In March 2024, Ubisoft shut down the servers for the original The Crew, prompting a lawsuit from disgruntled players. In response to the lawsuit, the company's lawyers say that players had no reason to believe they were buying "unfettered ownership rights in the game" and made it clear that they were only buying a license, Polygon reports.
Ubisoft's lawyers say that, aside from licensing, the plaintiffs have no basis for the lawsuit due to the statute of limitations, lack of actual harm, or what they say is inadequate reasoning. They also provided several photos of The Crew's packaging, which shows the licensing mark.
On March 18, the plaintiffs filed an updated complaint with new allegations. They allege that Ubisoft violated the rules for selling gift certificates by treating in-game currency in The Crew as a certificate. Under California law, such certificates do not expire, and the shutdown of the game's servers, they argue, violates that law by rendering the currency invalid.
The plaintiffs' lawyer argues that the in-game currency in The Crew meets all the requirements to be considered a gift certificate or card. In response to Ubisoft's arguments about the statute of limitations, the plaintiffs provided photos of the game's packaging, which indicate that the activation code is valid until 2099. This, they argue, means that the game should have remained available until then.
With the new complaints, the number of violations Ubisoft is accused of has increased to nine. The company now has until April 29, 2025, to respond.
Recall that Ubisoft banned the purchase of The Crew and its expansions in December 2024, and the game's servers were completely shut down on March 31. The termination of support was explained by changes to the server infrastructure and licensing restrictions. Players who purchased the game shortly before that were offered a refund.