Finally, The Crew 2 has its promised offline mode. Ubisoft announced the update last year after the Stop Killing Games campaign had gotten underway, though the publisher hasn't been too keen on directly addressing the consumer rights effort as an influence on the patch. Instead, as ever, Ubisoft is simply calling it a response to "player feedback."
"Thanks to player feedback, a new hybrid mode allowing both online and offline play is now available," Ubisoft says in a press release, reiterating similar comments in a new showcase video. "This marks a major milestone in ensuring the game's longevity, keeping it accessible for years to come."
With the EU Stop Destroying Videogames initiative nearing the legislative phase after successfully bringing in 1.4 million signatures, it's tough to separate this update from the pressure generated by the Stop Killing Games campaign even if it's not called out by name here. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot did acknowledge Stop Killing Games in a shareholder Q&A earlier this year, saying that "support for all games cannot last forever," but acknowledging that "this is a far-reaching issue, and we're working on it."
But hey, whether or not Ubisoft wants to directly acknowledge Stop Killing Games directly, the addition of an offline mode is unequivocally a good thing. You might not want to use it immediately, as early player reports suggest that offline progress will not sync with your online save, but as a future-proofing measure this is a heck of a lot better than nothing.
A similar update for The Crew: Motorfest is still forthcoming, but importantly, this doesn't save the original game, the shutdown of which kicked off this whole kerfuffle in the first place. Instead, fans have stepped in to save the day with The Crew Unlimited, a recently launched custom server project bringing that first title back to life.
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