Ubisoft is facing a class action lawsuit over its closure of 'The Crew'.
Ubisoft is facing a class action lawsuit over its closure of The Crew
The studio is being sued by two gamers in California for shutting down the open-world racing game in March, who have claimed Ubisoft "duped customers" into purchasing the title without knowing its servers could be taken down, thus making it unplayable.
The filing – which was submitted to a Californian Court on 4 November 2024 – reads: "Ubisoft misled consumers by telling them they were buying a game, when in fact, all they were renting was a limited license to access a game."
The lawsuit argues that customers were deceived into believing that by owning a physical or digital edition of 'The Crew', they also owned the game data. Instead, the data was stored on a remote sever that consumers connected to which allowed them to play the game.
The statement continued: "This deception was compounded by the fact that many gamers, like the Plaintiffs, bought physical discs storing the game data, which reasonably made them believe that they could input that disc into their computer or game console whenever they wanted.
"Ubisoft intended consumers to rely on their representation and omissions in making their purchasing decisions. Through their conduct, Ubisoft have violated California state consumer protection laws."
The claimants are seeking financial compensation over Ubisoft's alleged actions, which could also come to other affected players if the court approves the filing as a class action lawsuit.
In December 2023, the studio announced it would be pulling the plug on 'The Crew' in March "due to server infrastructure and licensing constraints".