Ubisoft are switching off online services for another batch of games

Ubisoft are “decommissioning” another slate of games next January, including Assassin’s Creed Revelations, R.U.S.E., and Trials Evolution. These games will remain playable, but their online services will be switched off meaning leaderboards, online multiplayer, co-op and other features will stop working.

Here’s the full list of PC games which are impacted by the switch-off:

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (Mac)
Assassin’s Creed Revelations
Ghost Recon Future Soldier
Heroes of Might and Magic VI
NCIS
R.U.S.E
Trials Evolution

“Decommissioning such services for older games is not something we take lightly, but is a necessity as the technology that drove those services has grown obsolete,” says the announcement on Ubisoft’s site. I imagine it costs money to maintain servers for old games, and old online software can often present a security threat if not upgraded, yet presumably these games also no longer have enough players to justify that kind of effort.

It’s always a shame, however, particularly from a game preservation point of view. RUSE – no, I won’t type the dots again – was an interesting multiplayer strategy game inspired by poker in which you would bluff your enemies with false intel. It had bots, but it was primarily designed to be played online against other people. Trials Evolution, likewise, while primarily a singleplayer game about balancing your motorbike over obstacles, is a game propelled by the competition of its online leaderboards.

Splinter Cell: Conviction is also mentioned in the full article, but it’s seemingly only the Xbox 360 version that is affected. I’ve got fond memories of playing Conviction in co-op, even if it is a deeply flawed game, so I’m happy if it is to remain functional here in PC land.

This isn’t the first time Ubisoft have switched off online services for their back catalogue. Last year, they similarly “decommissioned” online services for several other Assassin’s Creed games and Driver: San Francisco, though initially communicated it so poorly that they had to clarify and delay the switch-off.