In light of Ubisoft delisting The Crew from digital storefronts, fans question if consumers actually own digital games

Ubisoft recently added fuel to an age-old argument in the gaming community by quietly delisting The Crew from all digital storefronts. This change was first noticed by a user on the ResetEra forums who was surprised to find that The Crew was no longer available for sale on Steam. Upon further inspection, users also noticed the game has been pulled from the Xbox and PlayStation stores, although Ubisoft has yet to comment on the issue.

As of the time of writing, visitors to the game’s Steam storepage are greeted by an alert, which reads “The game will remain playable until March 31st, 2024, for all The Crew owners. After this date, the game servers will shut down, which means the game will not be accessible anymore.” A similar message adorns The Crew’s page on all other platforms, even though Ubisoft is still offering a free trial for the game. However, much to everyone’s surprise, the move was completely unprecedented and has people questioning if the studio has any right to take away a product they purchased legitimately.

The Crew, which launched back in September 2014, was supposed to bring a fresh new twist to the racing genre by allowing players to explore the entire United States. As a matter of fact, the giant map was surely a first of its kind, and the hype Ubisoft generated led to numerous pre-orders. However, shortly after release, The Crew was plagued with game-breaking bugs, and the massive yet empty open world made players lose interest pretty quickly.

Nevertheless, The Crew is an online-only game and cannot be played without a working server. As things currently stand, Ubisoft will be closing down The Crew servers on all platforms on April 1, 2024. Hence, even if someone has the game in their library or installed on their hard disk, this move will permanently lock them out of the product they paid good money for.

Do consumers legally own the games they purchase on a digital storefront?

Physical games have all but become a thing of the past in recent years as more and more consumers prefer to purchase titles digitally. Console makers have also pandered to such a development by releasing digital-only consoles which cost slightly less than their physical counterparts. On top of it, game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus have also made gaming quite cost-effective, and people generally don’t want to shell out the full price for a physical copy.

However, we are sorry to reveal that purchasing a digital game does not make one the legal owner of the title. Instead, you’re just buying a subscription to access the game, and the publisher has every right to cut you off without any prior notice. On top of it, not having a legal owner means consumers cannot resell their games, which is why selling and buying game accounts go against the terms of service of most platforms and publishers.

Similarly, with The Crew being an online game, Ubisoft had every right to cut off access without prior notice. Hence, even though one might argue about the ethics behind such a move, the studio hasn’t crossed any legal boundaries and cannot be held responsible.