Ubisoft argues players don't own their games in wake of The Crew lawsuit

[Badvok]

Yes, you dont own the games, which is why you are morally right in pirating them instead.

Is it possible to pirate an online-only game?

 

[Baldrickalpha1]

Nothing but hope,

Ridiculously radical question if you ask me.

Why would a company kill a game before it has time to make back the millions is cost to develop?

Ask the folks that shut down ksp 2 lol

 

[Watzupken]

Even if Ubisoft wins this case, they have already burned bridges with their customers. So it’s going to impact them no matter what. In its current state, both outcomes are not favourable for them.

 

[Eldrach]

That’s why «Live Service» games are crap

 

[n3o127]

Ubi seems all in on pushing monthly subscription with play as you pay -- It just sucks when pay monthly and then bump into certain games you still have to buy to play even with monthly (top level) subscription.

 

[Liranan]

Why does anyone care what Ubiwoke claim? They're too busy pandering to the modern audience, all 150 of them according to South of Wokenight's concurrent player chart.

Yet another mess to keep the lawyers happy!

This is The Crew EULA
https://media.contentapi.ea.com/content/dam/eacom/en-us/eula/the-crew-2-eula-en.pdf

12 pages of undecipherable legalese, to which everyone agreed without reading a word. Somewhere inside, it says (but in other words, of course) :

There should be a law that the EULA of a software product or service should be max. one standard A4 page long where it's clearly stated whether you pay to own the product or you pay a fee to use it, along with the obligations of the seller.

This legalese is only valid in their dreams as it's so expansive and nonsensical that it won't be able to be upheld in court. There have been several cases in which courts ruled that an EULA does not in any way override the law. Get out of the fascist (corporate) western world and you will realise that there is a wider world.

 

[StrikerRocket]

Then, I don't play the games any more! Simple as that!
I don't remember the last time I started the Ubisoft launcher, this encourages me some more!

 

[ZackL04]

Ask the folks that shut down ksp 2 lol

A game whose development team was canned after release?

Happens all the with smaller games, and you can still buy, download and play that game, just no updates.

Fallouts, layoffs and restructuring happens in all business. Did you know the original Star Fox on SNES was originally programmed and developed by Argonaut and overseen/published by Nintendo? Then after a fallout between them and Nintendo, ALL later games were Nintendo only?

Its happened many times before and after that, and will continue into the future.

Years ago Sony removed access to their movies and shows you may have bought on a ps3 or ps4. Have we not learned from that?

 

[dmoros]

While it is lame, any game that relies on servers to run is going to go off-line eventually. The Crew 1 is a pretty bad game, there can't hardly be anyone that's actually upset they can't play it anymore.

Gran Turismo Sport, when their servers shut down it was made a single player game, you can still download it and play it offline, doing races and buying cars, might not have all the functionalities it had when servers were up but at least it was not deleted from your library.

 

[MaXtor]

Im surprised they supported this game for as long as they did, 9 years? That is insane.

Counter-Strike: Source

Release Date:
1 November, 2004

Last Game Update:
February 18, 2025

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/240/view/689716592460694165

 

[ZackL04]

Counter-Strike: Source

Release Date:
1 November, 2004

Last Game Update:
February 18, 2025

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/240/view/689716592460694165

Thats a good game, that people still play, and has no licensing to keep up.

Paying licensing for cars and music is a fortune, for a game that doesn't still make sales, wise business decision for Ubisoft.

Im not a Ubisoft fan at all, the only thing I have ever liked of theirs is Blood Dragon.

 

[TechSavy101]

This will only increase pirating. Also, who cares about UBIsoft they haven't had a decent game in ages.

 

[ZedRM]

Is this yet another example of Ubisoft displaying their shocking cluelessness? I think so!

Many users already understand that buying a digital game typically grants a license to access the software – not true ownership.

I don't know where to start as to how silly this is. ..shakes_head.. ..rolls_eyes..

 

[yannus]

When someone invests a lot of time in a game, it often starts to feel like a part of their identity / personality. So, if that game suddenly becomes unavailable for any reason, they can experience a real sense of loss. It's not simply about “owning” the game. It's about the genuine psychological impact the restriction would have. For instance, if Fortnite were to shut down, many players who have grow up with it, they would be deeply saddened and it could even potentially spark public outcry.

When games are part of people's identity, you can say that the world is crazy !

 

[yannus]

Open source is the only real ownership.

 

[ZedRM]

Open source is the only real ownership.

Myth.

 

[Anton Longshot]

This is going nowhere.
Ubisoft should learn to think BIG.
Tell people they own nothing, take all their stuff and money and then kick them out of their houses.
FOR STARTERS.

 

[manowar51]

I can't stand Ubisoft and I don't want to have to defend them. But they are right. And if anyone here works in IT then you can probably understand why. You buy a licence to use software, you don't own it. You never own it. The developer owns the software. This is also not limited to Ubisoft, you don't own your steam games too. Almost all games are like this.

If Ubisoft had any sense whatsoever, they wouldn't be going around saying this though. It triggers all the lowest common denominators in the gaming community and probably hurts their sales figures.

 

[mistyrain]

And one more reason not to buy ubisoft game ever.

 

[Che Cazzo]

So, buying something, a car, a loaf of bread, a PC game, is not really buying it, but "borrowing" it?? Seriously?? Since when?

Tell that to the millions of car owners (or anything else), that "buying" is not really "owning" their purchase!

Maybe they should redefine the word "buy" to appease some software companies and see what happens!!
You paid for it, you own it. Period.

UBI, its lawyers and its shills here are jumping through hoops to redefine ownership of something.
And even some troll even managed to insert his pathetic political agenda by equating UBI with woke (which tells us immediately the troll and his ilk knows jack about what "woke" means).

 

[Burty117]

I’ve been saying this for years, make it law, you cannot use a “buy” or “purchase” button if your T&C’s allow for the item to be removed at anytime and if the T&C’s is beyond 3 pages long, it automatically cannot be “buy or purchased”, instead, it should be “lease” or “borrow”.

Just correcting the language used would go a long way, if on steam I can “buy” Valheim, but I can only “lease” or “borrow” any Assassin's Creed game, guess which one I’m more inclined to go for?

Companies would then stop being so scummy as they would see a (probably) dramatic sales nose dive as way more people would hesitate.

I don’t know if you could do anything retrospectively, so current games would be stuck in the current sh*t show, but at least going forward, you know what is borrowed and what is owned.

 

[yannus]

Myth.

Hmmm, good argument. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

 

[vicsrealms]

That's OK Ubisoft, I don't buy your games anyway.

 

[AndreV]

Ubisoft is really doing some strong efforts for becoming the most disliked video game company and even to fail.
Kudos Ubisoft for this endeavor.

 

[Angga B]

What is "buying"? And what is "a woman"? In the world of confused people sitting in power and influential position, meaning has become meaningless.