While Ubisoft revoked player licenses for the original The Crew all the way back in April 2024, the act continues to haunt the company. According to French publication 20 Minutes, the company has become the target of a new lawsuit by consumer protection association UFC-Que Choisir. The lawsuit was announced on March 31st, and revolves around Ubisoft’s “deceptive” business practices and “abusive terms” with regard to The Crew.
The lawsuit was filed with the Créteil court, and the consumer association has said that it is (via machine translation) “unacceptable that Ubisoft considers, in its general conditions, that players only acquire a ‘license to use’ the game which would then be revocable at any time by the publisher.” UFC-Que Choisir’s lawsuit is being backed by Europe-wide consumer initiative Stop Killing Games. UFC-Que Choisir lawyer Brune Blanc-Durand called the case of The Crew “a particularly clear legal case study,” in a statement to the AFP.
Ubisoft is no stranger when it comes to lawsuits regarding the 2014 racing game at this point. The company had already been the subject of legal action in the US state of California, alleging that Ubisoft had violated consumer protection laws in the state. A lawyer for the company argued that there wasn’t a case, since the plaintiffs didn’t have ownership of the game.
“Frustrated with Ubisoft’s recent decision to retire the game following a notice period delineated on the product’s packaging, Plaintiffs apply a kitchen sink approach on behalf of a putative class of nationwide customers, alleging eight causes of action including violations of California’s False Advertising Law, Unfair Competition Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act, as well as common law fraud and breach of warranty claims,” wrote Ubisoft’s lawyers in a statement.
CEO Yves Guillemot was asked about the Stop Killing Games campaign, having caught on quite a bit and getting well over 1.4 million signatures. He called the subject of games being killed off an industry-wide issue.
“Regarding the petition, we operate in a market,” Guillemot said about the petition. “And, whenever we release a game, we provide a lot of support for that game. We also provide a lot of services to make sure that the game is accessible and remains playable 24/7.”
He also pointed to the company’s standard terms of service, which state that “Ubisoft may cancel access to one or more specific online features upon a 30-day prior notice.” Along with this, he noted that there was plenty of “information regarding the game and how long the game can be played”. At the same time, Ubisoft had put The Crew 2 on a massive discount, which Guillemot called “a one-Euro fee proposed to all buyers of the game. For just one Euro they got to buy the next version.”
“It’s not a whole lot of money to be able to continue playing a game,” he said.
“But this kind of issue is not specific to Ubisoft,” continued Guillemot. “All video game publishers are faced with that issue. You provide a service, but nothing is written in stone and at some point the service may be discontinued. Nothing is eternal. And we are doing our best to make sure that things go well for all players and buyers, because obviously support for all games cannot last forever.”
