Ubisoft is being sued for shutting down the servers for The Crew, Ubisoft Ivory Tower’s 2014 online-only racing video game, in December 2014 and making it unplayable for any and all players, according to a class action complaint that has been posted online. The lawsuit, which was filed in a California court earlier this month and comes by way of two plaintiffs, alleges that Ubisoft “duped” and “misled” players by cutting off The Crew’s servers, with a portion of the complaint comparing what Ubisoft had done to a pinball machine manufacturer coming into a customer’s home and gutting their machine years after purchase. Ubisoft announced in September that The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest would feature offline support.
Imagine you buy a pinball machine, and years later, you enter your den to go play it, only to discover that the all the paddles are missing, the pinball and bumpers are gone, and the monitor that proudly displayed your unassailable high score is removed. Turns out the pinball machine manufacturer decided to come into your home, gut the insides of the pinball machine, and remove your ability to play the game that you bought and thought you owned. Even though you paid full price to receive this game, you never knew that the manufacturer could come in one day, and, without your control, leave you with a skeleton of what you thought you paid for.