Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Ubisoft's response to a lawsuit over a recently shut-down online game argues that paying customers never truly owned the title. The case has sparked renewed calls for legislation to protect players when games reach end-of-life status.
Two California plaintiffs filed suit against Ubisoft last year after the company shut down servers for The Crew, citing licensing restrictions. Publishers often delist driving games like The Crew and Forza Horizon when licensing agreements with car manufacturers expire.
Users typically retain access to games they purchased prior to delisting, and physical discs often continue to function. However, The Crew is an online-only title, and once Ubisoft deactivated its servers, launching the game merely starts a restricted demo version. Additionally, Ubisoft removed the game from customers' Ubisoft Connect libraries, offering refunds only to those who purchased it recently.
The California plaintiffs, who bought physical copies of the 2014 title years ago, allege that Ubisoft misled customers. They also point to other games that received offline modes when they reached end-of-life as a fairer precedent.
In response, Ubisoft argued that The Crew's packaging clearly states that purchase only grants a temporary license, and that the statute of limitations for the claim has passed. Still, the company has pledged to introduce offline modes for The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest.
The plaintiffs then pivoted to argue that The Crew's in-game currency qualifies as a gift certificate under California law, which prohibits expiration. They also pointed to the game's packaging, which states that activation codes remain valid until 2099, implying that the game should remain downloadable until then. Additionally, the plaintiffs contended that the statute of limitations only began in 2023, when Ubisoft announced its plans to shut down the servers.
In response to Ubisoft's decision, a petition urged the Canadian government to introduce protections for online games. The petitioners are calling for legislation that would require game companies to remove server dependencies and override End User License Agreements. The Stop Killing Games Initiative is directing similar demands at multiple governments.
As digital purchases and live-service games become more prevalent, the issue remains far from resolved. Ubisoft, while promoting its subscription service, has previously suggested that consumers should get used to not owning their games.
Valve has acknowledged the legal pressure by updating Steam's language to clarify that customers are not purchasing permanent ownership of games, in accordance with California law. In contrast, GOG mocked Valve's notice by emphasizing its policy of offering DRM-free offline installers for all titles.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by looorg on Sunday April 13, @04:07PM (4 children)
If I don't own the game when I pay for it do I break copyright when I crack the protection or pirate it? After all I never owned the product anyway. So I'm getting a nothing product. For nothing. No foul no harm to anyone.
Asking for a friend, theoretically and all that .. *cough*cough*
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday April 13, @04:29PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 13, @06:01PM
Could you imagine a place where the laws were enforced in the public's favor?
A place where the law doesn't maximally take from you?
Yeah... me neither.
While you don't "own" it you "license" it. If you don't own a license(own wha???), you can't use it at all, download crack or otherwise. Sorry, things are legislated three or four ways (trademark violations, patent violations, publicity rights violations, sales taxes, use taxes, consumption taxes,) in favor of corporations.
Are you able to enter into a license status by means of a credit card purchase? Is the store an authorized, authoritative intermediary? (What if it came from eBay or Amazon? Used?)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 14, @06:46PM
This is why I buy games on GOG. My main game collection is on Steam, but games I really care about; I also buy on GOG. Assuming the game makes it to GOG. I know they care about their customers and/or making an extra sale.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Monday April 14, @11:24PM
Yes, you were provided a license to use it, copying it without a valid license is copyright infringement. Bypassing protections violates various hacking laws.
Don't like it, blame the legislators and indirectly yourself (and various lobbyists I suppose).
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2, Funny) by Mojibake Tengu on Sunday April 13, @05:20PM (5 children)
It's just software. You can do it. Everyone can. You have a computer. Code your own game and you will own it.
Give it to friends for fame and glory. Give it to enemies for their envy.
Dudes, it's quarter of 21st century now, everything is already known and documented.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Sunday April 13, @06:23PM (1 child)
This is quite true. It's easier than ever now to put together a simple game with things like Python.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aafcac on Sunday April 13, @10:28PM
There's been game making software for complete amateurs for quite a few years. The games aren't necessarily sophisticated in terms of graphics, but can be rather deep if you care to put in the work.
I think the big issue here is that there's a server involved and that they couldn't bother to set aside money to either release the server or patch in a single player game. This is one of the reasons why I refused to buy DIII as there was no reason to force multiplayer other than as DRM.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday April 14, @03:45AM
Or go for one of the many open-source offerings out there. A lot of them are quite fun.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 14, @06:52PM
I've tried my hand at this a time or five. It's insanely easy to make something very basic. The likes of which would have taken a lot of time and talent to do back in the early days. However, there are a lot of already great games out there. Unless you have a unique story / game or a very good implementation, you're not likely to make it very far.
Then again, there's things like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_(2024_video_game) [wikipedia.org]
The entire point of which is to waste your time clicking a Banana. Well, the entire point is to get lucky, like with slot machines. In other words, gambling. Except in this instance, you're not likely to translate any of the winnings to actual cash; assuming you're abiding by Steam TOS.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Tuesday April 15, @12:11AM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Deep Blue on Sunday April 13, @07:22PM
So, that money was never yours, i just lent it to you, so give it back now.
(like i'd ever pay for a throw away license. Screw you.)
(Score: 2) by boltronics on Monday April 14, @10:28AM
I have a copy of The Crew for PC. I purchased it at Dick Smith years ago back when they still had brick and mortar stores. It was discounted because although it was new (had the disc, CD key and manual all unused), the slip cover on the plastic DVD case was missing. Someone had just put a sticker on it with hand-writing to say what the item was. I enjoy arcade racing games (eg. Need For Speed, Burnout), so I picked it up.
In other words, I did not receive any such notice on the packaging!
I still have the game in my collection. The disc installs UPlay (and possibly the game) and the CD key adds it to my account, but it is no longer possible to launch it.
Funnily enough, I'm not sure I ever even played it beyond testing to make sure the game can launch. It was in my backlog of racing games that I've slowly been getting through. Now it feels like it was a scam.
I had no problem beating Need For Speed: Underground on my OG Xbox just last year (aside from the game being very hard near the end), despite it being from 2003, and despite it having online connectivity options for multiplayer for which the servers have long since shut down.
Actually, someone made a replacement server [github.com] a while back, although I haven't tried it. It should have been possible for hackers to do the same with The Crew if Ubisoft weren't preventing the game from being re-downloaded.
I'm not one to say that I'm going to boycott Ubisoft games. However, if there's a game i want to play from them, I'm going to wait until it's on deep discount and I'm ready to play it immediately, and will assume it will just disappear in a few years. This is especially true given the amount of DLC that Ubisoft games generally have. I've always enjoyed the Far Cry series but having the map of items paywalled in FC6, despite purchasing the Collector's Edition with the big model flame thrower directly from their online store, already made me wary of purchasing anything from them going forward. Absolutely insulting.
It's GNU/Linux dammit!