• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Gameranx

Gameranx

Video Game News, Lists & Guides

  • News
  • Features
  • Platforms
    • Xbox Series X
    • PS5
    • Nintendo
  • Videos
  • Upcoming Games
  • Guides

Ubisoft DRM Monitors Computer Hardware, Breaks When You Change Graphics Cards

January 16, 2012 by Ian Miles Cheong

Ubisoft’s notoriously terrible DRM has an even worse feature: it’ll break if you try to swap out a piece of hardware in your computer.

drm

Ubisoft has been annoying PC gamers with its DRM for quite awhile now. PC gamers will find more reason to sulk about the company's attitude upon the discovery that Ubisoft's limited activation scheme is not only machine specific, but also hardware specific. Specifically, the DRM will know if you've replaced a graphics card.

A game like Ubisoft's Anno 2070 will not run if and when you swap out a graphics card. For gamers who regularly update their systems, such an action can render every game in their Ubisoft library worthless. Guru3D discovered this DRM 'feature' while they were trying to run a benchmark on the aforementioned game.

According to the website, the game simply stopped working when they swapped out the card. Attempts to reinstall the game and reactivate it were met with failure, as the DRM had assumed—wrongly—that the copy-protection was tampered with.

The company's insistence on implementing heavy-handed DRM into its games has earned it a formidable amount of ire from the PC gaming community, especially since the games it releases on Steam already come with their own copy-protection, courtesy of Valve.

Share this post:

FacebookTwitterLinkedInPinterest

Recent Videos

20 Upcoming Exploration Games That EXCITE US

20 Upcoming Exploration Games That EXCITE US

CRIMSON DESERT'S BIG TURNAROUND, PS5 PRICE CHANGE & MORE

CRIMSON DESERT'S BIG TURNAROUND, PS5 PRICE CHANGE & MORE

20 Game Franchises That DESERVE A COMEBACK

20 Game Franchises That DESERVE A COMEBACK

Crimson Desert: 10 Things Players HATE

Crimson Desert: 10 Things Players HATE

Top 10 NEW Games of April 2026

Top 10 NEW Games of April 2026

10 Recent Games We REGRET We DIDN'T COVER

10 Recent Games We REGRET We DIDN'T COVER

Crimson Desert: 10 MISTAKES YOU SHOULDN'T MAKE

Crimson Desert: 10 MISTAKES YOU SHOULDN'T MAKE

Crimson Desert (console) - Before You Buy

Crimson Desert (console) - Before You Buy

BETHESDA REGRETS ELDER SCROLLS 6, 10 NEW GAMES ANNOUNCED & MORE

BETHESDA REGRETS ELDER SCROLLS 6, 10 NEW GAMES ANNOUNCED & MORE

Category: Updates

Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • The Unlikeliest Games Are Getting Rated For Switch 2, Including Devil May Cry 5 and Hellraiser: Revival
  • With PS5 Prices Going Up, GTA 6 Players Who Don’t Have A Console Yet Are In A Pickle
  • Sony Raises Prices For PlayStation 5 Consoles Around The World, Including The US
  • This GTA ChatGPT Abomination Proves Strauss Zelnick’s Point About AI Tools
  • This Picture Already Contains GTA 6 Spoilers

Copyright © 2026 · Gameranx · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme