15 'Always Online' Games That You Can't Play Anymore

2. The Crew

the crew
Ubisoft

The Crew was an ambitious racing game from Ubisoft that aimed to change the car racing landscape for good. By offering gamers a chance to explore the entirety of the USA (within reason), The Crew became an exciting concept for people who don't even regularly play these kinds of games. I only know this because I was one of them. The idea of driving along the Golden Gate Bridge one minute, then making my way to New York to find the apartment block from Friends was all too appealing. 

And it worked, to an extent. It didn't receive the best responses from critics when it was released in 2014, but it was successful enough to launch sequels such as The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest. "But what do you mean I can't play The Crew?" I hear you cry. Well, turns out this game always required an internet connection to play. The Crew was always connected to Ubisoft servers, and in 2024, well, those servers were shut down. 

This means if you fancy booting up the original The Crew any time soon, you'll be met with a message saying that the game can no longer connect to servers. The reaction from gamers was not great, and it led to many arguments about game preservation and even led to YouTuber Ross Scott starting the 'Stop Killin Games' initiative, which has since garnered enough support that official government parties have gotten involved.

 If you're looking for any light at the end of this dark tunnel, its sequels are still online, for now at least. 

 
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Hey, I’m Matt. I work full-time at WhatCulture's neighbours, MyVoucherCodes. I first joined MyVoucherCodes as a Deals Expert, scouring the internet, leaving no stone unturned in finding the best discount codes, sales and offers for our customers. Moving into my first home during the worst possible time (during lockdown), I understand the necessity of saving money when the purse strings are tight. Outside of saving money, I’m into video games, movies, books and music. I host and edit a video game podcast called The Retry Hard Podcast, where my friend and I go through news, reviews and video games in general. I love movies and watching how they’re made, and I’ve worked as a set decorator for a few months on His Dark Materials season 3, which gave me a massive insight into how it all comes together. I also put out music as a solo artist named Matt Kiano, where I won the award for Best Male Artist of 2025 for Radio Wigwam and have been nomiated for Best Live Act at the 2026 Radio Wigwam Awards.