Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Ubisoft turns off online services for over 90 games

In a post on its website, Ubisoft, the publishing giant behind numerous blockbuster triple-A franchises, announced that it is shutting down online services in over 90 of its games.

Owners of any of the games Ubisoft listed will still be able to play their games, just without any of their online features. Things like online co-op and multiplayer will no longer be available. Likewise, users will no longer be able to unlock Units from any games that used Ubisoft Connect services. Units are a special currency used by the publisher that players could unlock by completing in-game challenges to spend on cosmetics.

Unlockable content in these games, which Ubisoft describes as “maps and skins” are disabled going forward, meaning players can no longer unlock them. For PC players, these pieces of content are being removed entirely, even if they’ve already been redeemed. Console players will still have access to unlockable content in their games as long as they don’t reset their saved game files.

As for the games that have been affected by Ubisoft’s online service shutdown, they’re a mishmash of popular and less well-known titles, but only releases on specific platforms have been affected. Far Cry Blood Dragon has had its online services shut down across PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, for instance. It’s worth noting that some of the games present on Ubisoft’s list have had their online services shut down last year. Assassin’s Creed 2‘s online services have been unavailable on PC since June 1, 2021, along with online services for Far Cry 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and other titles.

The company’s decision to shut down online services for so many of its games follows rumors that the company is being eyed up for an acquisition. According to Bloomberg, private equity firms, namely Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. have expressed interest in buying the French game publishing giant.

Editors' Recommendations

Otto Kratky
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…
Every online game should take note of Diablo 4’s seamless multiplayer
Still from Diablo 4 cinematic.

Diablo 4 is a dangerous game ... and I mean this in the best way possible.

My level 46 Barbarian hasn’t quite reached the endgame yet, but that hasn't stopped him from running tens of dungeon crawls with friends worldwide, many of whom I haven't spoken to since grade school. The problem isn't finding time to play together; it's getting us to stop long enough to do anything productive. That's thanks to an excellent, seamless multiplayer system that makes Diablo 4 a new gold standard for online games.

Read more
Apple Vision Pro will support DualSense controller and over 100 Apple Arcade games
A person plays a game on the Apple Vision Pro.

The new Apple Vision Pro headset can be a gaming device thanks to DualSense functionality and support for lots of Apple Arcade titles.

We learned this while Apple was giving an overview of the Vision Pro's entertainment possibilities during the device's WWDC 2023 reveal. We saw footage of a person playing NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition with a DualSense controller while wearing the headset. The game appeared in its own dedicated flat window within the surrounding environment, so these aren't fully immersive dedicated VR games; it's more like playing normal PS5 games on your PlayStation VR2. The game will have some interactive 3D spatial apps, however, so those kinds of games certainly seem possible. A Unity partnership should also allow more games using that engine to come to Vision Pro. 
During this segment, Apple did confirm that over 100 Apple Arcade games will be playable on Vision Pro, but NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition is currently the only title that has been outright confirmed for the headset. I'd love to see games like Fantasian and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate get Vision Pro support. We also don't know if Vision Pro will support any Bluetooth controllers other than Sony's DualSense; hopefully, it'll have the same controller compatibility as normal iPhone and Mac devices. Considering that the Vision Pro intentionally does not have a dedicated controller, that would definitely be a useful feature. 

Read more
A TikTok running joke got a game kicked off the Nintendo Switch eShop
Animals play poker around a yellow table in Sunshine Shuffle.

It was an exciting day for developer Strange Scaffold. In less than 24 hours, it would launch its next game, Sunshine Shuffle, on PC and Nintendo Switch. The narrative poker game about cute animals (who also happen to be former bank robbers) had been slowly building momentum ever since it was announced on a Day of the Devs stream last November. On the eve of its release, the studio was preparing for a fairly routine launch for its indie hidden gem.

Things didn’t quite go according to plan.

Read more