Licence instead of purchase: Two players sue Ubisoft for non-transparent information

If you lose access to a game you've bought, it's annoying. After all, you've spent money on it and want to use it. At the beginning of the year, Ubisoft blocked access to the racing game "The Crew" around nine years after its release. For this reason, two gamers from California are suing the video game giant.

The case about "The Crew" and the Ubisoft lawsuit

"The Crew" was released in December 2014 and was a multiplayer game with an open world in which numerous gamers could meet and play together. Accordingly, a constant internet connection and server infrastructure was required.

On 14 December 2023, Ubisoft took the game off sale and announced that the servers would be taken offline at the end of March 2024. Ubisoft pointed out that those who had only recently purchased the game could have their purchase price refunded under certain circumstances. However, the two plaintiffs had already purchased the game in 2018 and 2020, so a refund was out of the question.

They argue that they assumed they were purchasing the game instead of a time-limited usage licence.

The current terms of use of the Ubisoft services, which have been in force since May 2020, state that users are only granted a licence that includes a "limited, non-transferable and revocable" right of use.

A Californian law aims to ensure greater transparency

The discussions surrounding the banned game have already led to a new law being passed in California. It will apply from 2025 and forces gaming platforms to clearly state that a licence to use the game is being purchased, not the game itself. This licence can be withdrawn. Buttons such as "Buy game" are misleading. The law does not change the facts, but is only intended to clarify them.

On Steam, the notice can already be seen in the cart.

The question did not arise 20 years ago

Older generations will remember: until the early 2000s, there was little difference between games you bought and films you bought on DVD. The data carrier was required to play the game and you didn't need a constant internet connection, nor were they tied to your account. The game's copyright was owned by the developer studio, but it had no way of restricting access to the game afterwards.

If you buy a game today, you might also assume that it belongs to you - after all, you're paying the same money for it as you did 20 years ago. But the game developers and platform operators see things differently. If they block access to a game, you can no longer get in. Even if you own the physical data carrier and therefore also the game software.

Blocks can occur, for example, if there are copyright problems with the game or if keys have been distributed without authorisation via third-party providers. A current example is the game "Concord", which was removed from libraries in September just two weeks after its release. However, buyers did receive a refund.