The CEO of Ubisoft is not very consumer-friendly when it comes to preserving their games.
At a recent shareholders meeting, Ubisoft was confronted by the Stop Killing Games initiative, which demands regulation to prevent modern games from becoming inaccessible once official support ends. The campaign calls for lawmakers to pass legislation that would prevent publishers from “destroying” games that have already been sold to consumers. The movement was, in part, sparked by Ubisoft’s controversial shutdown of The Crew last year. The backlash included legal action and prompted Ubisoft to announce it would bring offline modes to The Crew 2 and The Crew: Motorfest.
According to Game File, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot faced an “aggressive questioner” at the meeting, pressing him about the Stop Killing Games movement. When it came to The Crew, Guillemot pointed out that Ubisoft had run a two-week promotion last September, selling the sequel for just one euro across several online stores. He also revealed that they plan to make the game available offline in the future.
“As for the petition, we operate in a market. Whenever we release a game, we provide extensive support. We also offer many services to keep the game accessible and playable 24/7. We keep players informed about the game’s status and its lifespan. Players and buyers are forewarned that the game may eventually be discontinued. This is an issue we’ve dealt with, but it isn’t unique to Ubisoft. All publishers face this issue. You provide a service, but nothing is set in stone, and at some point, the service may be discontinued. Nothing is eternal. We do everything we can to make things go smoothly for all players and customers, because, clearly, not every game can be supported forever.
That’s an issue we’re working on. It’s something the industry as a whole is working on to minimize the impact on players. But, obviously, it’s something to consider. If a piece of software has a service component, it can be discontinued, because over time software becomes obsolete. Many tools become obsolete in 10–15 years and are no longer available. That’s why we release new versions. So, there’s version two, then version three. But it’s clearly a far-reaching issue, and we’re working on it,” Guillemot said.
The situation is made worse by Ubisoft’s persistent use of Denuvo DRM, which the French publisher almost never removes from its games.
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