Publisher Ubisoft has quietly let up on its anti-piracy initivative to force gamers to maintain a persistent online connection to its authentication servers for PC titles Splinter Cell: Conviction and Assassin’s Creed 2, a decision that was met with harsh resistance last February.

While Ubisoft has not issued an official announcement, a user over at reddit noticed the change after a patch was deployed over the holiday week.

Both titles still perform a one-time auth handshake to Ubisoft’s servers during the initial startup process. However, your gameplay experience will go uninterrupted in the event of any sporadic connection drops. Definitely a more sane approach if you ask us. Here’s hoping Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood follows suit when it releases later this year on PC.

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