Assassin’s Creed Shadows Will Feature Denuvo & Account Linking + EULA also requires you to allow Ubisoft to “monitor” your RAM
The game’s EULA also requires you to allow Ubisoft to “monitor” your RAM.
As Ubisoft prepares for the 2025 launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows – a game some view as the developer’s last chance to break free from a year marked by financial setbacks and controversies – the game’s Steam page has finally gone live, revealing two major caveats about the Steam version of AC Shadows that will, unfortunately for Ubisoft, likely drive away some gamers.
If you’re in any way familiar with the PC gaming industry (or have read the title of this article), then you’ve most likely already guessed one of the caveats, and yes, the PC version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will feature Denuvo, a controversial DRM software detested by the community for negatively affecting loading times and framerate in games, something Denuvo’s creator Irdeto categorically denies, blaming its low reputation on pirates and gamers.
While Denuvo’s presence in Shadows isn’t much of a surprise – considering it’s been used in Ubisoft’s previous games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Star Wars Outlaws, the Far Cry series, and others – the decision to keep the DRM could be seen as questionable given the growing trend of developers ditching Denuvo or choosing not to include it in the first place, as well as Ubisoft’s apparent need to steer clear of further controversies and reputational damage.
The second caveat relates to another requirement the community generally dislikes: the mandatory account linking to the studio’s Ubisoft Connect platform when buying Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Steam. Even though, much like Denuvo, this isn’t anything new for Ubisoft fans, it could still negatively impact the game financially and reputationally considering what happened with Helldivers 2 earlier this year when Sony’s now-retracted mandate to link Steam accounts to PSN caused an uproar, buried the game in negative reviews, and, as some believe, tanked the game’s player numbers, with many blaming this backlash as the sole reason we’ve heard so little about Helldivers 2 in the second half of 2024, despite it being universally acclaimed and considered a strong contender for Game of the Year when it first launched.
To top it all off, Shadows’ EULA also includes a provision that allows the game to monitor your PC’s RAM to ensure you’re not running any unauthorized programs like macros, cheats, or hacks, a well-intentioned clause that nonetheless feels a touch out of place in a single-player game and could potentially scare off some of the more suspicious players who aren’t comfortable with their hardware being monitored.
And what’s your take on those requirements? Would it be beneficial for Ubisoft to get rid of Denuvo and account linking while there’s still time?
Well intentioned my ass. If I want to cheat in my single player game it’s my damn right. They just want to make sure you buy their cheats (microtransaction time savers) instead of making your own for free.
To top it all off, Shadows’ EULA also includes a provision that allows the game to monitor your PC’s RAM to ensure you’re not running any unauthorized programs like macros, cheats, or hacks, a well-intentioned clause that nonetheless feels a touch out of place in a single-player game and could potentially scare off some of the more suspicious players who aren’t comfortable with their hardware being monitored.
Correct. They make games that are dozens of hours long and filled with repetitive content, and if you skip the content you don’t want to do, you tend to be under leveled for the stuff you do want to do, and they’ll sell you boosters to hit that level instead.
No, gamer you see, it’s really important that you grind these randomly generated kill quests to progress, it’s totally not to incentivize you to purchase the exp boost in our cash shop in this single player game, can’t have you using cheat engine to ruin your experience.
“If you betray us, Ubisoft, I’m going to cut off your balls and shove them up your ass so the next time you take a shit, you shit all over your balls!”
Thanks to denuvo and there currently not being any active group capable of cracking denuvo, it’s not a guarantee the game will be cracked. Assassin‘s creed mirage took until last month, over a year after release, for a pirated copy to be available and it uses a debug executable, which may not become available for any other games or at least not in a timely manner. It might not be possible to play those games without the BS. Or on Linux, if it doesn’t run without kernel access for RAM monitoring
From what I understand, she received flak for her anti trans views and decided to call it quits. She is Russian, so maybe she was drafted into the war effort as a hacker, or mosy likely she got paid off by these companies.
Most crackers are in countries where extradition for this would be difficult even with solid evidence. Companies have changed tactic to just paying them off so they just don’t do it, or so the rumor mill says. 200k a year to a handful of people is a drop in the bucket for the denuvo cartel.
Denuvo works on a subscription basis. Sooner or later, they’re going to decide it’s not worth paying for anymore and the game will be available to pirate. Waiting a year is nothing.
