Ubisoft Reiterates That Gamers Don't Own the Games They Buy

The legal disputes around The Crew have reached a new level. This time, Ubisoft representatives have spoken out against a lawsuit filed by players from California, who accused the company of illegally shutting down the racing servers.

The main complaint of gamers is that the company initially sold the project with full ownership of the game, so for many, the announcement of the closure of The Crew was unpleasant news. In response, Ubisoft lawyers continued to insist that players misinterpreted the agreement, and that purchasing a copy only provides access to a limited license.

Recall that on March 31, 2024, The Crew servers were officially disabled, and owners of copies lost access even to the single-player campaign. What happened caused a storm of indignation — as a result, California passed a law requiring trading platforms like Steam to indicate that when buying a game, users are buying only a license, and not the project itself. Ubisoft also agreed to compensate some players, but only those who purchased the race shortly before the closure.

However, the Californian gamers are not going to give up yet. In response to Ubisoft's lawyers, the plaintiffs presented boxes with a physical edition of The Crew, which stated that the activation code was valid until 2099. As stated in the complaint, this implies that The Crew should have remained available for a long time. Now the company has until April 29 to respond.

Recall that Ubisoft recently opened a new subsidiary, 25% of whose stocks will belong to Tencent. The unnamed company will work with key franchises such as Assassin's Creed and Far Cry.