Full title: Ubisoft says you “cannot complain” it shut down The Crew because you never actually owned it, and you weren’t “deceived” by the lack of an offline version “to access a decade-old, discontinued video game”

Ubisoft’s lawyers have responded to a class action lawsuit over the shutdown of The Crew, arguing that it was always clear that you didn’t own the game and calling for a dismissal of the case outright.

The class action was filed in November 2024, and Ubisoft’s response came in February 2025, though it’s only come to the public’s attention now courtesy of Polygon. The full response from Ubisoft attorney Steven A. Marenberg picks apart the claims of plaintiffs Matthew Cassell and Alan Liu piece by piece, but the most common refrain is that The Crew’s box made clear both that the game required an internet connection and that Ubisoft retained the right to revoke access “to one or more specific online features” with a 30-day notice at its own discretion.

I Cast Fist
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879d

Let’s see if the physical disc once said anything about needing an online connection for single play. Oh look, it did not, the subscription required was only for 2-8 players network play.

Let’s compare with Destiny 2’s back cover, a game that is a MMO and thus “cannot be owned” by the players. Hey, a “Online Play (Required)*” sticker that is not present on The Crew! The fine print has a bit that states that “Activision makes no guarantee of regarding availability of online play or features, and may modify or discontinue online services at its discretion without notice.”

FF14 also had a “Online Play (Required)*” sticker on its back cover. It clearly states on the rectangular bit above the T Rating: “Users are granted only a limited, revocable license and do not own any intellectual property in the game or game data”

You deceived consumers, Ubisoft. “Online Play Required” is not there, so the game should remain playable offline.

@[email protected]
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-109d

Technically right but the game required network access to play anyways so I’m not sure that people were deceived by this as it happened.

@[email protected]
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18d

Which was a deception in the first place, because it clearly distinguishes between ‘1 player’ where it doesn’t say anything about needing a network connection, and 2-8 player where it says network and playstation plus required. It also says network features can be removed at any time, but nowhere does it say 1 player is a network feature. It specifically does not say that.

@[email protected]
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18d

Why weren’t people upset when they first bought the game and realized they needed to be online to play it then? Why did it only become a talking point after the fact? You could argue it was shitty to make it a network only game and I might agree, but to say people were deceived and didnt realize it couldn’t be played offline until the servers were shutdown is absurd.

@[email protected]
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18d

They probably were upset, but not upset enough to do anything about it because they still wanted to play it. I personally would have refunded it right away, and lots of people probably also did that.

@[email protected]
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17d

Sounds pretty fair to me.

@[email protected]
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99d

Did you like, not read any of the comment you’re replying to? Click any of the picture links?

@[email protected]
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-59d

I did and have read about it and disagree. I dont think anyone was tricked and thought they’d have the crew forever. This all seems very self entitled in my opinion. Point out any technicalities that you want to, people should have expected the game to be sunset eventually, and that it would be gone after that, just like every other online only game.

@[email protected]
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139d

☝️ This guy lawyers

@[email protected]
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12
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9d

You deceived consumers, Ubisoft.

Ubisoft is being fucked on consumer protection grounds, not on false advertisement. It doesn’t matter what they said on box, they broke the law.

EDIT: fuck, this is USSA lawsuit. I thought it was French(and EU in general) one.

@[email protected]
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249d

Looks like I’ll be pirating Black Flag for my next replay.

@[email protected]
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198d

Some call it piracy when you download games, movies, music, software or books. I call it an online public library. In 2003 I used to get video games from the public library, install them on my PC and play them. You had to have the disk in your CD drive to play the game so when the game was due back at the library you could return or renew it. If game makers don’t provide hard copies then downloading is no different than using the library.

@[email protected]
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1709d

Ubisoft you can’t complain if I pirate your games, because I never actually bought them and you weren’t deceived by a lack of purchase.

@[email protected]
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61
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9d

Hijacking.

Are you European Union Citizen? Do you like games?

Do you want to own games again? and not just “License” them? Then please join the Stop destroying Videogames Initiative.

Initiative - https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2024/000007_en

(Only sign if you are a EU citizen!)

It’s an initiative to get the European parliament to discuss the matter all together, and Iirc, it already has some members that support it. (So It’s not just any ordinary petition that will go nowhere.)

We have already collected 42% of the 1 million signatures from European citizens required. But the deadline is June 2025 and if we don’t get enough signatures by then, it won’t be looked at by the European commission. So to at least get the matter to be discussed, please sign!

