Ubisoft holds firm in The Crew lawsuit: You don't own your video games

Thread: Ubisoft holds firm in The Crew lawsuit: You don't own your video games
Grisham

Grisham

Ensuring Transparency
Ubisoft responded to California gamers' The Crew shutdown lawsuit in late February, filing to dismiss the case. The company's lawyers argued in that filing, reviewed by Polygon, that there was no reason for players to believe they were purchasing "unfettered ownership rights in the game." Ubisoft has made it clear, lawyers claimed, that when you buy a copy of The Crew, you're merely buying a limited access license.

"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," Ubisoft's lawyers wrote.
Click to expand...

Ubisoft released The Crew, its open-world racing game, in 2014 and shut down its servers a decade later, in 2024, due to "server infrastructure and licensing constraints." Because The Crew was online-only, it meant the game became totally unplayable when the servers were turned off. Ubisoft offered refunds to players who "recently" purchased the game, but lots of people were unable to get refunds; the majority of players likely purchased the game much earlier.

Throughout Ubisoft's response, the company's lawyers argued that, along with the licensing issue, that the plaintiffs don't have a case — be it because of a statute of limitations, no real "cognizable injury," and what they describe as inadequate arguments. Included in the response are a few pictures of The Crew's video game packaging, presented to prove that Ubisoft has labeled at least some of its versions with the licensing note.
Click to expand...

On March 18, the plaintiffs responded with an amended complaint to address the issues brought up by Ubisoft, and added an additional accusation — that Ubisoft is breaking rules around the sale of gift certifications, something they argue The Crew's currency could be considered. In California, gift cards can't expire — and the argument is that Ubisoft broke the law when The Crew was shut down, rendered the credits expired. The plaintiff's lawyer argued that The Crew's currency system meets all the requirements to be considered a gift certificate or gift card.

Replying to Ubisoft's argument that the statute of limitations is up, the plaintiffs responded with their own photos of The Crew's packaging, which states that the activation code for the game doesn't expire until 2099; that's an example of how Ubisoft "implied that [The Crew] would remain playable during this time and long thereafter," per the amended complaint. There was no reason to suggest The Crew would shut down, the lawyer said, until 2023 when the game was announced to be shut down — so that statute of limitations is not up.

With the new additions in the amended complaint, that brings the gamers' claims of wrongdoing up to nine counts. They're asking the court to certify the class action lawsuit. Ubisoft has until April 29 to respond once again.
Click to expand...

www.polygon.com

Ubisoft holds firm in The Crew lawsuit: You don’t own your video games

Ubisoft shut down The Crew in 2024
www.polygon.com www.polygon.com
 
  • Funny
  • Really?
  • Star
Reactions: Arkam, Frito_Pendejo, teezzy and 4 others
HE1NZ said:
Weird how there are hundreds of shut down live service games, but it's Ubisoft that got internet's attention.
Click to expand...

leave-the-multibillion-dollar-corporation-alone-v0-l74acc5sczxc1.jpeg
 
  • Funny
  • This tbh
  • 100%
Reactions: Arkam, Cravis, Stilton Disco and 9 others
HE1NZ said:
Weird how there are hundreds of shut down live service games, but it's Ubisoft that got internet's attention.
Click to expand...

Gamers complained about games shutting down all the time, many EA games for example.

This one here is being reported on because there's a lawsuit with interesting implications regarding the gift cards and their expiry dates.

Are there any other ongoing interesting lawsuits that don't get the attention they deserve in your opinion? Should they not report on it because it's Ubisoft?

Is Grisham..... another......



Grifter???



Griftsham confirmed.
 
  • Funny
Reactions: Rock And Roll, Grisham, Cravis and 7 others
Premium currency being tied to an online service that is shut down does expose the lack of regulation in this field. There needs to be a compensation policy for these purchases.
 
  • This tbh
  • Like
Reactions: Mickmrly and Arkam
There's no reason they could not have implemented a single player offline before shutting down The Crew. There was a complete single player story mode.

I guess since we don't own our games, then might as well just pirate them. That's basically what you're telling me Ubi.
 
  • Like
Reactions: regawdless
Cravis said:
There's no reason they could not have implemented a single player offline before shutting down The Crew. There was a complete single player story mode.

I guess since we don't own our games, then might as well just pirate them. That's basically what you're telling me Ubi.
Click to expand...

Keep ignoring them until they bite the dust. Dont even pirate. Completely ignore em
 
  • This tbh
  • Like
Reactions: Cravis, regawdless and Chozofication
I keep thinking im going to buy some Ubisoft stock for when someone buys them. But then I think… who wants to buy them.

Might buy the stock under $1
 
Gamers: Fuck Ubisoft and their "you will own nothing and like it" policy.

Also gamers: Isn't this fucking great!!!
videoframe_1204434.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back