A major French consumers group is taking Ubisoft to court over the publisher’s ending of online support for The Crew in March 2024, rendering the notionally singleplayer-friendly open world racer unplayable. They’re acting with the backing of the Stop Killing Games movement, who want publishers at large to stop yanking servers and taking games offline.

In a French language statement on their site, which I am just about able to decipher, UFC-Que Choisir argue that Ubisoft have infringed upon consumer rights by shutting The Crew down, while questioning the broad legitimacy of selling people a license to access games that may later be revoked by the publishers.

They think it’s wrong that Ubisoft can end server support without providing alternative ways of playing always-online games, or offering refunds. They also think Ubisoft’s marketing department should have done more before release to inform The Crew players that their access to the game might be withdrawn. The consumer group are hoping that their legal case will serve as a precedent for other cases of publishers pulling the plug, noting that a lot of games nowadays require or rely heavily upon internet access.

All of which is in keeping with the talking points of Stop Killing Games, who have been trying to persuade players, lawyers and politicians to act against online game shutdowns for almost exactly two years. YouTuber Ross Scott launched Stop Killing Games in April 2024, days after Ubisoft called time on The Crew. The movement inspired a petition to the UK government that prompted a parliamentary debate, followed by a petition to the European Commission that attracted around 1.5 million signatures, including an endorsement from the EU Parliament’s vice president.

This isn’t the first time Ubisoft have been taken to court on the subject. Two Californian players launched a class action lawsuit in November 2024, which Ubisoft tried to have dismissed last April. Trade advocates have rallied to the publisher’s banner. Video Games Europe has complained that SKG’s proposals for preserving online games would make them “prohibitively expensive to create”.

As for the government response, a UK minister has resisted calls to forbid the practice of retiring online-required games, while commenting that publishers need to “communicate better” on the subject. Meanwhile, a bunch of modders have launched a Crew server revival project, so that people who already own copies can keep playing.

In a post on their subreddit, Stop Killing Games volunteer Mr_Presidentle comments that “this has been building in the background for over a year and a half and it’s now reached the point where one of the largest consumer organizations in France is taking this forward”. Regarding the EU petition, he adds that there’s going to be a public hearing at the European Parliament on April 16th, with Ross attending in person. We’ll have more for you on the day, I expect.