After having permanently shut down the first one’s servers The Crew at the end of last March, it now appears that Ubisoft is removing the game directly from the libraries of users on PC and revoking their license.
Let’s go step by step. March 31st Ubisoft has permanently closed the servers of the game. This means that not only is it impossible to play multiplayer, but also single-player content, given the always online nature of the title. In practice today, starting the game is completely useless on consoles, while on PC there was at least the remote hope of adopting private servers. However, as mentioned at the beginning, Ubisoft seems to have opted for an even more drastic option, removing the game from players’ libraries on Ubisoft Connect and revoking its license.
As reported by PC Gamer, those who own the title on Ubisoft Connect will now find the application of the new section “idle games” with the title page stating: “You no longer have access to this game. Why not check out the Store to continue your adventures?”, as we can see in the image below. Despite this, it is still possible to launch the application, but only in demo mode. On Steam, however, it is still possible to download and install the game, but once started the user is asked to enter a game key.
Player criticism and Ubisoft’s response
Clearly the decision was not received positively by the community, as demonstrated for example by this thread on Reddit, not so much due to the impossibility of not being able to play The Crew (after all, the servers were also closed due to the practically zero turnout), but rather due to the revocation of the license of a game regularly purchased.
When asked for an official comment by Eurogamer.net, a Ubisoft spokesperson limited himself to recalling the closure of The Crew servers announced some time ago and explaining that the decision is due to “server infrastructure and licensing constraints”which however only justifies deactivating servers, not user licenses.
“On December 14, 2023, we announced that, after nearly a decade of support, we would be discontinuing The Crew 1 on March 31, 2024,” the company wrote. “While we understand this may be disappointing to players, it was necessary due to server infrastructure and licensing constraints.”
