Prez wrote on Apr 17, 2010, 14:28:

Beamer wrote on Apr 17, 2010, 10:18:
I'm curious to know what metrics you'd want to use in order to figure this out. You'd have to filter out all the other variables.


In short - it's completely and utterly impossible to have "facts" here. The best you can hope for is educated assumptions.

I've been thinking about this, and I'm of the opinion that the best way to gauge the effect of the DRM on sales is by comparing the sales ratio between the 360 and the PC with the typical ratio you always see with major releases, particularly with previous Splinter Cell games, but only with those that had concurrent releases.

For example, I constantly hear how the 360 will typically outsell the PC by a ratio of 5:1, 10:1, blah blah. Ubisoft knows exactly how much of its products sold on each platform, so it has hard numbers to compare. If the ratio changes to become virtually the same between PC and 360, then it could easily be stated that this DRM, however unpopular, worked as intended. Conversely, no significant change in the sales ratios between PC and 360 would basically prove all this scheme did was piss off paying customers and drive potential customers away.

Admittedly, this is also not perfect, given the higher price point and the ignorance of DRM by the gaming public at large. The real test will be to compare how the next generation of titles sell. My suspicion is that many of the people who were previously oblivious to the DRM debate but have had to put up with Ubisoft's idiotic DRM scheme will apply the "fool me once..." principle.