The world of digital video game format is leaving truly terrifying stories. To the already well-known “you are not the owner of what you buy” we now have to add another practice that many companies implement, such as “I delete this game from your library because I feel like it.” AND Ubisoftwhich has been one of the last to do such a thing, may also have to face unwanted consequences with the law.
And with the excuse that they control the product they sell us, they always think that they can cut it, limit it or modify it at will and even eliminate it forever from our libraries (it doesn’t matter where we want to play it). This happened relatively recently with Ubisoft and his The Crewwhich when its second part began to arrive and the number of players decreased until it became residual, had no better idea than to remove it forever from user purchases after disconnecting from its servers.
Ubisoft and the legal consequences in its games
The problem with decisions like these is not that they are made, which is already serious, but that publishers how the French feel unpunished for so much abuse of the players. They do it because they believe it will have no consequences… until it does. And two users from California have decided to file a lawsuit against Ubisoft for deciding on your own that a game you sold and they bought is now no longer available in their libraries.
The lawsuit describes, figuratively, how he acted Ubisoft with The Crew: «“Imagine that you buy a pinball machine and, years later, you walk into your studio to play and discover that all the paddles are missing, that the machine and the flasks have disappeared, and that the monitor that proudly displayed your unquestionable high score has disappeared […] It turns out that the pinball manufacturer decided to break into his house, empty the inside of the pinball machine and take away his ability to play the game he bought and thought was his.”
Obviously what is at stake is not that our digital purchases have value years after a release is discontinued (as would be said in other types of services) but that the developer itself maintains a commitment to users to try to prevent its disappearance. Something that is at stake these days in which the digital format, whether we like it or not, is already prevailing with very, very high adoption percentages compared to the physical format.
Online games and their goodbye when they disconnect
What is on the table, with this demand or with others that will surely come, has to do with the developers responsibility with their online products and services, which they disconnect with impunity when a few years have passed and their games have been replaced by others. The law, European or American, must move in the direction of the user, to protect their spending and be able to generate guarantees that, even after abandoning it, there is the possibility of continuing to play the title on which we spent money.
But the first thing, before thinking about other things, is to end the impunity of companies that charge us and then remove their games from our libraries. Without the possibility of defending ourselves.
