Ubisoft sued over controversial The Crew shutdown
Publisher removed "ability to play the game that you bought and thought you owned".
Ubisoft's shutdown of The Crew has sparked a legal challenge from two fans who have this month filed to begin a class action lawsuit.
Online racer The Crew became unplayable and was removed from owner's accounts after Ubisoft pulled the plug on its servers back in March. The game was 10 years old and had been replaced by a successor, but Ubisoft's decision still sparked wider concern among video game fans increasingly concerned about preservation and consumer rights.
"Imagine you buy a pinball machine, and years later, you enter your den to go play it, only to discover that all the paddles are missing, the pinball and bumpers are gone, and the monitor that proudly displayed your unassailable high score is removed," the plaintiff's lawyers wrote in the new lawsuit, as first reported by Polygon.
"Turns out the pinball manufacturer decided 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."
The lawsuit alleges that its plaintiffs - and likely many others - were unaware that legally they owned only a license to the software, even if they owned a physical copy, and would not have purchased the game if they had been aware of its eventual complete shutdown.
Its plaintiffs are now seeking approval for a wider class action lawsuit which could pay out for owners of the game.
"We announced on December 14, 2023 that after almost a decade of support, we would be decommissioning The Crew 1 on 31st March 2024," a Ubisoft spokesperson told Eurogamer earlier this year. (The company has declined to comment on this new legal action.)
"While we understand this may be disappointing for players, it was necessary due to server infrastructure and licensing constraints."
Ubisoft's decision helped spark the Stop Killing Games campaign, which aims to end the practice of publishers "destroying" video games after their sale to customers.
379,280 people have since signed a petition to the EU that calls for measures to ensure games remain playable get legal backing - specifically, that games remain in a working state with an offline mode when publisher support does wind down.
Ubisoft subsequently committed to providing offline modes for The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest, which will be playable if (more likely, when) those games also get their servers switched off.
While there's no suggestion game publishers will be required to keep online servers active forever, there does seem to be a greater acknowledgement that consumers lack awareness of what they are acquiring when buying a game.
Steam now warns customers they're only buying a license when paying for a game, for example, as fresh California legislation requires storefronts to make it clear customers are only buying a license for digital content rather than outright owning it.
In the meantime, Eurogamer spoke to a group of The Crew fans taking matters into their own hands by attempting to use mods to bring the game back online using private servers.