9 years after it was launched, The Crew‘s servers have been shut down. Now, Ubisoft is rubbing salt within the wound by pulling licenses and digital copies from shops to make it much more unplayable.

Followers and many individuals who bought The Crew on digital storefronts are kicking up a little bit of a fuss over Ubisoft revoking licenses for the sport. Its servers have been turned off final month on March 31, 2024, however revoking licenses and pulling the sport from storefronts so it could possibly’t even be downloaded looks like overkill. For many, this going the additional mile to erase the sport provides insult to the damage of it already being unplayable.

Ubisoft is pre-emptively shutting down any fan efforts to convey The Crew again

Ubisoft delisted The Crew from all on-line storefronts late final yr, and information of the server shutdown in March had already been circulated – sadly, this has occurred earlier than. For instance, the identical day, Darkish Souls 2‘s PS3 and Xbox 360 servers have been shut down.

Nonetheless, what followers didn’t understand would occur is that the sport can be actively faraway from their recreation libraries and their licenses for it revoked. This matter shortly racked up feedback on Reddit and now has lots of of gamers expressing not simply their disappointment in Ubisoft however the ruthlessness of those actions.

I actually have The Crew downloaded on a PS4 as a result of I meant on enjoying it earlier than it went down. As everybody else is experiencing, I can run the sport in demo mode however nothing extra. Steam reportedly asks for a key to play, and Ubisoft Join has moved the sport to the Inactive Video games part.

The center of this problem for followers isn’t a matter of wasted cash. As an alternative, it’s a few potential revival that may now by no means occur. As person FISTO places it, “So now if the neighborhood does one way or the other create dummy-servers and/or discover a strategy to make the sport operable as a single-player offline recreation it’s actually unattainable for homeowners of the sport to obtain it and mod it. Nice. Only a actual fantastic transfer on Ubisoft’s half that exhibits how a lot they worth each video games and their clients.”

In a number of uncommon circumstances, followers have been in a position to construct servers that allow lifeless on-line video games to run for temporary intervals of time to allow them to get pleasure from them collectively and welcome those that by no means had an opportunity to play them. Murderer’s Creed Brotherhood is a good instance of a recreation wherein gamers banded collectively to maintain the multiplayer alive.

Ubisoft has systematically culled any chance of that for many who didn’t have already got the sport put in, although. I’m not even positive a disc copy would work as a result of it will require an internet connection which may be severed ceaselessly.

Is what Ubisoft is doing with The Crew even authorized?

Once I noticed this dialog pop up it struck me as odd as a result of I assumed after we purchase a duplicate of the sport, we’re shopping for a duplicate of the license and a proper to make use of it. That duplicate is, subsequently, ours to do with what we would like. That’s why it’s all the time been doable to promote video games and purchase second-hand copies. It’s not the total code or full license, however a duplicate each authorized proprietor is allowed to make use of.

I’m not the one one who believes this, which is why the Pirate Occasion Germany, a political social gathering that helps the preservation of present civil rights and telephony on the web, is taking a case to the EU Fee to establish if what Ubisoft has carried out is authorized.

The rationale this can be a a lot greater deal than, for instance, Darkish Souls 2‘s multiplayer servers going offline for PS3 and Xbox 360 is as a result of that recreation continues to be playable. Prospects can nonetheless use their Darkish Souls 2 licenses, simply not the net portion. Within the case of The Crew, the license folks paid for has been revoked and not using a refund or compensation. Successfully, anybody who bought The Crew has simply had the product they purchased stolen from them, which wouldn’t be acceptable in every other circumstance.

The difficulty is that that is such a obscure space of shopper legislation. Whereas Ubisoft may not like the truth that followers might have finally arrange emulation servers for The Crew, it’s not one thing it could possibly complain about if it gained’t help the sport or permit anybody to have the recordsdata in any respect. The corporate can’t recall each disc copy of the sport, so why ought to it be capable of successfully recall each digital copy?

Regardless of a case being dropped at such a strong shopper physique, we might by no means know the legality of what Ubisoft has carried out. Ubisoft launched The Crew, an MMO-CAR-PG, in late 2014. The sport had a reasonably rocky begin as a result of its driving mechanics weren’t the very best, and its world design resembled the basic Ubisoft open-world system. Followers on the time didn’t get pleasure from unlocking towers as they explored the world in what they felt ought to have been a way more open on-line driving recreation.

However The Crew is part of Ubisoft’s historical past and a really memorable launch. Whereas it had its points, it may be remembered as one of many prolific voice actor Troy Baker‘s roles, in a franchise that includes two extra video games and dozens of DLC releases.

What Ubisoft has carried out feels fairly callous, and it’s important to marvel if there’s an emotional response driving what appears to be akin to the erasure of a mission numerous folks performed and labored on for nearly a whole decade.