Ubisoft is stripping people's licences for The Crew weeks after its shutdown, nearly squandering hopes of fan servers and acting as a stark reminder of how volatile digital ownership is

The downside of digital ownership has reared its ugly head for enjoyers of Ubisoft's open-world multiplayer racer The Crew. The publisher has revoked its licence for those who owned it on Ubisoft Connect, almost destroying fan ambitions to revive the game in both an offline and online format.

The Crew was pulled from sale back in December, with Ubisoft revealing that the servers would be shut down at the beginning of April. Frustratingly, despite a large portion of the game being doable in singleplayer, The Crew remained an online-only endeavour throughout its decade-long lifespan. That had already rendered the game unplayable, but it seems Ubisoft is determined to take things one step further to stamp out any attempts to continue playing it past its expiry date.

Fans began to notice earlier in the week that the licence to the game had been snatched away from them. A message at the top of the game's library page reads «You no longer have access to this game. Why not check the Store to pursue your adventures?» It's also been moved to its own individual section in player libraries, listed under «inactive games». Apparently booting the game directly from the installation directory will still launch the game, but only in a demo mode.

The news has, unsurprisingly, gone down very poorly. «This was the saddest and most ruthless decision I've ever seen in gaming history,» one Redditor commented after a screenshot began circulating on the site. «I will always fight for digital media, I love all the advantages it gives to users all around the world. But this… we need protection on the national or European level, that when we purchase something, we need to have lifetime access to it. No matter what.»

A further Reddit user called it «Really abhorrent behavior that needs to stop being legal,» with another writing «In an ideal world, revoking a license like this should entitle the buyer to a refund. I'm not sure why they're even bothering doing this. The game isn't playable