patching out. Fingers crossed for the latter, though precedent's not exactly on our side.