Two California-based gamers are suing Ubisoft over the publisher’s 2014 racing title, The Crew. Per Polygon, the lawsuit came about as a result of Ubisoft shutting the game’s servers down earlier this year in March. The publisher’s reason for discontinuing The Crew‘s servers was due to “server infrastructure and licensing constraints.”
However, The Crew was an online-only game. Once those servers were shut down, the game was entirely unplayable as there wasn’t an offline, single-player alternative. Ubisoft did offer refunds, but that only applied to people who had “recently” purchased the game. This, unfortunately, disqualified many players who bought the game years prior from getting their money back.
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The lawsuit, which can be found here, was filed on November 4 and reviewed by Polygon. Within it, lawyers wrote in defense of the two plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit. “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 lawsuit states.
ubisoft is sued by two gamers over ‘the crew’
“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 continues. The two plaintiffs are trying to get the court to approve the lawsuit as a class action. This would allow other The Crew players to join the lawsuit against Ubisoft.
This lawsuit comes after a surging movement to preserve video games long after they’re initially released. To many, once a game is purchased, a company doesn’t have the right to then make that game unavailable to players who, in theory, “own” the game. There are many ambiguous legalities involved in what consumers are “purchasing” when they buy any one game. That’s an ongoing issue made all the more complicated by the prospect of an all-digital gaming future.
We’ll have to see what happens as developments in the ongoing dispute are made available.
