The Crew was released way back in 2014, emerging as this wondrous racing game with an ambitious premise – the map was designed to represent the entire breadth of the United States. It wasn’t terrible, but ultimately, it didn’t move mountains. That didn’t stop Ubisoft from creating two more titles in the series, including the recently-released follow-up, ‘Motorfest’.
Now, Ubisoft has revealed that the servers for The Crew (2014) will be taken offline on March 31, 2024, effectively bringing an end to the game forever. As it’s an online-only game, those looking to play The Crew after the shutdown will find themselves out of luck.
Driving Into The Sunset
The Crew had lofty goals but it eventually failed to compete with its better-developed opponents in the racing niche. It picked up average reviews when it was released toward the end of 2014, and by this point, with follow-up titles having been released in the series, almost nobody is still playing the original game.
In a blog post published on the Ubisoft site, it was revealed why the game is being shut down, aside from ‘the obvious’:
We understand this may be disappointing for players still enjoying the game, but it has become a necessity due to upcoming server infrastructure and licensing constraints. Decommissioning a game, and especially our first one, is not something we take lightly. (https://tjc.org/)
Ubisoft also took the opportunity to share some behind-the-scenes info about the development of The Crew. It was explained that the idea for the game started way back in 2007. It started as a concept drawn up between three friends and eventually underwent a seven-year development cycle before surfacing in 2014.
Did you ever get a chance to play The Crew?
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