Ubisoft confirms The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest will receive offline modes

After shutting down the original The Crew earlier this year, Ubisoft has announced that its sequels will include offline modes, allowing them to be played even when the servers are no longer available.

The details:

• Ubisoft shut down the online servers for The Crew in March after it was removed from marketplaces the previous year, rendering the always-online title completely unplayable. Shortly after, it was discovered that the publisher was quietly revoking users' licenses to the game, preventing them from installing it. The decision sparked further outrage from consumer rights advocates, prompting the formation of Stop Killing Games, an initiative dedicated to challenging publishers on the legality of releasing paid games that players will no longer be able to access at a later date.

• Ubisoft has taken note of the feedback, and during the most recent Crew Motorfest showcase, developer Ivory Tower confirmed that both The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest will receive true offline modes in the future. “We want to acknowledge that some of you voiced concern about the access to The Crew games,” said senior creative director Stéphane Beley. “Today, we want to express our commitment to the future of The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest. We are currently exploring different solutions, and can confirm an offline mode to ensure long-term access to both titles.”

• Following the announcement, Stop Killing Games founder and YouTuber Ross Scott (Accursed Farms) shared his thoughts on the news on X. “The Crew 2 and Motorsport is getting an offline mode,” Scott wrote. Hopefully this is in response to consumer agencies in multiple countries investigating the legality of them disabling The Crew 1, which was sold as a one-time purchase with no stated expiration date.”

• While its sequels have received offline modes, it appears unlikely that the feature will be retroactively added to the original 2014 title, rendering it unplayable unless Ubisoft intends to re-release the game in the future.

More gaming news:

• Sony has unveiled the PS5 Pro, which offers improvements to the console's GPU, the introduction of upscaling, and boosts to general performance.

• Minecraft will now receive more frequent updates as opposed to a single major update in the summer, and the controversial mob vote has been scrapped.