Ubisoft has shut down online multiplayer for 90 games – and there’s a few surprises

Ubisoft has shut down online multiplayer for 90 games, including Rayman Legends on PC, and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 on Xbox One. 

The announcement on Ubisoft’s website lists the full 90 games affected, which span a range of platforms such as PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360, and even the ill-fated OnLive cloud gaming service. These titles will no longer feature online multiplayer, but offline features for each game will remain available.

The server shutdown means that in-game news and play statistics for these Ubisoft games will also be disabled from now on. And any title that used Ubisoft Connect services will no longer let players earn Units and complete Challenges.

While there’s an argument to make that many of the titles are old at this point – along with the platforms included – backward compatibility means that a number of these games will now no longer be fully complete if players revisit them. Several of the affected games can be played on Xbox One, like Just Dance for instance, but won’t have online support anymore.

Here’s the full list of Ubisoft games that no longer have online multiplayer support:

Another blow to video game preservation

Seeing so many Ubisoft games lose online support is concerning, especially as there will be people out there who were still playing these games. While it’s easy to understand why a publisher makes these types of decisions – hosting and maintaining servers isn’t free – it’s still disappointing nonetheless.

Thankfully, we’ve seen a resurgence in recent years to preserve video games via backward compatibility. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have all been guilty of abandoning the old for the new, but there’s definitely been a clear shift to do more to ensure that older titles can still be played and enjoyed by a new generation of players.

Microsoft, in particular, has led the way with its Xbox backward compatibility program, while Sony will soon offer access to its older titles via its new PS Plus subscription service. Nintendo has taken a similar route, granting Nintendo Switch Online subscribers access to hundreds of NES and SNES games, while those who subscribe to the Expansion Pack tier can play N64 and Sega Genesis games.

In an ideal world, no game would ever need to lose features, nor would gamers need specific hardware to enjoy them. Unfortunately, though, we expect to see more games lose online functionality in the years to come, and more digital storefronts will likely close down.

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