Uplay preventing players from launching Watch Dogs on PC

[Andytizer 269]

Players looking forward to experiencing Watch Dogs on PC on launch day will be disappointed to find that it's currently impossible to login to the game at all.

 

Uplay is required to launch the game, and those currently attempting to connect will be faced with the above "Login failed" screen as Uplay authentication servers are being hammered by the usual launch day problems.It is still possible to download the game through non-Uplay services such as Steam or Origin, but all versions require Uplay to connect in order to function.

 

As usual, the widely leaked pirated version suffers from none of these issues and can be played offline right now.

 

Here's the response from the official Watch Dogs Twitter account:

We are experiencing issues with the authentication services. Players may experience long delays when trying to login in-game. More to come.

As usual, check out our Watch Dogs article for up-to-date bugs and fixes, which we'll be sure to investigate further as soon as we can login to the damn thing.

 

Edit 10pm 27/05/14: Uplay servers appear to be up and working, can now login and play Watch Dogs.

 

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[ThunderKnight 2]

Ubi should rename the client to Udon'tplay.

[Garrett 218]

I thought Uplay included a functional offline mode now--or does Watch Dogs not work in offline mode?

[Andytizer 269]

You can only launch offline if it's been activated once online.

[Blackbird 54]

Works for me.

[Drmattsuu 0]

The Irony that Ubi's DRM platform serves only to hurt ligit players while pirates get the game not only 5 days early, but UPlay problem free - way to go Ubi, way to go.

 

Don't get me wrong, DRM as a online service storefront thingie is a hell of a lot better than the alternative, the 'good old days' of on-disk DRM that'd brick your CD drive if you owned a certain brand... Thank god the industry moved past that bull! But this just goes to reinforce that we certainly can't trust most publishers with even online activation on day one, let alone the always online shit they tried to cram down our throats a few years ago.