After the absolute fiasco of The Crew being flat out killed stone dead when the servers were turned off, Ubisoft promised it was listening to its players. Specifically, that meant working on an offline mode for The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest.
Aside from a confirmation of the plans, all has been quiet on this front for a while, but now, there comes an update. Ultimately, it looks like offline mode for The Crew 2 is still planned to be ready before the curtain falls on 2025.
The full update can be seen in the video below, but it's good to see this kind of transparency. Initially, offline mode will come to The Crew 2 only, and it's currently in testing before releasing the finished product.
It's not just a case of flicking a switch and making the game playable offline. The Crew 2, like its predecessor and successor, is designed to be a shared world, always online experience. But there is content that can easily be enjoyed offline. But this content has to be separated off, giving the game what Ubisoft is calling a "hybrid mode" of play.
The first test of offline mode will be made available to selected players in the community on April 30. Those selected will be notified by email with a link to download a special test version of the game to put through its paces.
The first test will be exclusive to PC players, but it will be available at launch across every platform The Crew 2 is available on. The Crew Motorfest is currently focused on its always online, live service play, but we are promised that it will recieve the same hybrid mode treatment in the future.
Ubisoft to avoid another mess like The Crew
When Ubisoft announced the servers would be turned off for The Crew, it was not met kindly. The reason is simple; a game players had bought was being forcibly taken away from them.
I own a copy of The Crew on disc, but it's now completely worthless. Without a server to ping, the game simply doesn't play. This started off, again, the discourse about not really owning the games we buy.
Like it or not, always online games are here to stay, but development on fresh content will always come to an end. Then there will be the server shut off, when it's no longer deemed financially viable for the company to keep them online. This will happen eventually to The Crew 2.
I always thought it was incredibly tone-deaf that Ubisoft expected players, especially those of a franchise with a dedicated, committed community, to just lie down and take it. The Crew has a ton of content that could be played offline, but nobody can touch it anymore.
While the original is likely to remain dead and buried, at least we can be safe in the knowledge that the newer games won't be suffering the same fate.
