Fan-made The Crew revival won't fix games "from shady sources," so don't ask

You've got to hand it to the developers behind The Crew Unlimited. They are doing what Ubisoft refused to, and supporting the always-online racer for players who bought it. Ubisoft decided to turn the servers off last year, rendering the game completely unplayable, despite the fact that fans shelled out their hard-earned cash to buy it just a decade earlier. However, in a recent update the devs involved with this fan-made revival have put their foot down and refuse to help players who acquired the game from "shady sources."

The Crew Unlimited works by duping the game into thinking Ubisoft's servers are still online. By connecting to one of these emulated servers, players can enjoy The Crew as if Ubisoft had never flicked the kill switch. It won't turn The Crew into one of the best racing games of all time, but it will save it from absolution.

However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. The developers of this epic project have been battling a swathe of support requests that are taking serious time to clear up, but realized that the majority of these weren't coming from legitimate copies of the game.

"It has come to my attention that a lot of you have acquired (by whichever shady methods…) broken/corrupted game files," wrote project lead 'whammy4' in a Discord announcement (thanks, RPS). "If you have acquired the game files from shady sources then we are not responsible for whether your game works or not.

"Players with legit Steam copies have had by far the least issues, no wonder. Also, to those who expect swift 24/7 around-the-clock support for them and them personally - I don't want to say rude things in announcements."

The Crew Unlimited deliberately avoided distributing copies of the game in order to escape the wrath of Ubisoft, but the developer says in its Discord FAQ that it has "no way" of knowing whether your copy is legitimate or not. However, illegitimate versions clearly run into performance issues down the line.

It seems completely fair that the devs want to prioritize those who obtained the game correctly before it was pulled online stores, especially when support for illegally-obtained copies is taking up so much of their time.

If you want to get your racing fix but didn't grab a copy of The Crew before Ubisoft pulled the plug, keep an eye on our list of upcoming PC games for something similar. Whether you're playing Unlimited or not, grabbing one of the best gaming monitors is always a good idea, too.

Are you playing The Crew Unlimited? What do you think of the devs' stance on "shady" copies? Let us know in our community Discord server, where we discuss all the latest gaming news.