Ubisoft is dealing with a group of gamers on the official forums who are very upset over what they are calling “deception”. The sole single player mode apparently requires an online connection to play.
The game mode is Terrorist Hunt, a horde-style in which players must defend themselves against increasing waves of terrorists. Despite being available for single player, if the player has no internet connection, it won’t allow them to play.
One of the things that gamers are truly upset about is that Ubisoft had promised to back an offline experience, assuring them back in September on the forums; ”The creative vision for Rainbow Six Siege has always been strongly focused on a compelling cooperative and multiplayer experience. The game supports solo play when playing Terrorist Hunt offline & online and we will provide further details on single-player content in the near future.” In addition, a customer rep assured a gamer by saying “Yes, you can play Rainbow Six Siege offline vs AI in game modes such as ‘Terrorist Hunt’” in an Amazon Q&A about the game.
However, presently Ubisoft has changed its tune, stating officially ”an internet connection is required to play Terrorist Hunt mode.” Additionally, “currently only situations and custom multiplayer are available offline.”
This is reminiscent of four years ago, when Ubisoft fully embraced the concept of having “Always On” DRM, because it was phased out over increasing anger by the community, culminating with the Assassin’s Creed II controversy, which spelled the death knell of Ubisoft’s use of the DRM.
History is repeating itself, it seems, with this latest variation of online requirements. Stay tuned.
