Ubisoft finally learned a valuable lesson about always online games, but it's still too late

What you need to know

In a livestream dedicated to its The Crew franchise, Ubisoft has made a series of important announcements, but one stands out to most.
The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest will both, at some point, be updated to include an offline mode.
This comes after community outrage that the first game in the series was completely killed when Ubisoft turned off the servers without adding an offline mode to allow players to keep playing a game they’d bought.

As a long-time gamer and analyst who has seen the evolution of digital gaming over the years, I can wholeheartedly appreciate Ubisoft’s recent announcement regarding The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest. It is undeniably refreshing to see a company take heed of community feedback and make amends for past mistakes – even if it comes a bit late for some of us, like the disc that sits as a reminder of a game I never truly owned due to the absence of an offline mode in The Crew.

Despite Ubisoft often making headlines, this time it’s for a positive reason, albeit possibly too late for some gamers. In response to the uproar caused by their decision to shut down servers for The Crew, the original game in the open-world racing series, future installments will not meet the same end.

The issue wasn’t so much turning off the servers, after all, it’s an inevitability that when older games no longer warrant the costs involved in such an enterprise, this is what will happen. The issue was that The Crew had no offline mode, which meant that when the servers went dark, the game was no longer playable in any form. A game a lot of people had paid good money for.

In the future, both The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest will have an offline mode, as Ubisoft has taken note of this from past experiences and made a relevant announcement.

Ultimately, Ubisoft Ivory Tower promised continued accessibility for both The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest, meaning these games should remain playable for quite some time, even with a planned offline mode on the horizon.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll see a revival of the original game in the series, which unfortunately remains inactive. My copy, like many others, will just continue to sit as a memento of something I paid Ubisoft for but never truly possessed.

Ubisoft finally learned a valuable lesson about always online games, but it's still too late

When I originally covered the news of The Crew’s impending shutdown, I headlined it with the term “one of gaming’s worst trends” and I stand by that. It’s come to mind once more this week with the total mess that has been the Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown launch, with servers that were completely hosed during the paid for early access period.

It’s completely understandable why some people think it’s essential for games like these to offer an offline mode. While shared open worlds can be enjoyable, a racing game doesn’t necessarily require real players; artificial intelligence opponents can serve the purpose equally well. Unfortunately, content from earlier versions of The Crew series, such as its vast array of features, is no longer accessible because the servers were turned off. Fortunately, Ubisoft responded to player feedback and chose to keep their newer titles functional.

Game preservation should be a topic we all care about. We have to fight enough against live service, always online requirements, and the dreaded expiration date of licenses. That final point hit home most recently with the influx of interest in the old Activision-made Deadpool game, something that can now only be bought on the used market and for increasingly extortionate prices.

By utilizing services like Xbox Game Pass, it’s understood that we don’t personally own the games we engage with. Instead, access is granted as part of the service. However, when it comes to games we purchase directly, a higher level of quality should be expected.

Thank you, Ubisoft, for making sure that I, along with many others, can continue playing The Crew 2 even when the servers are shut down. It’s clear a valuable lesson has been taken to heart. Now, could we also discuss the possibility of an offline mode for The Division? I’m growing anxious about potentially losing one of my favorite gaming franchises.

2024-09-11 15:09

Ubisoft finally learned a valuable lesson about always online games, but it’s still too late

What you need to know

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