(ONLY FOR European Union citizens! No one else! Please do not sign if you aren’t an EU citizen. Also No Brits! there’s another initiative for the UK.)

Short video explainer about the initiative - https://youtu.be/mkMe9MxxZiI

For more info visit https://www.stopkillinggames.com/

You can also view the petitions for other countries - (Australia, Canada, UK, Brazil… and more)

@[email protected]
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-349d

ONLY FOR European Union citizens! No Brits!

signs anyways…is American

@[email protected]
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46
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9d

No, please don’t sign if you are American. That can harm the petition with false signatures.

This is strictly ONLY for European union citizens!

Don’t worry, you can still help by spreading the message among your EU friends or family members(You don’t have to be a gamer to care about this or vote in this!). A lot of the exposure to this initiative is lacking when it comes to non-english speaking EU citizens. You can help there.

@[email protected]
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139d

reads a request… doesn’t care… is American 🇺🇸

yeehaw
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219d

This is the correct response.

@[email protected]
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228d

If they don’t sell the game but a long term rental license, then they should not say “we’ve sold 1234557890 copies of <game>”.

@[email protected]
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-88d

The thing is with MMOs or online only games do you have a valid expectation of the game surviving forever?

@[email protected]
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8d

It was deliberate choice by them to make even the single player campaign online homie. It ain’t an mmo, and it never should have been built like this.

Don’t even play like that wasnt fucked up, ok? If your actual argument is “i think companies should get to do what they want” them say that, with your whole chest, not this Weak socratic-method-bootlick-bull…

Take that stand and defend it. Or you could also stfu

@[email protected]
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-88d

It was deliberate choice by them to make even the single player campaign online homie.

As one would expect from an online racing game. Anyone buying it would know in advance that single player offline modes do not exist when they bought the game.

It ain’t an mmo, and it never should have been built like this.

It kind of was and it was intended to work as it did by the company that made it.

If your actual argument is “i think companies should get to do what they want”

My argument us that this is a game designed to be played online only. When you bought the game the packaging/materials do not talk about offline play so you shouldn’t expect it to work in a way it expressly isn’t designed to do. Adults should be aware of what things do when they buy them.

@[email protected]
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8d

It ain’t an mmo, and it never should have been built like this.

It kind of was and it was intended to work as it did by the company that made it.

Adults don’t dance around semantics in debate when they’re called out. I told you to stand up and this is your response? Mebbe you’re not even hidin! Maybe it’s the only way you can talk?

I guess you disagree, but I find your speech pattern embarrassing and tiring.

Be better eh? For me

@[email protected]
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-28d

Your perspective seems to be you should get whatever you want regardless of the actual product you were sold and the terms of that sale. That’s not rational. You bought an online only game. If you wanted a single player offline mode to exist then you should have bought a game that had one.

@[email protected]
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08d

removed by mod

Dremor
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mod
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0
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8d

Pretending authority is your only tactic. As the likely old-head here I deny you my permission to “be the adult in the room”

Call out use of argument from authority fallacy, call to his own authority instead… Quite ironic.

Well you know what, I call upon the deep magic of rule 2 to remove your message (for the part I didn’t quote, for those who wonder).

roll dice, get a critical failure “well fu…”

Anyway, please stay civil, no matter how heated a debate can become.

@[email protected]
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08d

deleted by creator

yeehaw
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409d

I’ve been avoiding Ubisoft games for quite some time. And blizzard. And a handful of other studios because of these bullshit shenanigans.

@[email protected]
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89d

I wish people would take your stance on GTA 6.

Instead, I’m sure it’ll be like “100 billion copys sold in first hour!”

@[email protected]
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09d

This is why boycott doesn’t work. They copy each other. So, grab pitchforks and torches(EU citizens only).

@[email protected]
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8110d

It may be legal, but it certainly ain’t ethical.

@[email protected]
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3510d

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it.

The Quuuuuill
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21
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9d

i have the legal right to stand on the street corner and call everyone who walks by a stupid slut.

that does not mean i will at no point get punched

@[email protected]
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49d

Really unclear if you’re misquoting Jurassic Park, or if Jurassic Park just universally applies to EVERYTHING.

@[email protected]
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79d

Clever girl finds a way

@[email protected]
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49d

Hang on to your DODGSON OVER HERE!

@[email protected]
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19d

Maybe in developing countries, but in developed world(Europe mostly) it isn’t.

