Ubisoft’s online-only racing game, The Crew, became unplayable on April 1. Some players are upset because they claim Ubisoft went further by removing their access to the game from their Ubisoft Connect accounts. This means they can no longer play the game they bought with their own money.
To understand this situation better, we need to know that The Crew is a game that requires online servers to work. These servers were shut down on April 1, and the game was also removed from online stores. This means even if players still had the game on their devices, they couldn’t play it anymore.
I’m getting reports that people are having The Crew revoked on people’s accounts on Ubisoft Connect. I’m not sure that even matters since they made it inoperable anyway, but many in Europe seem to think this is illegal. Maybe, doesn’t change our plans either way, can only help.
— Accursed Farms (@accursedfarms) April 11, 2024
The impact of Ubisoft’s action mainly affects the original version of The Crew. The sequels, The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest are still playable.
When Ubisoft announced the server shutdown, they offered refunds to players who had recently bought The Crew. However, because the game has been around for about ten years, most players didn’t qualify for this refund. Some players were planning to create private servers to continue playing, but now that option is gone.
This situation brings attention to a bigger issue about buying digital games. When we buy games online, we might think we own them, but the truth is we don’t own anything. Game companies like Ubisoft have terms of service that explain this.
The director of subscriptions at Ubisoft even said players will get used to not owning their games, but many people still find it unsettling that something they paid for can vanish so easily, even if it’s becoming common practice in the gaming industry.