Not content with being lambasted by the gaming community for completely shutting down The Crew, which sparked the movement Stop Killing Games, Ubisoft has sneakily amended its EULA (End User License Agreement) with the following lines:
8. TERMINATION.
…this EULA will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with any of the terms and conditions of this EULA. Upon termination for any reason, You must immediately uninstall the Product and destroy all copies of the Product in Your possession.
Blah, blah…Who reads EULAs anyway? It seems that someone does.
The Crew
For some backstory, The Crew was launched by Ubisoft in September 2014 as an online-only arcade racing game. I bought it on Steam some eight years ago when it came on sale, along with all its DLC (downloadable content/extras). At the time, I didn’t realise it was an online-only game, yet I thoroughly enjoyed it, putting in about 70 hours of dramatic racing around the entire USA. The game was shut down in March 2024 with Ubisoft citing ‘server infrastructure and licensing constraints‘ or some other such bullshit, so we can no longer play it at all.
In fact, I wrote about this last year in You Don’t Own Your Video Games!
This provoked an immediate discussion about the legalities of software licenses and where we stand as consumers. It’s well known that when we buy a game or other software, we are simply buying a license to use that software or game. But what happens if or when a developer goes under, or, as Ubisoft has suggested, your license is revoked for being naughty? Or the game is delisted?
Note: The Last Played date in the above screenshot is when I last attempted to play The Crew! It never will play again…
Will Men In Black Be Paying Me A Visit?
Upon termination for any reason, You must immediately uninstall the Product and destroy all copies of the Product in Your possession
Well, I’ve got news for you, Ubisoft. I have no intention of deleting or indeed destroying any games in my possession, especially The Crew. Even if you revoke any licenses that you deem I have violated, I still won’t remove, uninstall, or destroy them. So you’ll have to send the heavy mob around to my place so that we can have a fireside chat over a nice cup of tea.
The fact is that Ubisoft is universally hated by most gamers for numerous reasons, not least its truly awful Connect game platform, so you would have thought that a small gesture of an offline mode for The Crew would repair that rift. But no, instead the company gave us offline mode for The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest, both of which I bought last year, but quickly refunded because they were so crap. Then the company doubles down with that line in the EULA.
Or, as they say in East London – “You’re ‘avin a laff, ain’t ya?”
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