Ubisoft sues disc production company

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 7th August 2008
Comments (20) Stumble
Ubisoft sues disc production company

Ubisoft is suing disc producer OEM over leaked code of Assassin's Creed PC.

Ubisoft has launched a lawsuit against the company which produced the discs for the PC version of Assassin's Creed it has emerged, voicing concerns that the producer allowed code for the game to be leaked before the game had launched.

Assassin's Creed launched on the PC earlier this year, a few months after the launch of the console version, but pirated copies of the game were made available online almost six weeks before the official launch. No matter your stance on piracy, you have to admit that that would eat a considerable chunk out of sales.

In fact, according to the RockPaperShotgun torrent charts, the PC version of Assassin's Creed was downloaded more than 25,000 times in a single day from just one torrent site. Yowzers.

Part of the contract that Ubisoft signed with the America-based disc producer Optical Experts Manufacturing stipulated that the code for the game would be held in top-level security and that no copies of the game would be allowed to leave the premises without permission.

Given that analysis of the pirated version of the game shows that it was ripped from an OEM-produced disc which had been originally uploaded by an OEM employee, it looks like Ubisoft has a pretty strong case on it's hands.

Ubisoft is now alleging breach of contract, negligence and copyright infringement against OEM and is seeking $10 Million in compensation.

Did you download a pirated version of the game, or are you strictly legit? Let us know in the forums.
Quote ChaosDefinesOrder 7th August 2008, 11:56
This is an example of anti-piracy lawsuits done the way they should be - attacking the source of the upload, not the downloads! Fair play to Ubisoft, I hope they win in this case.
Quote liratheal 7th August 2008, 12:18
That's pretty lax on OEM's part.

Must say, though, nice to see Ubisoft are trying to shoot the source rather than everything else.
Quote plagio 7th August 2008, 12:21
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChaosDefinesOrder
This is an example of anti-piracy lawsuits done the way they should be - attacking the source of the upload, not the downloads! Fair play to Ubisoft, I hope they win in this case.

Damn right. I fully agree with you Chaos
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 7th August 2008, 12:35
I never download games, the sales are the only source of income/revenue that developers have.. And they're not exactly mega-rich to start with.
Quote UrbanMarine 7th August 2008, 13:08
AC sucked so much that Ubisoft is out looking for revenue through lawsuits. All AC is, is Prince of Persia meets GTA meets Thief with a splash of genetic time travel.
Quote Romirez 7th August 2008, 13:12
Read the title and thought they must be suing for the DRM debacle that stops the discs working in a hell of a lot of DVD drives; my mate couldn't get the game to install at all because of it. Perhaps they should sort that kind of crap out before complaining that they lose money to piracy.

But certainly better than them trying to bugger their potential buyers.
Quote Mentai 7th August 2008, 13:39
I really enjoyed the PC version of AC and will be getting the next in the series. Legitwise
Quote legoman666 7th August 2008, 13:44
I downloaded it but didn't play it for more than 15 minutes due to the bugs. And the bugs were not because it was a pirated copy; they were because of a crappy porting job. A crappy game is a crappy game.
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 7th August 2008, 13:56
Did not download it, did not buy it because I hate playing in the third person view (except for POP that was cool)
Besided since a few years I collect games that had been out for a year and pay 9 euro for it. Except titles I really dig and love to play, like C&C, HalfLife stuff and such.
Quote Firehed 7th August 2008, 14:11
Dunno, maybe I just wasn't in the mood for that kind of game at the time, but when I rented it I thought it was fairly 'meh'.
Quote Silver51 7th August 2008, 14:31
Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanMarine
AC sucked so much that Ubisoft is out looking for revenue through lawsuits. All AC is, is Prince of Persia meets GTA meets Thief with a splash of genetic time travel.

The developers still deserve to be paid for their work.
Quote Redbeaver 7th August 2008, 14:33
first off, its a great game IMHO. the graphic is awesome. the gameplay is new and exciting (tho not exactly the easiest), the sound/voice acting is great.... but the bugs are annoying. not enough to sway me away from completing it tho. worth every penny i plunked.

that being said, i usually tend to against game companies in suing pirates, but in all fairness, this is a necessary and logical move by Ubi. gratz Ubi on realizing the piracy starts at the company level, not the users.
Quote UrbanMarine 7th August 2008, 16:36
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silver51
Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanMarine
AC sucked so much that Ubisoft is out looking for revenue through lawsuits. All AC is, is Prince of Persia meets GTA meets Thief with a splash of genetic time travel.

The developers still deserve to be paid for their work.

I agree.
Quote mikeuk2004 7th August 2008, 17:56
Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanMarine
AC sucked so much that Ubisoft is out looking for revenue through lawsuits. All AC is, is Prince of Persia meets GTA meets Thief with a splash of genetic time travel.

Any normal person would sue the person that made their property available to the world ilegally. Does not matter if the game was good or bad. The game got leaked and they lost money. How would you like it if your bank gave your wages to someone else. You wouldnt.

Anyhow the games was brilliant and beutiful.
Quote Cadillac Ferd 8th August 2008, 00:06
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChaosDefinesOrder
This is an example of anti-piracy lawsuits done the way they should be - attacking the source of the upload, not the downloads! Fair play to Ubisoft, I hope they win in this case.
QFT!
Quote 1ad7 8th August 2008, 01:35
I agree with chaos. Finally a company understands what needs to be done rather than making joe blow **** him self with a letter saying he owes 10101001010010101001 dollars and 89 cents
Quote Amon 8th August 2008, 01:55
As above. Except I didn't really like the game, even disregarding the high expectations that preceded the title.
Quote MiNiMaL_FuSS 8th August 2008, 07:14
the game could have been brilliant, but the combat system fell apart quite quickly and it just ot soo repetative after afew missions. Loads of potential in that free-gunnign engine though, hopefully the lisence it to sombody with an imagination!
Quote PhenomRed 8th August 2008, 07:32
finally, an anti-piracy lawsuit that makes sense
Quote impar 8th August 2008, 10:33
Greetings!

No wonder Ubisoft sued:
NPD indicates that the PC version of Assassin's Creed sold only some 40,000 copies through June, nothing compared to the stellar sales on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. According to Ubisoft the version that ended up early on the internet was downloaded more than 700,000 times.
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