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[IntentionalPun]

The real story is they took the servers down since as others have pointed out the physical version doesn’t work either. This is just them making it clear the game doesn’t work anymore so don’t waste time installing.

It drives me nuts for games that could be offline especially ones that historically worked fine offline and haven’t really had changes that require this MMO lite stuff. That stuff can be fun but it should be optional unless you’ve truly innovated something. Diablo IV for instance… there’s nothing in the game that requires online. They can just scale enemies to work fine with 1 player or, get this… scale to people joining private parties or playing on a LAN.

I don’t know if this game fits the above though. It’s 10 years old so if it’s online only and truly designed around that, then that’s pretty nornal.

I still don’t have a single game on my Steam library that has been “removed.” It’s a massive library and I’ve been on Steam since the early days.

 

[laynelane]

There's a guy who's taking action and encouraging others to join to stop this sort of practice:



The Crew is a focus of his, as well.

 

[Mattyp]

As far as I understand, no one reads the license agreement anymore. No, they will not be sued, since you accept the terms of the license agreement when installing the game.

Those licence agreements aren't worth the time it takes someone to type it out, maybe in the US. But EU, Australia; the rest of the western world they're worth absolute shit zero nothing.

The argument here being an online only game is a gray area. But I'm sure someone will take them to court outside the US and we'll see how this plays out the same as Steam and refunds.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

If your still buying Ubisoft games at this point, you disrespecting yourself.

 

[rm082e]

This is also why this removal is quite anticonsumer from ubisoft- private servers exist and people use them to revive dead online games....

True, but if modders do the work to get this game running again, there's no doubt someone could download a copy of the game and get it working again if they really want to. I get the "you shouldn't have to" argument, but it's unreasonable to expect an online only game that connects to dedicated servers to be supported forever because there's a dedicated cost to those servers. If that's the deal up front, you should be aware of the reality when you make your purchasing decision.

This isn't anything new. There are tons of multiplayer games that are no longer functional for this very reason. Someone might have the disc for a console version of the game, but that disc is essentially useless now. My son wanted to play LBP2 online, but Sony has turned off the multiplayer servers for it. He started to go down a rabbit hole and look at modding his PS3 so he could connect to some private server people are running for it. We didn't do it, but just knowing it's available was interesting. I know people have made similar solutions for other online games like Phantasy Star Online. If people really care about a game, the people will find a way to make it happen. And if they don't care, then the argument seems moot to me.

From Ubisoft's standpoint, leaving the game up just means people could download it, mod it, and connect to private servers. Ubi isn't making any money in that scenario to cover the cost of the downloads, so it's just a potential money suck to them.

I work as a Product Manager at a software company. I would personally have pushed management to let the development team work a small project to add an info modal for this game that says some version of "This game is no longer available for download.", but left the license in user's libraries. That would have avoided this recent round of bad PR they are now getting, while keeping the same outcome.

 

[hemo memo]

A game preservation effort should be collaborative between the big 3 and big publishers and Valve. Seriously, it’s baffling it’s not done to till now. Didn’t Konami lose the original source code for Silent Hill? Same story for Square Enix but can’t remember the name of the game. An entity rich enough should carry this effort maybe. Have a strong negotiation hand to ask publishers to give them a working offline copy for preservation purposes.

 

[Kataploom]

People in this thread act as if it was something normal that happens without consequences all the time by any publisher out there.

Ubisoft is specially bad with their digital policies, it's always Ubisoft in these polemics. Had they thought about doing the same to Assassin's Creed Unity or something else that people actually care about, they wouldn't have the balls to proceed because, first, it makes no sense anyway.

Similarly, you won't see any publisher randomly removing games from stores because that's a clear path to hell nobody wants and, as it never happened before, nobody want to deal with the unknown consequences of an angry crowd in the court or in the market, not only many would opt for not buying you shit, but also others take example of not buying you as well, literally zero benefits.

EULA/TOS won't save companies from shit practices that challenge common sense, we've seen that already.

Seems needlessly meanspirited if they already shut down servers.

What's the point?

They want less sales and barely any consumers trust, seems like the kind of stuff Ubisoft loves considering their digital policies, remember the online inactivity period that would remove you from your library in their store? They definitely want people not buying them shit, let's not pretend it's "something everyone does thus digital bad".

 

[Robb]

 

[Kataploom]

Where's your GOD Gabey Newell now? He can't do chit. DRM-free digital is the only guarantee.

Steam doesn't have to do with it, but to clarify: Steam provides DRM free downloads, it's devs/publishers who opt for using DRM, there are several DRM free games on Steam.

 

[xrnzaaas]

So let's see. Gaf is making a big deal over an online only game from 2014 ending life like it's some form of dark messiah of digital content future? Checks out.

It is a big deal to have your purchased product removed from library, even if the game's dead because of the servers. It can definitely encourage Ubisoft or other publishers to start doing this on a regular basis.

Plus if the modders will find a way to make the game playable again (even in some very limited form) you'll have to pirate the game to check it out.

 

[Frwrd]

At least physical users can still use the case and disk as guest coasters. Digital users, what do you have?

Trade the game / sell it on gamestop

 

[TGO]

Looks like Playstation is refunding people who brought the game

PS4 User Gets Nearly $100 Refund After Game Shuts Down

PlayStation may hand you a refund if you purchased a PS4 game shut down next month.

comicbook.com

 

[Tajaz2426]

Yeah, so wake me up when they do this to a game that at least 10 people in the world actually give a shit about.

