Ubisoft had recently dealt with a lawsuit soon after they decided to shut down the servers for their 2014 game The Crew. While the issues are still ongoing, the company did emphasize that players are buying ‘licenses’ and not the actual game.
Though the players who sued Ubisoft were trying to get legislation made to make sure that studios make games playable in perpetuity, the concept of ‘owning’ a game just doesn’t seem to be in the books for modern titles—specifically live-service ones.
Purchasing ‘Licenses’ vs. Games
For context, Ubisoft’s lawyers (via IGN) wrote this about the lawsuit against them regarding the shutdown of The Crew servers:
The [essence] of the plaintiffs’ complaint is that Ubisoft allegedly misled purchasers of its video game The Crew into believing they were purchasing unfettered ownership rights in the game, rather than a limited license to access the game. But the reality is that consumers received the benefit of their bargain and were explicitly notified, at the time of purchase, that they were purchasing a license.
So to be clear, when players bought The Crew, they were buying a license to access the server, but not really the game itself. Traditionally, owning a full playable version of a game was possible with older titles, but with a live service-focused title like The Crew, it would take a lot more work to be able to deliver what the plaintiffs were demanding in the lawsuit.
It Makes Sense from a Dev Standpoint
Though the concept of owning a full game does sound fair for consumers, the idea of shutting down a server for a dead game makes a lot more sense from a developer standpoint. Pirate Software, who was also approached to support the lawsuit against Ubisoft, had spoken out about this and said that he won’t be supporting the initiative, since the language is vague, and most devs would probably not agree.
On the development end, it would take a lot of work to make a game— that was marketed as a live service experience—a playable offline version. The process is apparently so complicated that it wouldn’t be worth the trouble; it’s not as simple as just releasing a patch and leaving the game alone; devs would have to find a way to keep running it indefinitely.
Take note, this isn’t just done with The Crew, but mobile games also have a lot of reliance on live-service, and titles like Star Wars: Hunters had to be closed down with no offline version in site.
It’s Where It’s Headed
click to enlargeThough it may be anti-consumer, going digitally exclusive does seem to be where the game industry is headed these days. That’s why there are digital-only versions of consoles like the Xbox Series S and PS5. Even Nintendo got flak when they were said to be releasing physical game keycard which are essentially physical download links that don’t even include the full game.
If it’s any consolation, this is all just speculation. With the arrival of GTA VI expected to be a huge turning point for the industry, fans will just have to wait and see. Some think a $100 price tag could save games, but others think that it will ultimately turn players off to massive AAA titles; and they will instead turn to indie developers who can provide more affordable experiences.
In the meantime, the video game industry is at a current low with all the shutdowns and layoffs, but some are hopeful a turning point is on the horizon.
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