Major game publisher Ubisoft has officially announced that it has opted not to include the sometimes controversial StarForce copy protection system in its upcoming
Heroes of Might & Magic V, as well as other future PC titles from the company. Ubisoft had recently included the Russian-developed protection software with its PC release of
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood.
The news comes in the wake of a $5 million lawsuit against Ubisoft filed by gamers, who claim that StarForce's DRM system compromised the security of their PCs. Ubisoft is still investigating this accusation.
Other companies have likewise decided to disassociate themselves with the copy-protection company. In March,
Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars developer Aspyr Media announced that it would not include StarForce in the upcoming RPG/RTS. In addition, following news from Stardock that the company would not include copy protection with its recently released PC 4X space strategy title,
Galactic Civilizations II:Dread Lords, an employee of StarForce posted a link where users could illegally download the game via BitTorrent, sparking a short-lived but bitter war of words.
StarForce itself has maintained that its software is both safe and effective, despite claims to the contrary. In December, the company even went so far as to
offer a prize of $1,000 to any consumer who could prove that StarForce was adversely affecting their computer.
