Ubisoft receives backlash for deleting inactive users’ entire game libraries
UbisoftUbisoft has garnered backlash from fans after reports indicate inactive accounts will be closed, resulting in entire game libraries being lost permanently.
With the rise of digital video games and digital storefronts in the past decade, more and more gamers are opting to purchase video games digitally for a variety of reasons.
As such, many companies have opted to start their own digital storefronts to host entire game libraries in one place. Storefronts like Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG are just a few of the largest digital storefronts players can use.
Ubisoft also offers a digital storefront where players can house their digital Ubisoft titles — though inactive users may be at risk of losing their entire library.
Gamers slam Ubisoft over inactive account deletion
The situation rose to the attention of gamers thanks to a tweet that claimed, “Ubisoft closes your account if you haven’t logged in for some time. You will lose all your games purchased forever.”
The tweet included a screenshot of an automatically-generated email from Ubisoft notifying a player that their account was being temporarily suspended for inactivity. Upon receiving this email, that player would have 30 days to sign back into their account before Ubisoft would “close it permanently.”
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…
— Ubisoft Support (@UbisoftSupport) July 20, 2023
Many social media users were skeptical of whether this email was actually a phishing scam or not until the official Ubisoft Support account replied to the tweet and confirmed ways to reactivate an inactive account.
Being a french company you should know that this is totally illegal in France right? In france digital purchases are final and are considered the same as physical purchases
— 🇫🇷SeleDreams – フランス人ボカロP (@SeleDreamsFR) July 22, 2023
Still, gamers on social media were stunned that this was even a possibility, with many wondering if it was even legal to lock players out of games they paid to access. “Being a French company you should know that this is totally illegal in France right? In France digital purchases are final and are considered the same as physical purchases.”
It’s unclear whether or not Ubisoft will reverse this practice in the future, but fans with an inactive Ubisoft account may want to log in sometime soon just to be safe.