The Crew’s Demise Prompted Gamers Rallying Against Publishers Shutting Down Online-Only Games
The Crew’s Demise Prompted Gamers Rallying Against Publishers Shutting Down Online-Only Games
Recently, The Crew – the first title of Ubisoft’s street racing franchise is shutting down for good after nearly 10 years of online service. This, however, has triggered what is likely the biggest movement to urge regulators to step in due to publishers potentially pushing for games with planned obsolescence.
Publishers shutting down legacy game servers is nothing new, as games that rely on multiplayer often get shut down over time when player base dwindles, to make room for newer games. However, one worrying trend is that games are increasingly focusing on being online by nature. In some cases, the game is completely inaccessible if there is no active connection present, even if parts of the game, such as single-player mode, can technically function without it.
In response, YouTuber Ross Scott has launched the “Stop Killing Games” campaign. In the video, he said: “From my perspective, this has felt like a slow-moving coup to take away ownership from more and more people over time.” According to Scott, this campaign is launched at this time because The Crew‘s demise just so happens to be the best opportunity for him to present his case as Ubisoft, the publisher, is headquartered in France – where powerful consumer protection laws are present.
He presented a crucial question regarding publishers ‘killing’ games over a period of time: does this count as a violation of consumer protection laws, as what is bought by the consumer is not actually owned by the consumer? There’s a crucial point here – consumers are not informed beforehand of the ‘expiry date’, and they will assume games will forever work as long as the hardware supports it, as this has been the case for games that were created in the early days of video games.
He also urges gamers around the world to take action and, if possible, petition the government to look into the legality of such actions. “The legality of this practice is untested worldwide, and many governments do not have clear laws regarding these actions. It is our goal to have authorities examine this behavior and hopefully end it, as it is an assault on both consumer rights and preservation of media,” he wrote on the campaign website.
The goal of the campaign is to force regulators to draw a clear line on what must be done on online-only video games when official support ends, and this includes mandating modifications or patches to allow offline play (or P2P multiplayer) once the official support ends.
Source: PCMag
Pokdepinion: I do think that publishers have taken a step too far when it comes to the always-online multiplayer model. Hopefully this will be looked into by regulators worldwide.
