Last week, a Twitter user posted a screenshot of an email from Ubisoft saying that it will delete the account of a user, if said account has been inactive for far too long. This was discovered after Twitter user @PC_enjoyer, who is also an anti-DRM advocate and self-professed digital pirate, tweeted an image of an email they received from the video games developer and studio.
The Ubisoft email says that the studio had suspended the account for inactivity and that it will be “permanently closed” after 30 days. Once deleted, the account is lost to the void forever and along with it, the entire games library that the unfortunate soul had built up since its creation. To that end, the studio provides a link that the account holder will have to click on, in order to cancel the closure and avoid any potential heartache.
UBISOFT closes your account if you haven’t logged in for some time.
You will lose all your games purchased forever. pic.twitter.com/exC78bUt93
— AntiDRM
(@PC_enjoyer) July 19, 2023
It is unclear just how long an account has to be inactive before Ubisoft permanently deletes it. In a twitter note, the developer cum publisher says that it never closes any accounts that are inactive for less than four years. Now it seems that the company has changed its tune, providing a statement today to the Verge, saying that it doesn’t delete accounts that include PC games.
“For many years now, we have implemented our account deletion process in compliance with the requirements of the GDPR (Article 5.1.e on the obligation to limit the data retention period). Our policies are aligned with legal requirements and with the standards of the industry. This measure also acts as a protection for our players against fraud. Account deletion follows a very strict process. As such, we take into consideration the 4 following criteria before an account is deleted…”
Those four criteria included account activity, duration of inactivity, to which it says that an account has to be inactive for four years for it to even be deleted, and whether or not the account has active subscriptions tied to it.
Hey there. We just wanted to chime in that you can avoid the account closure by logging into your account within the 30 days (since receiving the email pictured) and selecting the Cancel Account Closure link contained in the email. We certainly do not want you to lose access to…
— Ubisoft Support (@UbisoftSupport) July 20, 2023
The problem here is that Ubisoft’s statement still doesn’t explain the email that @PC_enjoyer received. That being said, and no matter what shade of paint you put on it, Ubisoft’s act of deleting inactive accounts is, as PCGamer puts it, very customer-unfriendly. Especially when rivals like Steam or even the less popular EA app wouldn’t pull off such a move.
This also doesn’t help Ubisoft and its already battered reputation and prior actions. Back in 2022, the studio drew controversy when it decided to discontinue the online components for several of its titles released in the 2010s. This move not only removed any DLCs tied to the affected games, but it was also reflected on the accounts of those that purchased said games and their DLCs through Steam.
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