Full title: Ubisoft says you "cannot complain" it shut down The Crew because you never actually owned it, and you weren't "deceived" by the lack of an offline version "to access a decade-old, discontinued video game"

Ubisoft's lawyers have responded to a class action lawsuit over the shutdown of The Crew, arguing that it was always clear that you didn't own the game and calling for a dismissal of the case outright.

The class action was filed in November 2024, and Ubisoft's response came in February 2025, though it's only come to the public's attention now courtesy of Polygon. The full response from Ubisoft attorney Steven A. Marenberg picks apart the claims of plaintiffs Matthew Cassell and Alan Liu piece by piece, but the most common refrain is that The Crew's box made clear both that the game required an internet connection and that Ubisoft retained the right to revoke access "to one or more specific online features" with a 30-day notice at its own discretion.

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[–] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm not trying to frame this in the context of the lawsuit, even though that's the point of the original article. The Crew's nonfunctionality is just a consequence of our lack of ownership.

Perhaps this article would explain things better than I could.

Ultimately I think what consumers are looking for is less like ownership and more like a warranty

No. That's not true. Otherwise people wouldn't be reciting this phrase over and over again.

Consumers want to fucking own shit again! Renting everything is the entire fucking problem.