UPDATE: Ubisoft have confirmed that Assassin's Creed II for the PC will being using the DRM described below.

ORIGINAL: Ubisoft have defended their somewhat controversial new DRM scheme today, saying that the requirement to be connected to ubi.com at all times while playing will “enrich the gaming experience” and “provide added value.”

The unnamed service will allow players to install a game on as many PCs as they like, and will save their games to the cloud, meaning that they can continue their game on any PC that has the title installed.

"We know this choice is controversial but we feel is justified by the gameplay advantages offered by the system and because most PCs are already connected to the internet," says Ubisoft.

The new plan is also intended to confound pirates. "This platform also offers protection against piracy, an important business element for Ubisoft and for the PC market in general as piracy has an important impact on this market.

"Any initiative that allows us to lower the impact of piracy on our PC games will also allow us to concentrate further effort on the creation and expansion of our intellectual properties for the PC - our goal is to deliver the best gaming experience to our customers," says Ubisoft.

Settlers 7 will be the first game to operate under Ubisoft’s new DRM scheme.