Image Credits: Ubisoft via @map (Flickr)
On March 31, one of France’s Consumer Rights Groups, “UFC-Que Choisir,” announced it had filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft which the group accused of engaging in “Contractual conditions that could be considered abusive,” in regard to the shutting down over “The Crew.”
Later on April 16, the founder of the Stop Killing Games consumer movement appeared before an EU Parliamentary Committee. Although they are two different organizations, both Stop Killing Games and UFC-Que Choisir are part of a larger movement whose futures are closely tied to whether consumers actually own the game and related content they paid for, and inextricably linked to the topic of preservation of games as a form of art.
All of this began back in December of 2023, when Ubisoft (creators of “Assassin’s Creed”) announced they were turning off the servers for their 2014 title “The Crew,” an online-only racing game, that following year on April 1, 2024. Ubisoft, as quoted by PC Gamer’s Andy Chalk, claimed this was due to “server infrastructure and licensing constraints.” This in turn caused outcry not just among the game’s community of fans, but also the wider gaming public.
The situation snowballed in January 2024 when Philippe Tremblay, the Director of Subscriptions with Ubisoft, chose his words poorly during an interview with website GamesIndustry.biz when he said, “One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games…That’s a transformation that’s been a bit slower to happen [in games]…So it’s about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.”
In response, in April 2024, YouTuber Ross Scott (aka “Accursed Farms”), announced he had launched a website by the name of “Stop Killing Games,” which he hoped to raise resistance to “publishers destroying video games they have sold to customers,” as he wrote on the website when it launched, accusing executive leadership within the industry of anti-consumer practices and not protecting videogames as an artform.
In June of that same year, “Stop Destroying Videogames,” a petition created by the European Citizens’ Initiative (a mechanism for European Union) was registered with the European Commission and which began collecting signatures online from citizens of the European Union that July and aimed at protecting consumer rights. As the members of the ECI wrote on June 19, 2024: “This initiative calls to require publishers that sell or license videogames to consumers in the European Union (or related features and assets sold for videogames they operate) to leave said videogames in a functional (playable) state.”
Around the time the petition had acquired a quarter of the million signatures it needed, Ubisoft had taken notice. In September of that year, they announced via their X account (@TheCrewGame) that: “we heard your concerns,” and “we can confirm an offline mode to ensure long term access to both titles, stay tuned for more news in the next months.”
Despite Ubisoft’s promises, it still garnered controversy in 2025 when the company’s legal team put out a statement regarding a class action lawsuit that was filed in the Eastern District of California against the company’s decision to shut down the servers for The Crew in November 2024. In February, Steven A. Marenberg, one of the company’s attorneys, tried to pick apart Matthew Cassell and Alan Liu (the plaintiffs) arguments in an effort to have the court dismiss the case by saying the plaintiffs, “…received the benefit of their bargain and cannot complain now that they were deceived simply because Ubisoft did not then create an offline version of the discontinued video game.” This attitude from the company’s legal representation was made worse when months later, on July 21, CEO Yves Guillemot was asked about the petition during Ubisoft’s annual shareholder meeting in Paris. As quoted by Lewis Packman for GamesIndustry.biz, Guillemot stated, “…nothing is written in stone and at some point the service may be discontinued. Nothing is eternal.”
This circles back to 2026 with Ubisoft now at the center of another lawsuit over The Crew. According to an announcement by UFC-Que Choisir on March 31, they accused Ubisoft of “potentially deceptive business practices,” and outlined a question that lies at the core of their case: “does the purchase of a video game, in physical or digital format, allow players to claim, at a minimum, a right of use totally independent of the sole will and authorization of the publisher?”
More recently, on April 16, Ross Scott of and Daniel Ondruška, the organizer and spokesperson for the ECI’s Stop Destroying Games Petition, along with organizer Moritz Katzner appeared before several EU Parliamentary Committees, including the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). Ondruška and Scott both generally highlighted the same position, that video games were art and products in danger of being “killed,” by their own publishers that would rather destroy their product than let the consumer have what they paid for. Ross explained the argument, specifically how games shouldn’t come pre-packaged with what he calls a “kill switch,” that the publisher can activate whenever a game no longer becomes viable and/or profitable, highlighting the anti-consumer nature of these business practices: “If you purchase a good, it shouldn’t self-destruct.” Katzner, during his turn to speak, criticized several industry solutions, such as clearer labeling of end user license agreements: “these are not solutions nor are these even compromises.” Ondruška then highlighted how their joint efforts weren’t making unreasonable demands: “We are not trying to create issues…they can keep using their business however they want, just please, once you stop supporting the video game, please do not destroy it… That doesn’t have to be part of their business decision.”
With Stop Killing Games slated to become an NGO in the future in both the US and the EU, according to Ross back on Feb. 19, and the two lawsuits against Ubisoft over “The Crew,” it has forced the gaming industry to reckon with whether consumers own the products they’re paid for because of duplicitous business strategies, and also the preservation of games as art.
Kelly Baker is an alumnus from West Chester University.