@[email protected]
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9d

That’s why I boycott video games from Ubisoft. I loved and am nostalgic of their previous outstanding games from when it was great - think of Beyond Good and Evil, the original 3 Prince of Persia games and the assassin’s creed games until odyssey(I’m hesitant to include Valhalla, but I’m at witt’s end here as Einar Selvik sang and composed the ost of the game for goodness’ sake). I even paid a (🤮) connect+ subscription that they threatened at some point that some accounts may be lost as per a number of days of innactivity.

But enough is enough, Ubisoft be better prepared to not own a company and be manned by Tencent. As much as I hate even the latter, Ubisoft is a scummy company and needs to be properly grouped in the scummy companies even by allegiance.

I hope the European Citizen’s innitiative for video games passes, in the end. The source code/maintenance of discontinued/stopped projects ought to be maintained by the players and its community.

@[email protected]
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-19d
  1. Boycott doesn’t work, grab pitchforks and torches(EU citizens only).
  2. ECI does not specify method of compliance, so source code is not guaranteed. They might as well just slap address bar and comply.
@[email protected]
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109d

I didn’t play the new Prince of Persia because they wanted you to be logged in to play. It looked good, but there are just too many options for me to put up with shit like Ubisoft.

@[email protected]
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39d

Ubi used to have some neat stuff but post far cry 3 it is just the most generic, worst gameplay slop possible. And avarage person just loves repetetive slop.

@[email protected]
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188d

I think there is an implication that if you buy a game which is online by nature (e.g. an MMO) that the servers can and will shut down eventually. My cupboard is filled with defunct MMOs. And people do not “own” any commercial software per se, they run it under licence.

So I don’t see that Ubisoft has any legal obligation here. But as a good will gesture they really should put the server code in escrow, or open source chunks of it so that games can continue to enjoy life after the company itself has no economic incentive to continue running it.

If buying isn’t owning then sharing isn’t stealing…

By principle I avoid “online required” games.

@[email protected]
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49d

Avoiding doesn’t work, grab pitchforks and torches(EU citizens only).

atro_city
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619d

Don’t like this? Sign the EU petition Stop Killing Games.

@[email protected]
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39d

I wish I could sign. Sadly, not all european citizens are EU citizens.

@[email protected]
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119d

Yea I was thinking about this !

@[email protected]
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168d

This is why I will always have some nostalgia for physical media. I still got CDs I bought in the 90s (which I’ve copied onto my hard drives a long, long time ago) and while they need a like coaxing to work at times, they are forever mine and no one can take them from me.

I was very hesitant to go on steam specifically for their ‘you don’t own shit even if you paid and followed the rules’ garbage.

keen
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128d

Steam is crazy in how it’s still usable and not completely enshittified after existing for so many years. I don’t know how they do it

@[email protected]
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8d

It’s called staying away from venture capital. It really is as simple as that. Because Valve has a lucrative business model they have no need or desire to raise capital from outside investors, therefore there is nobody to squeeze them for value at the expense of their customers.

If you watch Cory Doctorow’s talk where he coined the word “enshittification” he explains how the process works, and it starts with outside investment. Enshittification is just a catchy term for value extraction, from the perspective of the customer.

keen
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38d

Damn, now I understand the hype!

A Blessing From The Lord

@[email protected]
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18d

I bought Star Wars squadrons and it worked for a bit. Now it doesn’t even boot and I don’t know why. Initially it was my shitty anti-virus that was causing the problem, but even after disabling it it doesn’t load.

@[email protected]
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1439d

Ubisoft cannot complain if I pirate their games, because they never actually sold them. And I’m not deceiving them with my intention of never, ever, give them a dime.

Mr Poletski
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449d

Yeah I’d really like to know how this ‘you don’t ever own the game’ fits in with their other line ‘piracy is theft’.

how can you have stolen something if you haven’t actually gotten it?

@[email protected]
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19d

their other line ‘piracy is theft’.

Have they ever said that?

@[email protected]
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39d

Every AAA game company’s have been for 30 years and still currently are arguing this in courts all the time.

The actual public facing employees don’t have to, but sometimes still do, though usually in an unofficial capacity these days.

AA / indie devs are more of a mixed bag. A few will openly say ‘fuck it, pirate it if you can’t afford it, idgaf’, but the majority will denounce piracy if its relevant or if prompted.

@[email protected]
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8d

Every AAA game company’s have been for 30 years and still currently are arguing this in courts all the time.

Are you sure about that? Because it isn’t theft, it’s copyright infringement.

