this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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Michael @LegacyKillaHD

This is just horrifying.

Ubisoft CONFIRMS they will delete your account & purchased games if you go inactive for too long!!!

Ubisoft.. WTF?! Another example of why I'm becoming more & more concerned with the death of physical games.

https://twitter.com/LegacyKillaHD/status/1682653876418224129

Ubisoft Support @UbisoftSupport

Hey there. We just wanted to chime in that you can avoid the account closure by logging into your account within the 30 days (since receiving the email pictured) and selecting the Cancel Account Closure link contained in the email. We certainly do not want you to lose access to your games or account so if you have any difficulties logging in then please create a support case with us. >> ubisoft.com/help

https://twitter.com/UbisoftSupport/status/1682046437834784768

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[–] Holymoly@lemmynsfw.com 276 points 1 year ago (3 children)

They’re making the case for pirating games even better.

What fucking morons

[–] Underwear@lemmy.world 164 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I saw a great quote,

"It's not pirating if buying it isn't owning it".

[–] gerbler@lemmy.world 47 points 1 year ago (4 children)

It's definitely still pirating. I think the quote uses the term "stealing".

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[–] dojan@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Don't feel bad about pirating AAA titles. See, the creatives and people that actually put work into the game have already been paid - usually at least. There are cases like Bethesda, who stole work from their composer - and so you're not taking any profits from the people that matter.

Any money you'd pay to license a game would mostly just go to shareholders and greedy execs.

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[–] ABCDE@lemmy.world 189 points 1 year ago (2 children)

"We certainly do not want you to lose access to your games or account"

So why do this? Corporate greed.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't even see how greed motivates this. I can't think of anyone that would go back to Ubisoft games after being locked out. Even assuming they were the scummiest of publishers, how does this give them anything other than bad press and sworn-off customers?

[–] HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

They're hoping this will actually entice people to come back. Following that "get people in the door first and then worry about what you'll sell them" business model, it's the same logical reason that Costco has super cheap hot dogs that they lose money on, and Epic Games has free games every week. It's just to get you to into a position where you can be marketed to.

That's the more "amicable" business strategy though. The more sinister possibility is, well, a constantly running app (the Ubisoft launcher is configured to start on boot by default, and even if you turn that off it spawns a background process as soon as you click on it at least till you reboot), always online with full user permissions and filesystem access is a very powerful thing, you've gotten yourself a pretty capable Trojan virus that people are willingly installing and granting whatever permissions you need! Plenty of Windows users are also in the habit of using the admin user with system access for literally everything, which makes it even easier for them to exploit.

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[–] SJ0@lemmy.fbxl.net 126 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Huh. I've got some games on Ubisofts store.... Well, maybe not anymore.

You'll have to explain to me why I shouldn't just steal any future Ubisoft titles if they steal all mine first...

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Yeah, was just thinking I should log in sometime. If it's gone, I got it free off epic anyway, so no big loss, but also a better reason to sail them digital season.

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[–] gosling@lemmy.world 70 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What happened to owning something you've paid for forever?

These companies need to realize if they keep fucking over their paying customer, it'll be more convenient for people to just pirate their product. At least FitGirl won't knock on my door and demand me to delete his repack off my hard disk just because I haven't visited his site in a while

[–] BrudderAaron@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Yar har fiddly dee. Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free.

As "wrong" as stealing is, I find it more wrong that companies can keep fucking us over like this without reprimand. Triple A games are becoming more and more difficult to justify the new $70 price tag.

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[–] kite@lemmy.world 69 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's like they want people to pirate their games.

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[–] suckaduck@lemmy.world 64 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Guess I'm no longer buying games by Ubisoft. I spend hundreds in their store and they're going to delete my account if I'm inactive to long? You can't be making this shit up.

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[–] gogosempai@programming.dev 57 points 1 year ago

And then they wonder why they can't compete with Steam and end up crawling back to Gabe for every game.

[–] inexplicablehaddock@lemmy.loungerat.io 54 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I've not been buying Ubisoft games since the sexual harassment scandal back in 2020, and this only reaffirms my choice not to buy anything from them. It's not just scummy, it's pointlessly scummy.

Admittedly, physical copies of games don't resolve this issue either: legally speaking when you own a physical disk, all you own is the disk itself- not the contents. The only way to actually fix this issue is better consumer protection laws.

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[–] RichardButt89@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago

Y'ARRR MATEYS!