Well, they haven’t so far removed denuvo from a single game, even those that have been cracked already. Ubisoft is big enough, that they might have their very own deal with Denuvo
Shadows’ EULA also includes a provision that allows the game to monitor your PC’s RAM to ensure you’re not running any unauthorized programs like macros, cheats, or hacks, a well-intentioned clause that nonetheless feels a touch out of place in a single-player game
Why the fuck would I allow Ubisoft to monitor my RAM while playing a SINGLE-PLAYER GAME. They just want to datamine my PC or something?
Can we do something like reporting Denuvo or the kernel anticheats as malware in Windows defender?
A game with a built in system lever logger that could theoretically monitor even your bank transactions should be reported as spyware/malware and users installing it should have to expressly acknowledge / authorise this.
Normally I would say that Microsoft wouldn’t care and they would just make an exception, but after the CrowdStrike error, they might be just a little bit more careful. Or maybe I have too much faith in them
I loved the first couple before I stopped playing games entirely for a decade. But I was a console player and didn’t have to think about things like this.
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That one Ubisoft shareholder was right. Ubisofts current management is trying to sabotage their profits. Thats crazy.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Will Feature Denuvo & Account Linking + EULA also requires you to allow Ubisoft to “monitor” your RAM
The game’s EULA also requires you to allow Ubisoft to “monitor” your RAM.
As Ubisoft prepares for the 2025 launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows – a game some view as the developer’s last chance to break free from a year marked by financial setbacks and controversies – the game’s Steam page has finally gone live, revealing two major caveats about the Steam version of AC Shadows that will, unfortunately for Ubisoft, likely drive away some gamers.
If you’re in any way familiar with the PC gaming industry (or have read the title of this article), then you’ve most likely already guessed one of the caveats, and yes, the PC version of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will feature Denuvo, a controversial DRM software detested by the community for negatively affecting loading times and framerate in games, something Denuvo’s creator Irdeto categorically denies, blaming its low reputation on pirates and gamers.
While Denuvo’s presence in Shadows isn’t much of a surprise – considering it’s been used in Ubisoft’s previous games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Star Wars Outlaws, the Far Cry series, and others – the decision to keep the DRM could be seen as questionable given the growing trend of developers ditching Denuvo or choosing not to include it in the first place, as well as Ubisoft’s apparent need to steer clear of further controversies and reputational damage.
The second caveat relates to another requirement the community generally dislikes: the mandatory account linking to the studio’s Ubisoft Connect platform when buying Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Steam. Even though, much like Denuvo, this isn’t anything new for Ubisoft fans, it could still negatively impact the game financially and reputationally considering what happened with Helldivers 2 earlier this year when Sony’s now-retracted mandate to link Steam accounts to PSN caused an uproar, buried the game in negative reviews, and, as some believe, tanked the game’s player numbers, with many blaming this backlash as the sole reason we’ve heard so little about Helldivers 2 in the second half of 2024, despite it being universally acclaimed and considered a strong contender for Game of the Year when it first launched.
To top it all off, Shadows’ EULA also includes a provision that allows the game to monitor your PC’s RAM to ensure you’re not running any unauthorized programs like macros, cheats, or hacks, a well-intentioned clause that nonetheless feels a touch out of place in a single-player game and could potentially scare off some of the more suspicious players who aren’t comfortable with their hardware being monitored.
And what’s your take on those requirements? Would it be beneficial for Ubisoft to get rid of Denuvo and account linking while there’s still time?
Well intentioned my ass. If I want to cheat in my single player game it’s my damn right. They just want to make sure you buy their cheats (microtransaction time savers) instead of making your own for free.
Will how unfinished and buggy these games are all coming out, I’ll pick them up on sales after they have been finished and their spyware removed.
I forget the last title Ubisoft worked on that I was actually eager to play.
So Ubisoft just sells malware now without the game wrapper. Great.
Can’t they just… Make a “normal game”? One that you install, play and that’s it?. Why the fuck do they need to monitor Ram? What the hell?
Honestly also curious why this is necessary.
Ah, it’s in the article.
No one gets to authorize programs to run on my PC but me.
It’s honestly very odd that it needs to do this for a single-player game.
WTF do they care if you’re modding your own single player game that you paid for? They sound like assholes!
Is there maybe an online multiplayer component to the game which might otherwise experience cheating? I dunno. 🤷♂️
They sell level boosters that you could otherwise circumvent with Cheat Engine.
Oh ffs 🤦♂️ If I bought the game and want to cheat myself out of the experience, just let me do so…!
If I’m understanding you correctly, level boosters are things you can activate to… skip levels? Reach character levels quicker?
Yeah they let you skip the artificially inflated grind in your single player experience.
