Ubisoft: piracy hounds DS, reason why they retreated from PSP, will launch anti-piracy tool this year

Ubisoft is hell-bent on putting its foot down against piracy as they are targeting this year to come out with a piracy solution for their games on the various platforms. The publisher has admitted that their products have been dealt a heavy blow because of the piracy, and they are now working on a tool that should cushion the impact of the said problem.

Ubisoft is hell-bent on putting its foot down against piracy as they are targeting this year to come out with a piracy solution for their games on the various platforms.

The publisher has admitted that their products have been dealt a heavy blow because of the piracy, and they are now working on a tool that should cushion the impact of the said problem.

CEO Yves Guillemot discloses, “Altogether on console, the piracy is low. On the PC the piracy is quite a lot. We are working on a tool that would allow us to decrease that on the PC starting next year and probably one game this year.”

Having described it as a tool, it is suggestive therefore that the solution they are working on is not an existing form of DRM, but rather, is an internal solution. Guillemot specifically zoomed in on the problem with piracy on the DS handhelds, referring to the R4, pinpointing the rise in Spain. He further characterized the DS sales in the country as “going down at a very strong level.”

But the problem is not necessarily limited to Spain and, obviously, has spread on to other countries. “We see it coming country by country,” Guillemot said. To counter this on a physical level, he suggests adding in extra collectibles like figurines to go along with the copy of the game.

We see when we put other things with the product (people) go and buy the game. We need to make sure that the value is better when they buy the box then when they download (the game) from the Internet.

Nintendo, for their part, has committed themselves to helping out Ubisoft. Guillemot reveals, “Nintendo has been able to slow down piracy a lot in Japan. They are now putting pressure to make sure it decreases in many other countries.” He remains optimistic, “We think we will be able to solve this matter.”

What of the PSP? He said that piracy was also one of the primary reasons why they retreated from Sony‘s handheld. But that won’t be the case any longer as there are now “new ways to control piracy.” Guillemot promises that Ubisoft will then be reinvesting in the handheld.

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Via Kotaku