French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir has sued Ubisoft over the shutdown of online racing game The Crew in early 2024.
The news was shared yesterday via Reuters, with the association saying that it had filed the lawsuit. UFC-Que Choisir is alleging that Ubisoft misled consumers about the permanence of their purchase, and imposed abusive contractual clauses stripping players of ownership rights.
This conflict began back in December 2023 when Ubisoft delisted The Crew from digital marketplaces. Three months later, it went ahead and shut down its servers, rending the game permanently unplayable.
By April 2024, players started to receive a notification that their game license was being revoked without issuing refunds, which led to backlash. Ubisoft’s stance was that customers only bought a limited access to the game, not full ownership.
This, in turn, led to the European consumer movement called Stop Killing Games. Said group is backing the lawsuit. A citizens’ initiative was launched in 2024 and presented to the European Commission last month with more than 1.3 signatures. As Reuters reports, that surpassed the threshold mandating a review by the EU executive, which is expected to present its findings by the end of July.
Moritz Katzner, general director of Stop Killing Games, told Reuters the EU Parliament was expected to hold a hearing on the matter on April 16. He said the group was planning to demonstrate broad parliamentary support “in order to encourage the industry to engage with us on a constructive solution.”
The outcome of this case could have a ripple effect across the game industry, given how many online games are shut down on a regular basis. This week, three companies announced they were shutting down their games. PUBG Blindspot terminated its service after two months in early access this Monday. Then, the studios behind Rec Room and The Elder Scrolls: Blades announce both games are being shut down on June of this year.