Ubisoft has filed a lawsuit over the closure of The Crew

Two Californian gamers are suing Ubisoft in a proposed class action lawsuit over the developer and publisher’s recent discontinuation of the racing game The crew. Ubisoft released The crew December 2014 and shut down its servers after ten years to “server infrastructure and licensing restrictions.” After the servers were shut down, the game became completely unplayable due to the lack of an offline single-player mode. When the closure was announced on December 14, 2023, Ubisoft offered refunds to people who had “recently” made a purchase The crewbut given the age of the game, many players were unable to participate in the offer.

“Imagine buying a pinball machine and years later going into your study to play it, only to find that all the paddles are missing, the pinball and bumpers are gone, and the monitor that proudly displays your untouchable high score , has been removed. attorneys wrote in the lawsuit, which was filed in a California court on November 4 and reviewed by Polygon. “It turns out that the pinball machine manufacturer decided to come to your home, remove the inside of the pinball machine and remove your ability to play the game you wanted to play. bought And thought you owned.”

The lawsuit claims that this is “exactly” what happened when Ubisoft shut down its servers The crew in 2024 – leaving consumers suddenly without access to something they bought and thought they owned. According to the lawsuit, players were duped in two ways: first, by misleading players into thinking they were purchasing a game when they only licensed it – even if a player purchased a physical disc. Secondly, that Ubisoft “falsely represented” that. The crew‘s files were on the physical disks where they were freely accessible, and that the disks were not just a key to the game. Ubisoft is violating California consumer protection laws, the lawsuit alleges.

Both plaintiffs purchased the game on physical discs well into its lifespan, in 2018 and 2020 respectively. The lawsuit says that neither would have purchased the game “under the same terms,” that is, the price, knowing that the game’s servers could be taken offline, causing The crew completely unplayable even in an offline mode. The lawsuit also concerns the response to Ubisoft’s decision to shut down its servers and not include an offline version of the game; it cites several games that have disabled servers but patched an offline option, such as Knockout city and two of Ubisoft’s own games, Assassin’s Creed 2 And Assassin’s Creed 3. Ubisoft responded to the criticism and promised to include offline versions of its existing games in The Crew franchise The crew 2 And The Crew Motorfest – but the lawsuit says this doesn’t change the problem of The crew‘s server is shutting down.

The plaintiffs want the court to approve the lawsuit as a class action, which means different The crew players can participate. They are seeking monetary relief and compensation for those affected by the server shutdown. The lawsuit follows a campaign by YouTube creator Ross Scott to urge companies to “stop killing games.” a movement that started afterwards The crew announcement was made. The Stop Killing Games Movement has filed a petition with the European Union to force game companies to keep games in playable condition. It currently has more than 379,000 signatures.

As media becomes increasingly digital, the issue of ownership versus licensing – especially in video games – is becoming an increasing problem. While some people take the game into their own hands (just like the player created ones The crew unlimited), the responsibility largely lies with companies and what they do to maintain their games and servers. But in California, Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill into law law that requires companies to tell consumers they are purchasing licensesand not the games themselves, in online stores. The law itself, introduced by California lawmaker Jacqui Irwin, was actually inspired in part by the closure of Ubisoft. The crew. However, the law does not address the fact that games are licensed and not purchased directly, nor does it prevent a company from making a game unplayable, but in theory it does provide transparency on the issue.

Ubisoft declined to comment.

Update: We updated this story to note that Ubisoft declined to comment.