Ubisoft Sued By The Crew Players Over Server Shutdown

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 12, 2024 4 Views 6 Min Read
Ubisoft Sued By The Crew Players Over Server Shutdown



Key Takeaways

  • Two players are suing Ubisoft after the company shuttered servers for the online-only game The Crew.
  • The lawsuit claims that Ubisoft misled customers about game ownership, violating California consumer protection laws.
  • Many companies continue to remove access to legacy titles, angering players and causing concern over game preservation.



Two players of the online-only racing game The Crew are suing Ubisoft, the game’s developer and publisher, over its shuttering of the game’s servers, which effectively removed all access to the title. The Crew, released in 2014, was an online exclusive with no single-player campaign available for players without an internet connection. Shutting down the servers in December 2023 left owners of the game without the ability to utilize their purchased copies of the game.

Ubisoft’s decision to dismantle servers for an always-online game highlights a growing source of contention for purchasers of digital media, namely that digital downloads are licensed rather than purchased. When older games are delisted, or live-service games have their server support discontinued, the reality of the purchasing arrangement becomes painfully clear to customers. The new California bill AB 2426, signed into law in October 2024 and going into effect in early 2025, mandates that this discrepancy is presented to consumers with greater transparency.


The Crew Camaro Screenshot

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As originally reported by Polygon, the two players filing suit contend that the termination of access lessens the value of the product they purchased, and would have influenced their decision to pay full price for the game in the first place. The lawsuit likens Ubisoft’s removal of access to even The Crew‘s single-player campaign to a “pinball machine manufacturer [deciding] to come into your home, gut the insides of the pinball machine, and remove your ability to play the game that you bought and thought you owned.” While the disabled server has drawn the ire of dedicated players, Ubisoft is not the first company to remove access to legacy titles.


Delisting Older Titles Continues to Anger Players


The suit goes on to claim that Ubisoft “duped” players by leading them to believe they were buying a game, rather than renting a revocable license to it, and that portions of the game would remain available offline in perpetuity. According to the lawsuit, these actions violate California’s consumer protection laws. The lawsuit follows public backlash towards the shuttering of The Crew‘s servers, which prompted Ubisoft to promise players offline versions of newer titles in the franchise and generated a “Stop Killing Games” initiative, spearheaded by YouTube creator Ross Scott.

As digital transactions rapidly replace physical purchasing for games and other media, it seems inevitable that the debate over ownership, longevity, and preservation will expand. Lawsuits of this kind may become more frequent until publishers and digital storefronts address the issue in a way that players find satisfactory. Ubisoft continues to struggle against player backlash in recent months, following the delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the potential shutdown of the free-to-play shooter XDefiant, and the recent release of a blockchain-centered RPG.


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