Ubisoft revokes players’ licenses to The Crew, removes game from libraries

The Crew has been a sore subject for a lot of gamers recently. The title was abruptly delisted in December, and its servers were taken down on March 31, 2024. These actions angered several fans, many of whom were still actively playing the game.

Now, it seems things have gotten worse as players have reported the game has been removed from their libraries entirely.

After The Crew was delisted, the game was pulled from every storefront, and the title became officially unplayable. However, some players could still play it using private servers. Unfortunately, even that is no longer feasible as players have reported that Ubisoft has made the game inaccessible on their Ubisoft Connect libraries, their licenses have been revoked, and the game has now moved to the “inactive games” section. This makes it now impossible to download and install the game properly.

In a recent Reddit thread, several players pointed out how unacceptable this change is and how this move by Ubisoft could force the passage of new digital consumer protection laws, especially in France, which has strict consumer protection laws.

“With this move, Ubisoft seems to be begging for digital consumer protection legislation to be passed. In an ideal world, revoking a license like this should entitle the buyer to a refund,” said a user.

Another opined, “Revoking a purchased license like this is really playing with fire, if the right people get the right amount of pissed off and test their EULA in court I don’t think Ubi is coming out of that one without a serious smackdown. It’s one thing to say, ‘We can take the license whenever we want’ but it’s a completely different thing to actually do it.”

In response to Eurogamer on why it has decided to revoke user licenses, Ubisoft responded by reiterating its initial announcement about The Crew’s delisting. “We announced on Dec. 14, 2023 that after almost a decade of support, we would be decommissioning The Crew 1 on Mar. 31, 2024,” it said. “While we understand this may be disappointing for players, it was necessary due to server infrastructure and licensing constraints.”

The Crew‘s delisting sparked outrage among fans, prompting YouTuber Ross Scott. Scott to launch a public pressure campaign called Stop Killing Games to prevent more companies from making purchased products completely unavailable for players.

In recent news, a player was able to get a refund from Ubisoft after purchasing The Crew Gold Edition in February 2015. Now, players are being prompted to refund the title since it is no longer accessible.