France’s leading consumer protection association has filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft over the permanent shutdown of The Crew — marking the first major court test of whether publishers can legally render purchased games completely unplayable.
The lawsuit is brought by UFC-Que Choisir (Union Fédérale des Consommateurs — Que Choisir), France’s largest and most prominent consumer rights organisation. It targets Ubisoft’s decision to shut down The Crew’s servers in March 2024 and simultaneously render the purchased game entirely non-functional, with backing from the Stop Killing Games campaign.
What The Crew Shutdown Did and Why It Is Being Challenged
The Crew, developed by Ivory Tower and published by Ubisoft, launched in December 2014 as an open-world racing game requiring a persistent internet connection to operate. Ubisoft shut the game’s servers on 31 March 2024, at which point every player who had ever purchased the title — including those who bought it shortly before the shutdown announcement — found they owned software that no longer functioned in any capacity.
The Legal Argument
UFC-Que Choisir’s case rests on French consumer law, which provides stronger buyer protections than many comparable markets. The association argues that selling a product under a permanent licence and then rendering it entirely non-functional constitutes a violation of the consumer’s ownership rights. The lawsuit seeks compensation for affected players and — critically — a ruling that would establish legal precedent against this practice across the games industry.
The Stop Killing Games campaign, founded and led by content creator Ross Scott (known from his Freeman’s Mind video series), provided organisational support for the UFC-Que Choisir action. Stop Killing Games gathered over one million signatures for a European Citizens’ Initiative on digital ownership in gaming, which compelled the European Parliament to formally consider the issue.
Ubisoft’s Position
Ubisoft has not issued a public response to the specific lawsuit at time of writing. During The Crew shutdown, the company’s position was that the game’s always-online architecture made continued server operation economically unviable, and that shutdown terms were disclosed in the end-user licence agreement. UFC-Que Choisir’s lawsuit challenges whether those EULA terms are legally enforceable against the consumer’s right to a product that functions.
Why This Case Matters Beyond France
This lawsuit is the first time a major consumer organisation with genuine legal standing has taken a game publisher to court specifically over a game shutdown that destroyed purchased content. A ruling in favour of UFC-Que Choisir would set precedent across the EU under the bloc’s consumer protection framework — a framework that applies in every EU member state.
For Southeast Asian players, the implications are indirect but real. The titles most vulnerable to shutdown-style access revocation are always-online live-service games, which dominate SEA gaming markets. Racing games, online action titles, and multiplayer experiences tied to server infrastructure are popular across Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. A ruling that such shutdowns constitute unlawful destruction of purchased property would reshape end-of-life decisions for publishers globally.
What Stop Killing Games Is Actually Asking For
Ross Scott and Stop Killing Games have been explicit about their objective: not to force publishers to maintain servers forever, but to require that games be patched into a playable state — offline mode, LAN support, or equivalent — before shutdown. This is technically achievable for most titles and represents a middle ground between publisher costs and consumer rights.
What Comes Next
The UFC-Que Choisir lawsuit proceeds through the French legal system — typically a multi-month to multi-year process. A ruling in favour of the association would be a landmark moment for digital ownership rights globally. Publishers well beyond Ubisoft — every major company with always-online titles in their catalogue — are watching this case.
Ubisoft’s position in the market has been difficult throughout 2024 and into 2025, with a series of commercial disappointments adding financial pressure. The legal complexity of this case arrives at a challenging moment for the company.
