Ubisoft give online services for older games a stay of execution
Shutdown date bumped from today to October 1st
Today was due to be the day when some older Ubisoft games would see their online services decommissioned, but the company is granting them a temporary reprieve. You now have until October 1st to cram in some multiplayer for several early Assassin’s Creeds, the original version of Far Cry 3, Driver: San Francisco and others. Ubisoft say they’ve been “exploring what is possible to reduce disruption” over the last month, hence the shuffled date for decommissioning.
You’ve got a month from today to claim certain single-player DLC for some older games too. These are Assassin’s Creed 3, Brotherhood, Liberation HD, Driver: San Francisco, Far Cry 3, Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Silent Hunter 5. You can find the full breakdown of what’ll be disappearing here, with specific details about the affected Assassin’s Creed games here.
There’s some better news though, as Anno 2070 is being maintained by Ubisoft Mainz and won’t see its online features deactivated, contrary to what was announced back in July. Multiplayer-only VR shooter Space Junkies will still be deactivated today as originally planned. The Ubisoft games listed below will have their online features on PC deactivated from the new date of October 1st:
- Assassin's Creed 2
- Assassin's Creed 3 (original release; remaster not affected)
- Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
- Assassin's Creed Liberation HD
- Driver San Francisco
- Far Cry 3 (original release; remaster not affected)
- Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
- Silent Hunter 5
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist
As Graham pointed out when the decommissioning came to light in July, it’s not exactly great to lose access to single-player DLC you’ve purchased. This delay will hopefully allow people some time to grab anything they’ve yet to claim before the opportunity disappears for good.
Ubisoft keep a list of the games they’ve shuttered multiplayer and online services for. If you’re curious, it’s here. All the deactivated games are being added there once October 1st rolls around.