A proposed class action lawsuit claims that The Crew players have been 'duped'. It compares the game's shutdown to Ubisoft breaking in and stealing pinball machine parts from your home.

Two Californians have filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft for fraud and other complaints due to the publisher's shutting down of The Crew last April. This left players unable even to access the singleplayer part of this online-only race game. The lawsuit (spotted by Polygon), while only involving two plaintiffs, also includes claims on behalf of many other players. Plaintiffs hope that the court will accept it as a "class action."

Both plaintiffs bought The Crew late in its lifecycle - in 2018 and 2020 - and purchased physical copies. This is a key factor in the lawsuit. The lawsuit states that "Plaintiff Cassell believed that by purchasing the physical Game disc, he acquired the full package of ownership rights for the Game and that he could use the disk whenever he desired in the future."

The lawsuit claims that Ubisoft misled plaintiffs through the packaging of the game. "Defendants also reinforced that belief by including language in the Product packaging stating that the Online portion of the Game can be retired, thus representing to consumers that there is an offline portion of Game that will not be affected." The packaging of the Product falsely claimed that The Crew was encoded on physical disks or digital files that consumers could purchase and download.

The plaintiffs' attorneys claim that Ubisoft committed fraud and violated California's Unfair Competition Law by not making it clear that they were purchasing a license for digital content or that they might lose access to all of the game. Here is the full list of allegations:

• Violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act
• California Unfair Competition Law Violation
• California False Advertising Law Violation
• Fraud
• Fraudulent Inducement
• Fraudulent Misrepresentation
• Breach of express warranty
• Breach of implied warranty

The lawsuit cites other instances when online games have been shut down but only after the developers released a patch that allowed players to continue playing them. This includes Ubisoft titles like Assassin's creed 2 and 3. Ubisoft promised that after the initial backlash following The Crew's closure, it would also include offline versions for The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest. Just not the original.

The lawsuit is exhaustive and includes information on The Crew's history, the definition of gaming server, quotes from consumers, and the background of YouTuber Ross Scott’s Stop Killing Games Campaign. The lawyers' use of a wild analogy to explain Ubisoft's decision to shut down The Crew's servers really stood out. It's like Ubisoft stealing parts of your pinball machine from your house.

Imagine you bought a pinball game and then years later you go to play it in your den, only to find that the paddles, pinball, bumpers, and monitor that displayed your unassailable score are all missing. The pinball machine maker decided to come to your home and gut the insides, removing your ability to play a game that you thought you owned. You paid full price for this game but you didn't know that the manufacturer would come and take away everything you paid for.

The complaint is not unreasonable, but the comparison to pinball machine theft seems baffling. Not least because more people play online than own pinball machines. This is not a strange, esoteric situation that requires a pinball comparison to make it relatable. The disparity in value makes it even stranger. The lawsuit does not mention how much plaintiffs paid for copies of The Crew. However, at least one of the plaintiffs purchased it during a sales event. Regardless, I will go out on a dare and suggest that in 2018, a copy The Crew did not cost as much as a Pinball Machine.

A few sections elevate this suit above the standard, very dry legal document. There's one section that attempts to break down the videogames history, titled "Video Games: From Past to Present". It starts off like an essay for high school: "Home-use consoles for videogames emerged in 1970s." The article goes on to explain how console cartridges became popular, the birth and use of MMOs, and the use servers.

The section devoted to the consumer backlash contains some gems as well, including tweets such as "What about the Crew 1?" Mfs, the crew 1 looks better than the Crew 2". And "Crew 1, just dead then?" I bet that Twitter user MGS didn't think his tweet calling Ubisoft "motherfuckers" would become a legal document.

The plaintiffs, despite the lawsuit being a little over the top -- "Plaintiff Cassell has suffered, and continues suffering, economic injuries" -- are looking for a refund. The lawsuit also asks for the court to order Ubisoft "to disgorge all revenues as a result their violations of UCL [Unfair Competition Law]" as well as to cover the legal costs. Ubisoft's costs will be significantly increased, and this is just with two plaintiffs. Ubisoft will be hit with a huge bill if the class action is successful.