Ubisoft: Gamers have no right to complain about The Crew closure because they didn’t own the game

Ubisoft shut down the servers of the racing MMO arcade game The Crew, making the game unavailable even to its buyers, last spring, and is still dealing with the consequences of its decision.

Image source: Ubisoft

Recall that in November, a couple of gamers unhappy with the situation with The Crew filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft, accusing the company of violating California consumer protection laws based on two provisions:

• Ubisoft misled consumers into thinking they were buying a game rather than a time-limited license;
• Ubisoft “unfairly claimed” that The Crew discs were not simply a key to the game, but contained files on the media for free access to the product.

As Polygon reports, Ubisoft responded to the gamers’ claims in late February, denying their accusations and saying that they “shouldn’t expect to own an online game forever, even if they purchased a physical copy.”

The Crew includes a single-player campaign, but after the servers were shut down, it too became unavailable

According to Ubisoft, the plaintiffs had no reason to believe that they were acquiring “unlimited ownership rights” to The Crew, rather than a limited-access license – this is stated on the game’s box (the publisher included a photo).

Ubisoft called on the court to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiffs do not have adequate arguments, there is no real damage from the company’s actions, and the statute of limitations for the claims has already expired.

Last month, on March 18, the complainants amended their complaint to reflect Ubisoft’s response and added an additional charge to the case:

• The Crew activation code in the game box is valid until 2099, so there was “no reason to believe” the servers would shut down before then;
• According to the plaintiffs, Ubisoft also violated California’s rules for selling gift certificates (The Crew’s in-game currency) – by law, they are not supposed to expire, and the game’s closure made the credits worthless.

With the addition, the number of plaintiffs’ allegations of wrongdoing against Ubisoft has grown to nine. The company has until April 29 to respond to the updated claims in the lawsuit.