Over the weekend, fans of Ubisoft games underwent a minor panic as a rumor spread that Ubisoft might be spontaneously deleting inactive Ubisoft accounts, permanently destroying digital game libraries if users didn't log on often enough. However, Ubisoft has now clarified that users' digital game libraries are safe.
In 2021, I got an email that said: “We have temporarily suspended your inactive Ubisoft account and will be closing it permanently in 30 days in accordance with our Terms of Use.” - And my account had two games at the time.
Just curious: Had you purchased those games, or had you claimed them for free as giveaways? If you purchased them, it appears to contradict Ubisoft’s statement in the article, so that would be meaningful to know.
Oh I’m sure in the ToS it mentions that we don’t own anything and they have the right to cut access whenever they want for any reason and that you can’t sue them for it
I’m not a lawyer, but I vaguely remember hearing that Terms of Service can’t protect a company from everything. I seriously doubt a company could get away with that when it was brought to court.
Of course, but OP brought up that they couldn’t be sued. I was just pointing out that if someone was willing to test it, I bet they could come out on top.
Ubisoft reserves the right to terminate Ubisoft+ or any of the Ubisoft+ Services, at any time and for any reason, with at least thirty (30) day notice to you.
And yep:
you waive any right to a trial (by judge or jury), you waive any right to participate as a member of a class in a class action or similar proceeding
If it wasn’t in the terms and they deleted your account, what would you do? And would that action be different than if account deletion was outlined in a terms agreement?
Pretty sure you don’t own ANY games anymore, unless you fully pirate them. The physical discs aren’t big enough to have the full game and really contain the license to play, which is why downloads and updates are prevalent before you get to play on most systems.
Is this correct or have I read incorrectly online?
If I’m correct, then my point is really that if players let this stand then a company can do anything to any game you’ve “bought”.
Depends. Some console games contain the entirety of the game. However oftentimes they still might require a system update to play, which won’t be available forever.
Their response is such bullshit. If it didn’t blow up on socials, they absolutely without a doubt would have done it, and even now they say they won’t, but their automated systems claim otherwise
Then they should state that in the Terms of Use, where they grant themselves permission to terminate if the “Account has been inactive for more than six months.” (Or better yet, remove the clause entirely.)
An email claim that they won’t enforce that clause does not make it okay.
This is the basis of the ASUS warranty issues recently when they had exploding AM5 motherboards and vague text about EXPO support voiding warranty, painting themselves into a corner when they only had unsupported firmware that would technically void warranty.
It doesn’t matter that the company says “Oh we won’t enforce that rule” but they still keep the rule in place.
The important takeaway here is not if they do that or not, it’s that people absolutely took it for granted that they would. That’s the message here’s Ubisoft
I’m sure most people will assume the lying party to be Ubisoft: They claim accounts holding games are not eligible for deletion. Given their reputation, I don’t blame people for assuming this; but I also never theorized any kind of greedy reason why they’d do that.
The other possibility is that the person who first posted the email about their account deletion is a liar - and omitted the fact that they did not have any games on their account (essentially having made it and never used it, and had no games to lose but still whined about it).
I’m maybe more ambivalent; mostly, I’m trying to picture how hard it is for companies to navigate the labyrinth that is EU law. “Right to be forgotten” regulations are certainly a confusing legislation. Ironic that they claim (perhaps untruthfully) that this was to comply with GDPR, and people were insisting that deleting accounts was ALSO against EU consumer regulations.
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TL;DR They won’t delete an account that contains purchased games.
In 2021, I got an email that said: “We have temporarily suspended your inactive Ubisoft account and will be closing it permanently in 30 days in accordance with our Terms of Use.” - And my account had two games at the time.
Just curious: Had you purchased those games, or had you claimed them for free as giveaways? If you purchased them, it appears to contradict Ubisoft’s statement in the article, so that would be meaningful to know.
Purchased! I had Steep and Star Trek Bridge Crew in my account at the time.
This was two years ago, mind, Ubis terms might have changed since then.
Pretty sure if they were doing that it would be a field day for lawsuits.
Oh I’m sure in the ToS it mentions that we don’t own anything and they have the right to cut access whenever they want for any reason and that you can’t sue them for it
I’m not a lawyer, but I vaguely remember hearing that Terms of Service can’t protect a company from everything. I seriously doubt a company could get away with that when it was brought to court.
yeah but proving that would cost more than any of us could ever afford
That’s what class actions are for
Don’t worry, they got it covered:
Of course, but OP brought up that they couldn’t be sued. I was just pointing out that if someone was willing to test it, I bet they could come out on top.
Yep
And yep:
If it wasn’t in the terms and they deleted your account, what would you do? And would that action be different than if account deletion was outlined in a terms agreement?
I doubt it would tbh. It’s more or less equivalent to Nintendo shutting down the eshop, or an MMO terminating its online service.
You do not own digital games, you own a license to use a service that may or may not be provided to you.
Hmm.
Pretty sure you don’t own ANY games anymore, unless you fully pirate them. The physical discs aren’t big enough to have the full game and really contain the license to play, which is why downloads and updates are prevalent before you get to play on most systems.
Is this correct or have I read incorrectly online?
If I’m correct, then my point is really that if players let this stand then a company can do anything to any game you’ve “bought”.
Depends. Some console games contain the entirety of the game. However oftentimes they still might require a system update to play, which won’t be available forever.
So yeah, you don’t really own anything.
Or if you buy them on GOG
Nah, too late. We’ll sail the high seas when it comes to your games, because first you tried it, now we see this policy can change on a whim.
I bet it got tons of people log back into their accounts and update their security, but that’s me being optimistic.
Their response is such bullshit. If it didn’t blow up on socials, they absolutely without a doubt would have done it, and even now they say they won’t, but their automated systems claim otherwise
Nah it’s just outrage bait. It’s come up before many years ago.
I would be surprised if most online services don’t have similar language to outline an ability to remove accounts. It would be weird not to.
That was an attempt…
Then they should state that in the Terms of Use, where they grant themselves permission to terminate if the “Account has been inactive for more than six months.” (Or better yet, remove the clause entirely.)
An email claim that they won’t enforce that clause does not make it okay.
Any service out there has the ability to delete your account whether that ability is outlined in some terms somewhere or not.
If you are truly afraid that a company will delete your account randomly, then I suggest only using services you have complete control over.
This is the basis of the ASUS warranty issues recently when they had exploding AM5 motherboards and vague text about EXPO support voiding warranty, painting themselves into a corner when they only had unsupported firmware that would technically void warranty.
It doesn’t matter that the company says “Oh we won’t enforce that rule” but they still keep the rule in place.
The important takeaway here is not if they do that or not, it’s that people absolutely took it for granted that they would. That’s the message here’s Ubisoft
So, somebody’s a liar.
I’m sure most people will assume the lying party to be Ubisoft: They claim accounts holding games are not eligible for deletion. Given their reputation, I don’t blame people for assuming this; but I also never theorized any kind of greedy reason why they’d do that.
The other possibility is that the person who first posted the email about their account deletion is a liar - and omitted the fact that they did not have any games on their account (essentially having made it and never used it, and had no games to lose but still whined about it).
I’m maybe more ambivalent; mostly, I’m trying to picture how hard it is for companies to navigate the labyrinth that is EU law. “Right to be forgotten” regulations are certainly a confusing legislation. Ironic that they claim (perhaps untruthfully) that this was to comply with GDPR, and people were insisting that deleting accounts was ALSO against EU consumer regulations.
I could: Increases average account activity for shareholder evaluation.