It looks like Ubisoft has decided to followed archrival Electronic Arts in the digital rights management field.

In a post on the official Far Cry 2 forum, a Ubisoft community manager confirmed that the PC version of Far Cry 2, which goes on sale Oct. 21, will come with SecuROM DRM and limit each customer to five activations per game. Here's the post in its entirety:

Some of you have been asking about the copy protection used in Far Cry 2. Here's a summary of how it will work:

* You have 5 activations on 3 separate PCs.

* Uninstalling the game "refunds" an activation. This process is called "revoke", so as long as you complete proper uninstall you will be able to install the game an unlimited number of times on 3 systems.

* You can upgrade your computer as many time as you want (using our revoke system).

* Ubisoft is committed to the support of our games, and additional activations can be provided.

We'll keep an eye out for any other major questions on this matter and update this sticky accordingly.

An additional post was made on the forum confirming that the DRM software is indeed SecuROM, which has become notorious over the last 14 months dating back to the release of 2K Games' hit BioShock. SecuROM, which is owned by Sony, was criticized by many PC gamers for imposing activation limits and also using root kit-like technology to prevent users from uninstalling the DRM program.

The news that Ubisoft has embraced SecuROM has come as a bit of surprise, considering the backlash against EA and its recent title Spore. Tom's Games spoke with Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot during E3 2008 and discussed the issues of PC gaming piracy as well as DRM (that discussion is on page 2 of the interview). During the interview, Guillemot explained that Ubisoft was exploring new ways to prevent piracy for PC titles, including a digital distribution system similar to Steam that would use a server authentication system (Far Cry 2 is currently available for pre-order on Steam and will reportedly come with SecuROM as well).

Stay tuned for more Far Cry 2 and SecuROM news on Tom's Games.

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