Assassin's Creed 2 DRM Broken, Now What?

UBISoft is happy with their new DRM scheme despite the mass of hatred that consumers have heaped on. The always-online method that UBI has employed was attacked in retaliation for their decision and brought down for a few days before being restored. The legal owners were given in-game items in compensation for the down time while UBI plugged the holes and touted that the DRM wouldn't be cracked anytime soon.

A short time later an emulator was released for Assassin's Creed 2 which allowed offline play but not without hiccups, some manual maintenance was required to continue playing. UBI continued praising it's DRM and the emulator was passed off as not a genuine crack. Well, that time is over.

SkidRow has cracked, that's cracked, the DRM completely and requires a single file replacement for complete offline play. To protect their hard work, the file was wrapped in Solid Shield to obfuscate decompilation by rival groups and of course UBI themselves. Smart considering that the next patch would likely address the holes SkidRow utilized.

Much of this could have been avoided if UBI had just handled the Press better. If the DRM scheme had been touted as a new online community with benefits and bonuses for legitimate players while loosening up on the always-online issue, UBI would probably have slipped by with little trouble. Just look at Bioware and their hidden DRM scheme; Mass Effect 2 and Dragon's Age both need a steady, online connection to get the most out of the game but nobody is complaining there. The difference is presentation and a less restrictive interruption handler coupled with player benefits like achievements and an online journal of your progress.

UBI promised to remove the DRM if the servers were ever to be shut down permanently which is really an empty promise. To hear their stance on DRM and PC gaming, the only way that would happen is bankruptcy. Once chapter 11 is filed and the programmers are given the boot, who will be left with the knowledge to apply the deactivation and what would be the driving force to even bother?