Like Taking Video Games From A Baby: Ubisoft Stealing Back Digital Copies of 'Assassin's Creed' From Users
Popular video game company Ubisoft (or should I say once-popular?) has done the thing everybody has been worried about since digital copies of games became the norm: They're stealing games back from their own customers.
They're not calling it stealing, they're just "removing access on Steam," but when you paid full price for a digital copy of a game, there's really nothing else to call it from your end.
Ubisoft announced today that they'd be removing access to some of their older games from Steam, a digital video gaming platform, even though the customers who use them there paid just as much for the games as someone who bought a physical copy, and will still have access to it later.
We will be deactivating online services on some of our older titles on September 1st, 2022. You can find the list of titles, platforms and impacts here. 👉 https://t.co/WB9R0g4BFw
— Ubisoft Support (@UbisoftSupport) July 1, 2022
One of the biggest games they will remove access to is Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD. This looks like it's been an extraoridinarily bad PR move for Ubisoft, if today's tweets (and their name trending) are any indication:
Take care when buying games from Ubisoft, they have no issues stealing them from you.
— Jack: The Happy-Go-Lucky Autist 🇺🇸 (@ChaosBahamut) July 10, 2022
Exhibit A: pic.twitter.com/N2hOGtaJnO
As far as I'm concerned it is ethically right to pirate Ubisoft games. Shuting down servers or taking a game off storefront suck but it is understandable to an extent due to costs of upkeep and disinterest.
— Actually_Tina_Tural_Tourist_Era_FFXIV (@Actually_Tina) July 11, 2022
Not allowing a consumer access to a single player game they own is theft
What makes this especially disgusting is that Ubisoft listed it as part of the Steam Summer sale, making it literally unplayable for some of the people who only just bought it. https://t.co/4niBjSfCHX
— DatNoFact ↗ (@datnofact.bsky.social) (@datnofact) July 11, 2022
Where are our refunds, @Ubisoft ?
— catovitch.bsky.social (@catovitch) July 11, 2022
You can either give us our money back or give us DRM-free versions of the games and DLC we paid for.
Making it so the games won't launch while keeping our money isn't on.
This eventuality has been something users of digital content have been concerned about since the ability to make permanent digital purchases began. Some are safeguarding their DVD libraries against the promises of "streaming will take care of everything" in case a company like Disney decides they need to move back to the "vault" model to make more profit.
It looks like Ubisoft beat them to the punch.
As some of the previous tweets mentioned, this decision is likely linked to the fact that a new Assassin's Creed game - an updated version of the one they're removing - will be coming out soon. They probably thought taking away the old copy was a good way to get people to buy the new one. (Which, as a player of every pokemon remake GameFreak has ever done, I find laughable.)
It will be interesting to see if and how Ubisoft recovers from this massive misstep. So far, they've blocked replies to their original announcement, so hopes are not high.