Buying them is not cheating yourself out of the experience, but instead it brings back the intended speed of progression.
Correct. They make games that are dozens of hours long and filled with repetitive content, and if you skip the content you don’t want to do, you tend to be under leveled for the stuff you do want to do, and they’ll sell you boosters to hit that level instead.
…th…they are.
Ubisoft is usually exhibit A when it comes to asshole-ry.
Micro transactions
Anti cheat (it’s actually anti piracy which is not possible also they oops sell massive data dumps for cash oops)
Data mining, baby! It’s worth more than gold.
No, gamer you see, it’s really important that you grind these randomly generated kill quests to progress, it’s totally not to incentivize you to purchase the exp boost in our cash shop in this single player game, can’t have you using cheat engine to ruin your experience.
They sell stuff for these games ? scum
Ubisoft can monitor nothing but my balls.
I don’t want that disease vector anywhere near my dangly bits, thanks.
Make sure they are unwashed while being monitored
You’re supposed to wash your balls?
A shit monitoring balls?
“If you betray us, Ubisoft, I’m going to cut off your balls and shove them up your ass so the next time you take a shit, you shit all over your balls!”
Man, and I was still looking a bit forward to this game. Why can’t you just be normal, Ubisoft?
Thankfully there is a very simple, no-effort solution to this: Don’t play their trash.
I already don’t play their excruciatingly mediocre games and this just reinforces my avoidance is justified.
Also good gods they’ve been milking this tired franchise for almost 2 decades now.
Pirating also allows you to play it without the BS if you’re interested in the game.
Denuvo is used by these companies because it’s shockingly effective. IIRC it has yet to be cracked on any game.
Games that end up being available on the high seas have generally stopped paying for the Denuvo license.
Thanks to denuvo and there currently not being any active group capable of cracking denuvo, it’s not a guarantee the game will be cracked. Assassin‘s creed mirage took until last month, over a year after release, for a pirated copy to be available and it uses a debug executable, which may not become available for any other games or at least not in a timely manner. It might not be possible to play those games without the BS. Or on Linux, if it doesn’t run without kernel access for RAM monitoring
What happened to Empress or whatever they were called?
On hiatus, apparently. Hasn’t cracked anything since July 2023. Not sure why.
From what I understand, she received flak for her anti trans views and decided to call it quits. She is Russian, so maybe she was drafted into the war effort as a hacker, or mosy likely she got paid off by these companies.
Most crackers are in countries where extradition for this would be difficult even with solid evidence. Companies have changed tactic to just paying them off so they just don’t do it, or so the rumor mill says. 200k a year to a handful of people is a drop in the bucket for the denuvo cartel.
I haven’t paid close attention but I think she started a cult or something.
Denuvo works on a subscription basis. Sooner or later, they’re going to decide it’s not worth paying for anymore and the game will be available to pirate. Waiting a year is nothing.
Well, they haven’t so far removed denuvo from a single game, even those that have been cracked already. Ubisoft is big enough, that they might have their very own deal with Denuvo
I already wasn’t going to pay for another Ubisoft game ever again but this is absolutely the final nail in the coffin for me. Fucking atrocious.
All it took for me to never buy Ubi again was their launcher
Why the fuck would I allow Ubisoft to monitor my RAM while playing a SINGLE-PLAYER GAME. They just want to datamine my PC or something?
Eyyyyyyy fuck you Ubisoft.
Can we do something like reporting Denuvo or the kernel anticheats as malware in Windows defender?
A game with a built in system lever logger that could theoretically monitor even your bank transactions should be reported as spyware/malware and users installing it should have to expressly acknowledge / authorise this.
Normally I would say that Microsoft wouldn’t care and they would just make an exception, but after the CrowdStrike error, they might be just a little bit more careful. Or maybe I have too much faith in them
Yeah Susan, I’m sure Microsoft TOTALLY learned their lesson from the Crowdstrike incident. Y’know, since they’ve never had an anti-malware company cause worldwide outages because of a configuration error before.
Next up, they monitor your bank account to warn you that you don’t have enough money to purchase all the dlc to fully complete the game.
Or they just charge you for the DLC each time you enter the DLC areas without asking.
don’t give them any ideas
i don’t know how many years ago i got completely bored with the entire AC franchise, but it was long enough that i find this hilarious
AC IV Black Flag was my last one and it was pretty good. It also came out over a decade ago. At what point does it become retro?
I loved the first couple before I stopped playing games entirely for a decade. But I was a console player and didn’t have to think about things like this.