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Like a particularly unappealing virus, Ubisoft’s famously restrictive PC DRM seems to have evolved into a form that’s peskier than ever – its current iteration seems to restrict basic hardware changes alongside its usual forte of limited activations.
Affable PC technowizards Guru3D discovered this when swapping out a graphics card for benchmarking purposes on warmly-received strategy title Anno 2070. With a different graphics card in the machine, the game refused to run and would not allow re-installation.
Whether this is just a wonky quirk in their DRM code or an intended practice is unknown – Ubisoft is yet to comment on the matter.
Ubisoft and annoying DRM practices go together like cheese and wine; the publisher’s last dabble ended up with From Dust’s unpopular DRM being patched out.
Software kicking up a fuss when you change your hardware is nothing new; it’s standard practice with something like, say, Windows. But it’s certainly uncommon for a game to kick users to the curb for swapping out a graphics card.
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