@[email protected]
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8d

copyright infringent is commonly also referred to as IP theft, theft of intellectual property.

unauthorized use, sale, or distribution of ip is ip theft.

when it comes to software, basically , unless your software is distributed under some kind MIT or GPL or other copyleft liscense… all of the software legally is ip, and using it in an unauthorized manner is copyright infringement… which is also referred to as ip theft.

so yes, ip theft is a form of theft, and gaming companies and lawyers and other lawyers have been successfully suing other people and other companies into oblivion over this basically since the industry began.

have you just never head of the term ‘ip theft’?

@[email protected]
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18d

copyright is a type of intellectual property, an area of law distinct from that which covers robbery or theft, offenses related only to tangible property.

@[email protected]
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8d

I mean, I can be as much of a pedant as you and post an unsourced definition of ‘ip theft’ … or maybe you could just admit you’d never heard of the term ‘ip theft’, or are unaware of its use.

Its a pretty commonly used term, especially amongst government regulatory and business organizations, as well as academics who study policy, in the US.

The term itself, its phrasing, is intentionally constructed to frame copyright infringement as a form of theft, stealing something that doesn’t belong to you.

The psychological framing of the term is meant to frame losses from someone committing copyright infringement against you as equivalent to losses from being robbed.

The entire point of the usage of this term is to mold public perception.

Here’s some examples where very prominent US institutions/organizations use some construction or variation of ‘ip theft’ as an umbrella term to refer to all kinds of copyright, trademark and/or patent infringement:

FBI

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/countering-the-growing-intellectual-property-theft-threat

KPMG (huge business consulting group)

https://kpmg.com/us/en/articles/2022/theft-intellectual-property.html

DHS (Homeland Security)

https://www.dhs.gov/intellectual-property-rights

IPRC (Intellectual Property Rights Center)

https://www.iprcenter.gov/

And finally, literally IPTheft.org, which basically functions as an all-in-one training/resource hub that connects business people to all kinds of resources to report when they have suffered… IP theft.

https://www.iptheft.org/

@[email protected]
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18d

I’ve always heard it referred to as infringement, in a legal context. I’m sure game publishers (and music, film, etc.) would like to equate it in the public mind with common theft of physical goods, but it’s all just propaganda.

We’re just playing games with words at this point. The law is pretty clear, that distributing a copyrighted work such as a copy of a video game is illegal. I don’t know why people like to repeat this line, that “if buying a game isn’t owning then piracy isn’t theft.” Maybe it is a moral/ethical argument? It’s not going to help you in court.

@[email protected]
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28d

The entire original comment chain that lead to what I replied to … was all about playing word games with slogans, progoganda, public relations.

The law may be ‘clear’, but it is clearly bullshit.

It is absurdly deferential toward the rights of megacorps and hostile to the rights of consumers.

Laws are supposed to reflect and codify morals and ethics, arise from them… not determine them.

But, as we slip more and more into a cyberpunk dystopia of hypercapitalist megacorps being able to basically just buy legislators, judges and laws, it will become more evident that the government is just entirely a facade directed by them.

This whole article is about a lawsuit in America, you know, the land of the fee, home of the early and very expensive grave?

The place with the ongoing fascist coup that’s dismantling all the government agencies that regulate corporations, after the richest man in the world just bought an election, and more recently openly tried to buy a state judge, and though he didn’t succeed, will likely face no penalty for doing that very obviously illegal thing?

Also, as far as at least acquring a pirated game?

Its not that hard.

Now hosting them? Sharing them?

Yep, you’re right, that’s a bit more difficult… but hey, be clever enough to not get caught, and thats the same as being rich enough to write your own laws.

@[email protected]
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-19d

Playing devil’s advocate here: both lines are consistent with them owning the games. We just rent them for a while, and own nothing. But pirating is taking what they own without paying - i.e. stealing.

@[email protected]
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9d

How did I take it? They still have it. Theft is defined as depriving the owner of property (in most places).

spoiler

bla, bla, copyright infringement

@[email protected]
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89d

You are right you can’t steal something that is not ownable, but paying for the game is what allows you to play so playing without stealing is still breaking their rules. Instead of buy to own they made it pay to play. But that sucks so fuck them anyway

Mr Poletski
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139d

“You wouldn’t download a car”

Fuck you, I would if I could.

@[email protected]
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39d

one can dream

@[email protected]
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29d

though their games aren’t worth playing in the first place

@[email protected]
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29d

On that I disagree, and that’s part of the problem. I do love some of their games, but I’m not going to reward their behavior anymore

@[email protected]
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529d

Sweet. Just giving me more reasons to not buy Ubisoft’s garbage.

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