Something called the "Stop Killing Games" petition has been racking up a ton of interest over the past few weeks and months, even passing the one million signatures mark back in early July - and now Ubisoft has commented on it too.
At a recent annual meeting (thanks Game File and VGC), Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot was questioned about the petition and Ubisoft's plans for game preservation in general, to which Guillemot explained that the situation was a difficult one but the company is "working on" it and trying to provide as much support as possible to players and buyers.
Here's just a sample of what he had to say:
“You provide a service, but nothing is written in stone and at some point the service may be discontinued. Nothing is eternal. And we are doing our best to make sure that things go well for all players and buyers, because obviously support for all games cannot last forever.
“But that’s an issue that we’re working on. That’s something that the industry at large is working on, to minimize impact on players. But clearly that’s something you need to factor in."
In addition to these, Guillemot pointed out that Ubisoft provides a lot of support for its titles during their lifespan, while also highlighting that server closures aren't specific to the company - it happens with many teams across the industry.
He also mentioned how games that have a "service" component may become obsolete over time, including in terms of their development tools, which is "why we release a new version". Nevertheless, he reiterates that they're "working on it".
"But clearly this is a far-reaching issue, and we are working on it."
Ubisoft's The Crew 2 is one of the games that has received backlash for plans to shut its servers, although the company has since confirmed that it (along with The Crew Motorfest) will be getting an offline mode by the end of 2025. Free-to-play shooter XDefiant isn't really eligible for the same treatment unfortunately, having shut down last month.