[–] 0Xero0@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago (5 children)

One more company to add to my "Pirate Only" list

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[–] yemmy@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I just had a horrible experience with Assassins game purchased through Steam. I had bought the game few years back. Played some and stopped. And deleted my Ubisoft account. This week I downloaded the game again hoping to play it. I created a new Ubisoft account but the game wouldn’t launch.

Hours spent with the support got me nowhere. In summary, their response is that since the original Ubisoft account was linked to the purchase, they cannot now link the game to the new account.

I provided the Steam proof of purchase but that didn’t help.

Steam support didn’t help either.

I can’t play a game I purchased and own.

This should be illegal!

[–] TulipanJones@kbin.social 23 points 1 year ago

But that’s the neat part! You don’t actually own your games. You own the right to play a copy of the game, but if they don’t wanna provide a working copy, then you can’t play anymore. It’s all in the terms and agreements we click “I agree” on

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[–] Potfarmer@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Well guess I won't be "renting" any games from them then. If I buy something it means I own it, in perpetuity. In fact I'm fairly certain Europe has laws against this, though Ubisoft will probably just have to pay a "fine" that is more a gentle slap on the wrist. We need to stop fining these companies, it does not stop them from breaking the law repeatedly. Stop arresting pirates, start arresting CEO's.

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[–] DrMango@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

Fuck Ubisoft

[–] LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

Ha! I deleted my own account before they could, jokes on you Ubi!! Jokes aside, fuck ubisoft. I primarily buy games from GOG. Recommended everyone to do the same 🐖

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[–] Desistance@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

This is why Steam got the lion's share. Ubisoft is mad disrespectful.

[–] hardypart@feddit.de 21 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I really can't imagine that this complies with EU law.

[–] Grangle1@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

Which makes it even more strange considering Ubisoft is based in the EU.

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[–] Froody@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

Well that definitely won't get people to put on their pirate hats...

[–] Mozami@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I logged into steam after like 10 years no problem.

[–] Boiglenoight@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I trust Steam to maintain my library the same as any bank with my money. I don’t feel that way toward any other service.

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[–] obinice@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Imagine buying something from these people after this.

Yes, sometimes I don't play a game for 5 years, but I bought and own it, and I know it'll be there when I come back to it.

....unless it's Ubisoft, then purchases aren't really purchases, and you don't have any right to expect your property to be there when you get back 🤦‍♀️

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't own it, though. The same can happen on Steam, though they're obviously not that shitty. The only store that lets you "own" games is GOG, that's why you won't find new games by shitty companies there.

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[–] TPetrichor@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

How long is "too long"? If I lose my Anno empires I will shit bricks

[–] Smacks@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

It's always ethical to pirate Ubisoft games

[–] HR_Pufnstuf@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

I've heard they are doing this to comply with things like GDPR. If that's the case, and they are deleting accounts to not be storing personal information longer than allowed, then before closing your account, they should email you an encrypted bundle of your data that you could later send back to them to restore your account. It wouldn't be against those laws if they send it to you to keep... and it would provide you with a path back to full restoration.

[–] Lurker@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Why do so many people, usually children, think digital games are a good idea? Absolute scam, and it's only going to get worse. Next gen of consoles will probably be all digital. You will lose access to games for seemingly no reason, everything will be $70, no trading, no selling, and no one but the big guys making a dime from the sale.

Please shop at your local game stores, don't buy digital. You are not only ripping yourself off, but helping to enable a future where you don't even really own the games you buy. Look at ubisoft right now. You bought those games. You own them. They're literally stealing games just to try and force you to buy another copy.

Con artists.

[–] Baconheatedradiator@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What about pc gaming? As far as I'm aware physical pc games don't exist anymore.

[–] Hextic@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Yeah when I hear about mUh pHySiCaL games I smell a console user. PC hasn't had physical in over a decade. Unless you like Hidden Object games.

No, our defense isn't physical it's just DRM free cracking or a GOG library.

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[–] kamen@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Maybe related to these changes, maybe due to something else, I don't know, but a Ubisoft game I have installed through Steam (Far Cry New Dawn) stopped launching for me. I tried verifying game files through Steam (more than once), but that by itself didn't help. What worked however was uninstalling Ubisoft Connect, then verifying game files again through Steam (which sadly installs Ubisoft Connect again), then launching the game (which initiated a Ubisoft Connect update for me). Hope that helps someone.

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