With lower than two months left to go in 2024, Ubisoft’s nightmare yr continues at full velocity.
This time round, the corporate is the goal of a lawsuit by disgruntled Californian players, in an episode that highlights the significance of the possession versus licensing debate within the gaming trade.
The French gaming large put the racing recreation The Crew to sleep on March 31 of this yr, killing all servers and eradicating it from all digital storefronts.
When Ubisoft first introduced the shutdown in December 2023, it supplied refunds for purchases made not too long ago, however this was not a lot use for gamers who had been having fun with The Crew since its 2014 launch.
A spokesman from the corporate stated the choice was “as a result of server and licensing constraints”.
Whereas servers for outdated video games taking place is nothing particular, what makes the Ubisoft strategy to The Crew so insulting is that they didn’t go away an offline model of the sport.
In accordance with the lawsuit, the truth that bodily copies of the sport can’t run regardless of being marketed as having all the sport information violates California shopper safety legal guidelines.
One other key facet of the submitting is that Ubisoft misled gamers into considering they had been buying the sport itself, fairly than a license.
As of at the moment, the players are pending court docket approval to escalate the lawsuit into a category motion one, in hopes of giving gamers financial compensation for the influence of the servers shutting down.
Possession versus Licensing
The dialog over whether or not gamers are licensing or buying a recreation is at a crucial level.
In September, California adopted laws AB 2426, which bans digital storefronts from utilizing phrases comparable to “purchase” and “buy” as they indicate possession of the product.
The exception to that is if the sport provides the choice to be completely performed offline.
Within the European Union, a petition known as Cease Destroying Videogames is closing on the 400,00 signatures mark, calling for any recreation bought inside the bloc’s jurisdiction to have an obligation to remain completely practical.
It’s early days for the Californian lawsuit, and the European petition wants to succeed in 1,000,000 signatures to enter motion, however the overarching theme is obvious: players are bored with dropping video games over another person’s issues.
