It was last March 31 when Ubisoft he definitively shelved The Crew. The title’s servers were turned off and the consequence has been very serious, since it is impossible to play the driving game. This is one of the most recent examples of how preservation in the industry hangs by a thread, just as it does with the case of Nintendo 3DS y Wii U.
Regarding all this problem, YouTuber Scott Ross announced a few months ago that he would initiate a class action lawsuit to prevent this type of practices by companies. Now, he has gone one step further by presenting the website in which anyone sign a petition to file complaints before the different regulatory bodies, especially in the European Union area.
Stop Killing Games “is dedicated to live action to end the practice of publishers destroying video games they have sold to customers.” One of the main arguments is that the titles “are designed to be completely unusable” once the company on duty decides to cause a blackout. According to the portal “the legality of this practice has not been proven worldwide, and many governments do not have clear laws on these actions,” so the objective is to achieve a favorable result to avoid these abuses.
It should be remembered that according to the Terms of Use of Ubisoft Services“We make no guarantee that the services will be available. uninterruptedly. (…) We hereby reserve the right to suspend all or part of the services at any time.” Ross hopes that this proposal will bear fruit in France, since consumer protection laws are well established in France. the country where the brand is based.
“If we can get charges brought against Ubisoft, this could have a domino effect on the video game industry to prevent publishers from destroying more games.”
The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are other regions where requests have already been made to institutions in this regard, but success is unfavorable right now. In words to PC Gamer, Ross assures that he has found support among the community, but the government approval processes are extremely slow. “As things stand, I am optimistic that at least one department of the French government will examine the legality of this practice, and with my fingers crossed, possible French court action and further examinations from Germany and Australia. Everything else remains up in the air for the moment,” says the YouTuber.
What is the alternative that Ross proposes? His idea is to establish “an end-of-life plan to modify or patch the game so that it can run on customer systems without requiring further support from the company.” To do this, he gives as an example other productions such as Gran Turismo Sport or Knockout City, which can continue to be enjoyed despite not receiving official support.
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