Ubisoft has again argued that players buying video games shouldn’t expect to own the game forever.
This argument stems from Ubisoft‘s decision to shut down The Crew last year. In December 2023, the publisher quietly delisted The Crew from digital storefronts and confirmed that the online-only game would no longer be playable as of April 2024.
“After almost a decade of support, we will be decommissioning The Crew 1 on March 31, 2024,” it said at the time. “We understand this may be disappointing for players still enjoying the game, but it is necessary due to upcoming server infrastructure and licensing constraints.”
Two players impacted by the shutdown launched legal action against Ubisoft, accusing Ubisoft of violating California consumer protection laws.
At the time, the plaintiffs claimed that Ubisoft misled players “by telling them they were buying a game, when in fact, all they were renting was a limited license to access a game that Defendants choose to maintain at their own noblesse oblige”.
The plaintiffs also claimed the product’s packaging “falsely represented that The Crew itself was encoded onto physical disks consumers could buy or the digital files consumers could pay to download”, when in fact “the physical disks and downloaded files consumers paid for were more akin to a key they could use to open the gates of this remote server, which Defendants could one day decide to fail to maintain”.
Now, as spotted by Polygon, Ubisoft is attempting to get the lawsuit thrown out, arguing that players should have never expected to own the online-only game indefinitely, even if they purchased a physical copy.
“Frustrated with Ubisoft’s recent decision to retire the game following a notice period delineated on the product’s packaging, Plaintiffs apply a kitchen sink approach on behalf of a putative class of nationwide customers, alleging eight causes of action including violations of California’s False Advertising Law, Unfair Competition Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act, as well as common law fraud and breach of warranty claims,” Ubisoft’s lawyers wrote.
Ubisoft claims that players should have had no expectation that they were purchasing “unfettered ownership rights in the game”.
In an amended complaint from March, the plaintiffs claim that Ubisoft used activation codes for the game with a 2099 expiry (suggesting the game would be around long-term), and that Ubisoft further broke California law by allowing gift cards to expire, something that isn’t legally allowed to happen in the state. The plaintiffs claim that The Crew’s currency system meets the legal requirements to be considered a gift card. Ubisoft has until April 29 to respond.
In response to fan backlash last September, Ubisoft announced plans to launch offline modes for The Crew 2 and The Crew: Motorfest.
“We want to acknowledge that some of you voiced concern about the access to The Crew games,” said Stéphane Beley, senior creative director of the franchise at Ivory Tower.
“Today, we want to express our commitment to the future of The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest. We are currently exploring different solutions, and can confirm an offline mode to ensure long-term access to both titles.”
