The closure of Ubisoft’s racing game, The Crew, on March 31st marked the end of an era for players who enjoyed the experience. After this date, launching the game only led to a splash screen followed by an error message due to the servers being offline. This move left players disappointed and frustrated, as their access to a game they had purchased was suddenly cut off without warning.
To add insult to injury, Ubisoft decided to take the unprecedented step of revoking licenses for The Crew from players who had purchased the game. This meant that the game was removed from their library, leaving players unable to download or install it again. The game was moved to a new section in their Ubisoft Connect libraries called ‘Inactive Games,’ where it served as a painful reminder of the lost gaming experience.
When questioned about this drastic decision, Ubisoft pointed to an earlier announcement where they explained that the closure of The Crew was necessary due to server infrastructure and licensing constraints. While this may have been a logical explanation from a business standpoint, it did little to appease the disgruntled players who felt cheated out of a game they had paid for.
The closure of The Crew had far-reaching consequences beyond just the inability to play the game. The reliance on online servers meant that even players with physical editions of the game were unable to enjoy it. The hope that the community could create fan servers to keep the game alive was dashed when Ubisoft removed the game from player libraries, making it nearly impossible to reverse engineer.
In response to the closure of The Crew and similar instances of games being taken away from players, YouTuber Ross Scott launched the Stop Killing Games initiative. This movement aims to mobilize grassroots pressure on governments and regulators to protect players’ rights over digital products. It highlights the importance of ownership and access to games that players have paid for, urging for a change in how the gaming industry handles game closures.
The closure of The Crew serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of digital ownership in the gaming world. Players invest time and money into these games, only to have them disappear without warning. The aftermath of The Crew’s closure is a call to action for both players and industry stakeholders to reevaluate how games are managed and ensure that players’ rights are protected in the digital age.
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