There probably aren't many PC gamers who are big Ubisoft fans. In spite of owning a stable of massively successful franchises, including Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell, Ubisoft has a long history of making life difficult for customers who play their titles on computers instead of consoles. PC versions of popular Ubisoft titles are released weeks or months after their console counterparts. Worse, Ubisoft PC games come saddled with onerous digital rights management (DRM), forcing reactivation after replacing a PC's video card or requiring the game to be continually online, as with Driver: San Francisco.

The times, though, might be changing a bit. In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, Ubisoft officials offer up several interesting revelations about their past statements on the efficacy of DRM and the future direction of the company's published titles. Right out of the gate, the company pulls the plug on the idea of always-on DRM for future titles. Stephanie Perotti, Ubisoft's worldwide director for online games, states, "We have listened to feedback, and since June last year our policy for all of PC games is that we only require a one-time online activation when you first install the game, and from then you are free to play the game offline."

This is a huge concession from a publisher widely regarded as being among the most PC-hostile in the business. RPS is quick to point out that just last month, Ubisoft's chairman and CEO stated that piracy rates on PC games were as high as 95 percent and that the free-to-play model was the only way to continue to draw revenue from the PC gaming market. High piracy rates have long been a rallying cry for publishers looking to apply increasingly draconian DRM to their titles. But there's obvious cognitive dissonance between Ubisoft's titles being buried under intrusive DRM schemes and simultaneously carrying a 95 percent piracy rate. It would seem the more it tightens its grasp, the more star systems slip between its fingers.

When asked about how to reconcile the gap—how can DRM be considered effective when the piracy rate is so high?—the response was evasive. "That," Perotti replied, referring to Ubisoft's statement that DRM is a success, "was an unfortunate comment."

The rest of the interview is a short but illuminating look at Ubisoft's take on PC gaming. The RPS interviewer is merciless, and hammers the two Ubisoft representatives on several points, even earning an admission from them that Ubisoft's failure to disclose its actual piracy numbers damaged its credibility and undermined the arguments in favor of always-on DRM in the first place. Still, the takeaway is positive: "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 policy." says Perotti. "We’ve heard you. We’ve heard customers."

This is a win for gamers in general. Ubisoft stops short of acknowledging the assertion that restrictive DRM harms only paying customers—"I wouldn’t say that, actually," comments Perotti—but a quick search around the underbelly of the Internet reveals that acquiring a pirated copy of Driver: San Francisco is pretty darn easy in spite of its fancy DRM. The path is clearing for less-restrictive DRM schemes on Ubisoft titles in the future, though, which can only be a good thing. In many ways, always-on DRM and limited activations are even worse than the bad old days of code wheels and Lenslok. I for one, definitely don't miss those things.