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PayPalVideo game preservation is important, and now the French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir are getting into a fight with Ubisoft over The Crew. UFC-Que Choisir announced this today, with support from the Stop Killing Games movement.
Launched originally back in 2014, it was delisted in December 2023 and then Ubisoft shut down servers it required in March, 2024 so no one who purchased it was able to play it officially after that date. Ubisoft then began stripping away peoples licenses for the game, so you couldn't even install it.
This case could end up proving to be quite a big one, especially on the subject of publishers being able to completely turn off a game that people have purchased. A topic that comes up quite often, as we've seen numerous games just completely vanish over the years. It's not just a question of licenses versus ownership, but of games having expiration dates that you're not informed of when buying them.
It's often a problem with how the bigger games are designed, entirely relying on their proprietary server systems with micro-transactions they never open up to others even when they entirely move on from them. It would require some rethinking from the industry if lawsuits like this actually went in the consumer's favour.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment,
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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19 comments
GustyGhost 16 hours ago
[Tethering a product or program means designing it with features that can function only through communication with a restricted set of servers, through a protocol that you could not make your own server speak. That is always an injustice since it means you can't use the program without one of these servers. It is also a secondary injustice if you can't communicate with the servers in another way.Funny enough, there is an entry on that page for 2024-11: "Ubisoft is facing a fraud lawsuit for shutting down the proprietary video game The Crew..."
In some cases, tethering is used to do specific nasty things to the users.](https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary-tethers.html)
2 Likes
williamjcm 16 hours ago
Same group that sued Valve back in 2019 on the subject of Steam not allowing transferring accounts or selling individual games, by the way.
While UFC-Que Choisir won the initial trial, Valve won the appeal, and the Cour de cassation (the French equivalent to the US' Supreme Court) upheld the appeal's ruling.
While UFC-Que Choisir won the initial trial, Valve won the appeal, and the Cour de cassation (the French equivalent to the US' Supreme Court) upheld the appeal's ruling.
9 Likes
Vive la révolution, obviously.
4 Likes
gaboversta 16 hours ago
I still remember many years ago when I bought Age of Empires 3 with both DLC on physical disc. Somewhere on the box it said that the ESO game servers needed for online play would be running until at least 2030.
Even back then I was shocked by the possibility of some day not being able to play just the online multiplayer anymore, more than a decade in the future. The game itself and local multiplayer would still work and yet young me realized that having the thing I bought with my money being downgraded later was bad.
Last edited by gaboversta on 31 Mar 2026 at 6:04 pm UTC
Even back then I was shocked by the possibility of some day not being able to play just the online multiplayer anymore, more than a decade in the future. The game itself and local multiplayer would still work and yet young me realized that having the thing I bought with my money being downgraded later was bad.
Last edited by gaboversta on 31 Mar 2026 at 6:04 pm UTC
8 Likes
Quoting: gaboverstaI still remember many years ago when I bought Age of Empires 3 with both DLC on physical disc. Somewhere on the box it said that the ESO game servers needed for online play would be running until at least 2030.Has been shut down in 2024, if Google serves well?
4 Likes
Caldathras 15 hours ago
Would this be the French equivalent of a class-action lawsuit? It's no less than Ubisoft deserves.
4 Likes
Quoting: williamjcmSame group that sued Valve back in 2019 on the subject of Steam not allowing transferring accounts or selling individual games, by the way.So you're saying France's legal system is just as corrupt as the US? That's depressing.
While UFC-Que Choisir won the initial trial, Valve won the appeal, and the Cour de cassation (the French equivalent to the US' Supreme Court) upheld the appeal's ruling.
3 Likes
I can't believe nobody's taking Ubisoft's side here . . . hang on, yes I can.
4 Likes
This case specifically is a good test case as nothing in this game should technically be able to run entirely without the servers. Anything multiplayer is entirely optional and therefore having it locked down is clearly just a kill switch.
3 Likes
Kimyrielle 14 hours ago
Quoting: SakuretsuHope the consumer group wins. That's what Ubislop deserves.What Ubisoft deserves is bankruptcy. But I take them losing that lawsuit, too.
3 Likes
williamjcm 10 hours ago
Quoting: Eocene84I feel like you're putting words in my mouth here.Quoting: williamjcmSame group that sued Valve back in 2019 on the subject of Steam not allowing transferring accounts or selling individual games, by the way.So you're saying France's legal system is just as corrupt as the US? That's depressing.
While UFC-Que Choisir won the initial trial, Valve won the appeal, and the Cour de cassation (the French equivalent to the US' Supreme Court) upheld the appeal's ruling.
1 Likes
RenardDesMers 9 hours ago
Quoting: Eocene84It's much less corrupt than the supreme court but they uphold laws. The laws themselves might not be the best but that's up to the law makers.Quoting: williamjcmSame group that sued Valve back in 2019 on the subject of Steam not allowing transferring accounts or selling individual games, by the way.So you're saying France's legal system is just as corrupt as the US? That's depressing.
While UFC-Que Choisir won the initial trial, Valve won the appeal, and the Cour de cassation (the French equivalent to the US' Supreme Court) upheld the appeal's ruling.
As always, I still miss Totalbiscuit as he was a great advocate for gamers as consumers.
Last edited by RenardDesMers on 1 Apr 2026 at 12:36 am UTC
1 Likes
"What are your thoughts? Leave a comment,"
RMS was right, join us and share the software...
but at the same time "this ship has sailed", its not enough to fight by making free software alternatives, we need preservation of the softwares and games regardless of if they are free or proprietary, companies shouldnt have the right to take away things from people forever especially if they paid for those things, its stealing.
RMS was right, join us and share the software...
but at the same time "this ship has sailed", its not enough to fight by making free software alternatives, we need preservation of the softwares and games regardless of if they are free or proprietary, companies shouldnt have the right to take away things from people forever especially if they paid for those things, its stealing.
0 Likes
Quoting: williamjcmDon't see how. That was the conclusion I came to based on what you said. Not my problem if you want to take it that way.Quoting: Eocene84I feel like you're putting words in my mouth here.Quoting: williamjcmSame group that sued Valve back in 2019 on the subject of Steam not allowing transferring accounts or selling individual games, by the way.So you're saying France's legal system is just as corrupt as the US? That's depressing.
While UFC-Que Choisir won the initial trial, Valve won the appeal, and the Cour de cassation (the French equivalent to the US' Supreme Court) upheld the appeal's ruling.
Last edited by Eocene84 on 1 Apr 2026 at 1:05 am UTC
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Linux_Rocks 6 hours ago
Omelette du fromage!
1 Likes
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment,Don't forget to like and subscribe!
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Linux_Rocks 2 hours ago
Quoting: pbHit the notification bell for updates.What are your thoughts? Leave a comment,Don't forget to like and subscribe!
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Liam Dawe 26 minutes ago
Quoting: Linux_RocksAnd subscribe to our Patreon ;)Quoting: pbHit the notification bell for updates.What are your thoughts? Leave a comment,Don't forget to like and subscribe!
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