Folks like you do not wake up till much later down the road. When they start taking games you like, everything has ads, 80 dollar gorilla suits, no value digital goods, higher and higher monthly subscriptions, battle passes in everything, you will do what you all do.

You’ll proclaim, “ how did this happen?”. Now you know exactly what they hope for, is folks like you.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Wait until they start doing this with bank accounts

 

[ComputerBlue]

Why are some people acting like this doesn’t matter saying shit like oh no a 10 year old game that no one plays. Well it’s a precedent.

How many games are turning to the live service route, from this point on are you willing to accept that any game you play will get removed from your account in 10 years? I personally hate the fact that I can’t play uncharted multiplayer anymore, or MGO2, soon it’s going to happen with the last of us factions as well. But unlike MGO2, where the community managed to create fan servers and salvage it, it’s not going to be possible if you’ve got a digital copy only of a game that they revoked on console.

The fact is though, that those games I mentioned are all multiplayer, the single player portions are still playable, and will continue to be, the crew had plenty of single player content, you just needed an online connection. We are currently seeing an increase in single player games requiring an online connection.

 

[Lillie]

This is really bad

 

[Megatron]

Why are some people acting like this doesn’t matter saying shit like oh no a 10 year old game that no one plays. Well it’s a precedent.

How many games are turning to the live service route, from this point on are you willing to accept that any game you play will get removed from your account in 10 years? I personally hate the fact that I can’t play uncharted multiplayer anymore, or MGO2, soon it’s going to happen with the last of us factions as well. But unlike MGO2, where the community managed to create fan servers and salvage it, it’s not going to be possible if you’ve got a digital copy only of a game that they revoked on console.

The fact is though, that those games I mentioned are all multiplayer, the single player portions are still playable, and will continue to be, the crew had plenty of single player content, you just needed an online connection. We are currently seeing an increase in single player games requiring an online connection.

my understanding is that the even the single player portion of the game no longer worked at all even if you had the disk because the servers were shut down.

 

[ComputerBlue]

my understanding is that the even the single player portion of the game no longer worked at all even if you had the disk because the servers were shut down.

You’re right, but what I’m saying is that in a scenario where you only have digital games they can revoke access completely from consoles, let’s not talk about PC because it’s easier to pirate or emulate. But if you have a physical copy then in some cases someone can create fan servers, as they did with metal gear online 2, the servers for that got taken down in 2012 and some people created MGO revival, and it’s still playable today with an unpatched version of the game.

Who knows how it will play out, but Ubisoft said themselves get used to not owning your games. I’m pretty sure the last few call of duty games will not even let you play the single player campaign without an online connection, the discs are just for verification as well, so if servers go offline then those discs are completely useless, having the game pre-installed before any type of server shut down will also be completely useless because it will not be playable unless they patch the ability to let you play the campaign offline. So even having a physical copy doesn’t prevent it anymore, which is why nobody should be cool with this because eventually it could happen to all games.

 

[Duchess]

I imagine those living in the EU might be able to do something here, such as receive a part refund.

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

whats worst the "digital future" or GaaS?

Digital future.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I imagine those living in the EU might be able to do something here, such as receive a part refund.

Unlikely for people to get their money back, best we can hope for is that Ubisoft will be penalized for anti-consumer practices. And that new legislations will be introduced to ensure better preservation and to protect customers against complete removal of digital goods.

 

[Solrac]

 

[Hudo]

dark messiah

One of the best games ever made

 

[THE DUCK]

So, you’re all going to stop buying Ubisoft games to punish them for this bullshit, aren’t you?

…because otherwise, they, and all the rest, will keep pulling this shit, as they know they have a completely cucked audience…

That, or we just don't care about 10 year old online games that sell for $5. A bit judgemental don't you think, to apply what's important to you to every potential buyer?

Curious, have you boycotted Nintendo for pulling the 3ds and wii U store? Ms for taking down halo 2 servers? Sony when Gt sport servers were taken down? I mean if your truely leading the charge here I suspect you have nothing to play.

 

[rofif]

I don’t see what’s the big deal.
Everyone knew what they were buying.
This won’t do anything in court.

 

[SleepySlippy]

"Why not check the Store to pursue your adventures?"
They definitely got comfortable with people not owning their games.

 

[Muffdraul]

Folks like you do not wake up till much later down the road. When they start taking games you like, everything has ads, 80 dollar gorilla suits, no value digital goods, higher and higher monthly subscriptions, battle passes in everything, you will do what you all do.

You’ll proclaim, “ how did this happen?”. Now you know exactly what they hope for, is folks like you.

And I'll be the first to recant and say "omg it turns out all those hysterical hand-wringing histrionic Cassandras were right all along, digital online game licensing has led us all to a hellscape of nothing but suffering and woe, I'm so dumb, everyone else is so much smarter than me, if only I'd listened to my social betters "

But for now all I see is a company that everyone hates pulling the plug on an online game that virtually nobody cares about anyway.

 

[Gamer79]

That's why I refuse to go all a digital

 

[ReyBrujo]

That's why I refuse to go all a digital

Even if you owned the physical copy it wouldn't help since it's an online-only game, though.

 

[AJUMP23]

Looks like Playstation is refunding people who brought the game

PS4 User Gets Nearly $100 Refund After Game Shuts Down

PlayStation may hand you a refund if you purchased a PS4 game shut down next month.

comicbook.com

Is this foamstars?

 

[mckmas8808]

The digital future is here.

Hope everyone is happy!

Yep. The dummies that thought the digital only future is a great one will soon realize it's only a Corporate exec's wet dream. It's NOT good for gamers.