Alert, disappearing video games. Many months ago, Ubisoft announced the end of the game’s servers The Crew. Released in 2014, it allowed 12 million players to take part in online car races. But, on April 1, the publisher turned off the lights, and the players realized the terms of application of this decision: it is completely impossible to start the game.
In the program bringing together Ubisoft computer games, The Crew appears in an “idle games” section, and it is impossible to start it. On social networks, many players were outraged at no longer having access to a product that they had paid for. Many also miss the time when the physical format and the absence of an Internet connection would have prevented this from happening.
A 100% legal practice
However, this practice is completely legal. It is even provided for in the conditions of use (the famous text that everyone accepts without reading). “Indeed, in reality, when a player buys or downloads a video game, he generally acquires a license to use the software rather than ownership of the game as such,” explains Maître Antoine Cheron, associate lawyer at ACBM law firm. specialized in intellectual property law. The publisher is therefore entirely free to “make updates, fixes, additions of content, or even withdraw the game from the market, at its discretion”.
A publisher may decide to terminate a game because it has released another version, due to copyright issues, or even if there are no longer enough players for the operation to be profitable. But these prerogatives are not limited to the end of life of the games. Particularly in online multiplayer games, the terms of use also establish a number of rules of conduct to be observed. “Video game publishers have the possibility of restricting access to a game, particularly online, in the event of violation of the terms of the license such as piracy, cheating, or non-compliance with the rules of conduct, or simply for technical reasons such as server maintenance or correction of bugs present in the game,” specifies the lawyer.
“Stop Killing Games”
But if The Crew was a multiplayer game, what point would there have been in launching it after the end of the servers? For example, several fans would have liked to be able to continue on private servers. A project, ” The Crew Offline + Online server emulation”, was even under development by the community.
American YouTuber Ross Scott decided to launch a petition on the site “ Stop Killing Games “. “Due to the scale of the game and the importance of consumer protection laws in France, this represents one of the best opportunities yet to hold a publisher accountable for its actions,” he wrote. The community even dreams of asking several governments to modify their legislation in order to “prohibit the practice of making commercially available video games inaccessible when the publisher’s support ends”. German MEP Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) even plans to raise the subject in the European Parliament.
An initiative which has little chance of succeeding: “From a legal point of view, players being considered as simple users devoid of any property rights over the game itself, it is impossible for them to challenge Ubisoft’s decision revoke access to the game servers The Crew, insists Antoine Chéron. This situation nonetheless remains regrettable for fans, who cannot even hope to obtain a refund for the game following this decision. » Only option for now: go back to checkout and buy a more recent episode of the series, like The Crew Motorfestreleased in September 2023.