Now that, I'm not sure. I got mine on GamersGate though, so I could probably reinstall it and check.

Not exactly. The problem is some sources for this news item aren't even mentioning that offline mode exists. They are basically making the issue sound worse than it is.

No they're not, this offline mode in ubisoft games is a rumor Ubisoft spreads to make people like them more. You should also note that Jews, who are offspring of Devil, of antichrist, are leaders of Ubisoft. Yes, the same Jews who are responsible for all worldwide wars.

How did you manage to do that?
Pretty much every single Ubisoft game I happen to have purchased is playable completely offline (Anno 2070 or HoMM VI, for example), but Settlers 7 is an exception.
I disconnected from the internet for a moment just to check whether the game would launch, it unfortunately insists that I log in.

Let me quote myself:

I had connection problems, so I played half the campaign without going online in the first place. I do, however, own the game on Steam. Does this make a difference?

I'm downloading it again as we "speak". Might take a while though. But then we will know for sure.

Intriguing... You had to be online for the game to launch even though, didn't you?
I'm eagerly looking forward to your report.

My Steam was online, but Settlers 7 couldn't connect to the Ubi Servers and was therefore in offline mode. In roughly an hour we will know more.

Well I can tell you that in the case of Driver San Fran, you *have* to be online the first time you run it, but all subsequent times thereafter, you will have the option of going offline. I know that as the Ubi server was down when I first tried to play it and the resulting error message stated as such.

They most likely patched that into all games that can support it, regardless of their original release date.

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Update:

Right, just checked my GamersGate version and that one does NOT support offline login. So the GamersGate version of Settler's 7 probably won't be playable during server downtime.

I've haven't forgotten this, but my Steam download has now dropped to 100 kb/s. Might take a little longer.

I smell a conspiracy! ;-P

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Update:

First off: Fuck You Ubisoft for making me look like an idiot!

Now, after this is out of the way, lets continue. Trying to get Settlers 7 started without an internet connection results in an Ubisoft login box I have never seen before. This I couldn't circumvent and it refused to start the game offline. I clearly remember playing that game with it's only features disabled because I couldn't connect to the ubi servers.

It was my very first Uplay game and I didn't even had an account until I could resolve that problem. It was some time ago, I bought it on a very sweet Steam deal.

Welcome to the Ubi Hate group

Your complimentary badge and pitchfork are in the post - burning brands are at a discount this weekend at £5 a bundle and if you buy two we throw in a Molotov free!

Maybe the part when they don't know when it'll be back up, that there is no offline mode, and that it affects purely singleplayer games is what's pissing people off more than, say, having their WOW accounts unavailable for a couple hours every Tuesday.
Do you lose access to items and some of your gear, like in HoMM6, when you're in "offline mode" on those games too? Do you have to set up "offline mode" in advance? I don't really call that an alternative...

Losing access to items/features would depend on the specific game (and for the record, this often affects TF2 when its Item server goes down, so it's not an issue unique to Ubisoft's games). As for setting up offline mode in advance, all you need to do to access that is be offline (i.e., unable to contact the Ubisoft server) after having launched the game at least once while being online. You know, just like how Steam is supposed to work.

For the record, I just checked Assassin's Creed Revelations. It can indeed be played in offline mode.

Well, I guess I should pirate some Ubisoft shit then... I won't play or install it, it's just to show the company my appreciation for their sociophatic approach to the people who buy their fucking games :-P