Nov 12, 2024 15:00:00

Major game maker Ubisoft faces class action lawsuit from users dissatisfied with the termination of online game service

Ubisoft , a major French game maker that develops popular games such as the Assassin's Creed series and the Rainbow Six series, ended service for the open-world racing game The Crew in March 2024. Two disgruntled gamers are suing Ubisoft.

Ubisoft targeted in fraud lawsuit over The Crew's shutdown | Polygon
https://www.polygon.com/gaming/476979/ubisoft-the-crew-shut-down-lawsuit-class-action

Ubisoft Facing Lawsuit Over Shutting Down Always Online Game
https://kotaku.com/ubisoft-killing-games-the-crew-lawsuit-shutdown-offline-1851695302

The Crew is an open-world racing game released by Ubisoft in December 2014. Several series have already been released, and the latest in the series , The Crew: Motorsfest , was released in September 2023.

'The Crew: Motor Fest' Launch Gameplay Trailer-YouTube


Meanwhile, in December 2023, nine years after the release of the first game in the series, 'The Crew,' Ubisoft announced the end of service for the title. As a result, 'The Crew' will be removed from all online game stores, and online play will end on March 31, 2024.

Ubisoft explained the reason for the end of service, saying, 'While this will be disappointing for players who are still enjoying the title, upcoming server infrastructure and licensing constraints have made this unavoidable. Shutting down a title, especially the first in a series, is something we do not take lightly. Our goal is to provide players with the best action driving game experience, and we will continue to support new content for The Crew 2 and The Crew: Motorsfest to achieve this goal.'

However, two gamers living in California, USA, filed a class action lawsuit following the termination of The Crew's service. The lawsuit filed in a California court states, 'Imagine buying a pinball machine, trying to play at home a few years later only to find that all the paddles, pinballs, and bumpers are gone, and even the monitor that displays your highest score is gone,' and 'The pinball machine manufacturer breaks into your home, empties the inside of the pinball machine, and makes it impossible to play the machine you thought you owned.'

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim they were deceived in two ways. First, Ubisoft misled players into believing they had purchased the game when in fact they had merely acquired a license, even though they had purchased a physical disc. Second, Ubisoft misrepresented that The Crew's game files were on the disc and freely accessible, and that the disc was not merely a key to play the game. Based on these, the plaintiffs claim that Ubisoft violated California's consumer protection law.

The two gamers who filed the class action lawsuit purchased The Crew in 2018 and 2020. The reason they purchased the physical disc version was because they thought they could always play the game offline with the physical disc even if the online service was terminated. The plaintiffs argue that if they had known that the game would no longer be playable with the physical disc version due to the end of the service, they would 'never have purchased the physical disc version.'

The lawsuit also points out that when Ubisoft announced similar service closures for titles such as

Knockout City , Assassin's Creed II, and Assassin's Creed III, the online servers were shut down but the games were patched to be playable offline. In response to these criticisms, Ubisoft has promised to add offline versions to The Crew 2 and The Crew: Motorfest, but the plaintiffs argue that this does not resolve the issues in this lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are urging the court to recognize the lawsuit as a class action and are seeking monetary relief and damages for players affected by the service shutdown.

This lawsuit is not the only one to show resentment against the end of The Crew. YouTuber Ross Scott's 'Stop Killing Games' campaign criticizes the practice of game makers terminating the service of games that have already been sold to players, rendering them unplayable. The campaign is petitioning European Union regulators to require game makers to keep their games playable even after online services are terminated. At the time of writing, 'Stop Killing Games' has collected 379,000 signatures.

What is the 'Stop Killing Games' movement that was launched in response to the end of Ubisoft's 'The Crew' service, which claims that 'it is wrong to be unable to play games due to the end of the service'? - GIGAZINE

The digitalization of media has made the question of whether a user owns a game or a license to play it more ambiguous. To solve this problem, California Governor Gavin Newsom has just signed a bill that requires online game stores to 'clearly communicate to consumers that they are selling a license, not the game itself.' California Assemblyman Jackie Irwin, who introduced the bill, said she was inspired by the service termination issue of 'The Crew.'

California to enact law banning 'Purchase' buttons on digital content that will never be available - GIGAZINE

Furthermore, this law is merely intended to clarify the ownership status of digital content, and does not have the power to fundamentally solve the problem.