Ubisoft clarifies "93-95%" PC piracy rate comments
"That number often varies."
Ubisoft has clarified comments made last month by boss Yves Guillemot, which suggested the company endured a piracy rate of "93 to 95 per cent" on its PC titles.
This figure only relates to "specific or popular PC games", Ubisoft worldwide director for online games Stephanie Perotti explained to Rock Paper Shotgun.
Perotti admitted that, even then, "that number often varies depending on the territory."
"So we are not saying that it applies to all PC games for all territories, and we're not saying that the same situation would apply for any game."
"It varies, from game to game, region to region," Ubisoft corporate communications manager Michael Burk added. "We've seen internal and external data to show that it can reach that high. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it is that high for all PC games, or that it is that high for all companies, or across all regions."
This is one of the reasons why Ubisoft does not divulge data to show how successful - or not - its always-on DRM policy was.
"I think that's one reason why companies are not necessarily broadly publishing this, because we're trying to get a handle on what it means for different games, different titles."
Doubt was also cast on comments by the company last year that it's now-repealed always-on DRM policy had shown a "clear reduction in piracy".
"I'm not going to comment on data. That was an unfortunate comment," Perotti said. "We've listened to feedback, we will continue to listen to feedback, we will continue to make sure that we deliver great games and great services, and are now operating under this [always-on DRM free] policy."