The downside of growing older is that the things around us age with us. While a tree can accompany us forever, a video game, after a few years, experiences planned obsolescence, a topic we often discuss.
Ubisoft has announced the closure of online services for several older games by January 2024, many of which are titles from the Assassin’s Creed series. Don’t worry, everyone, the latest and brilliant Assassin’s Creed: Mirage will continue to be active.
Unfortunately, the list of titles that will cease to function includes iconic games like Assassin’s Creed 2, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and Assassin’s Creed Revelations.
Although more recent titles like Assassin’s Creed Mirage will remain unaffected, it’s still saddening to witness the decline of these iconic games.
Indeed, we’re not just bidding farewell to Assassin’s Creed; there’s more to it
The Assassin’s Creed series isn’t the only one disappearing. Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and R.U.S.E are also on the list and will go offline in the near future.
With all these games, players won’t be able to use multiplayer modes, link Ubisoft accounts in the game, or access any other online features. Additionally, Ubisoft Connect rewards will no longer be available.
While it’s sad to see these games slowly fade away, many of these titles are incredibly old and belong to last-generation platforms like Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
In an article published on Ubisoft’s website, the publisher discusses more about what it means to retire so many games from the market: “The dismantling of online services for older games is something we don’t take lightly. However, it is also necessary as the technology behind these services becomes outdated.”
This is not the first time Ubisoft has shut down online services for old games. Last July, the publisher announced the deactivation of 15 games. Among them were Far Cry 3, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and Rayman Legends.
The only game that was spared was the economic and city-building simulator Anno 2070. However, the creators promised to “dedicate part of their development resources to updating Anno 2070’s online service infrastructure to a new system.”
