Driver: San Francisco "requires permanent internet connection" on PC

This marks the return of one of the most controversial DRM systems of recent years.

A Tweetfrom Ubisoft community developer Mathieu Willem, spotted by Eurogamer, confirms that Driver: San Francisco will require player's PCs to be constantly online to work.

This marks the return of one of the most controversial DRM systems of recent years. Ubisoft started using always-online DRM with Settlers 7, and included it in a few other titles including Silent Hunter V and Assassin's Creed 2. Players with flaky internet connections struggled to play, and at were at one point locked out of their games for days when Ubisoft's servers suffered problems.

It looked as though Ubisoft had decided to tone down the always-online system when they removed itfrom Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, but it's back in full force. A note on the Steam pre-order page states that "Ubisoft requires a permanent Internet connection to play this video game at all times."

Driver: San Francisco is out on August 30 in the US, and September 2 in Europe. You can read our preview here.