Despite Ubisoft shutting down The Crew, which rendered the racing game unplayable last year, a dedicated community project known as The Crew Unlimited has successfully developed a solution to bring the title back online. This fan-driven revival is set to launch on September 15.
As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, this “server emulator project” is now nearing its official release. The fan-led team behind it has confirmed that “all that is left to do is to thoroughly test and validate the software.” The Crew Unlimited has also explicitly stated that it has “no affiliation with publisher Ubisoft or developer Ivory Tower” and that the mod will be available completely free of charge to all players.
Ubisoft officially ceased support for The Crew`s servers in March 2024. This action effectively made the game unplayable, even its single-player campaign, due to its mandatory online connection requirement. The decision led to significant backlash, including a lawsuit filed by some disgruntled players against Ubisoft. In response to the widespread community uproar, Ubisoft subsequently announced plans to introduce offline modes for its successor titles, The Crew 2 and The Crew: Motorfest.
The controversial shutdown of The Crew also sparked the creation of the “Stop Killing Games” movement, advocating for the preservation of access to older online titles. When questioned about this campaign during a shareholders` meeting in July, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot addressed the issue, stating, “We are committed to ensuring a positive experience for all players and buyers, recognizing that perpetual support for all games is unsustainable. This is a challenge we, and the broader industry, are actively addressing to lessen the impact on players.”
The Crew originally launched in late 2014, available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. The game later received two major expansions, titled Wild Run and Calling All Units, which expanded its content and gameplay.