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Ubisoft’s Free Game Comes With a Catch: You Can’t Sue

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As we stated in a previous article, Ubisoft has released an official apology for the poor quality of the release of Assassin’s Creed Unity. Part of that apology included giving away free DLC, and season pass owners can choose from a selection of Ubisoft titles.

While it seems like this is a goodwill gesture from the company, it turns out it’s actually just a way of covering the company’s ass against legal battles in the future. Along with the free DLC and games, players have to sign and accept a new agreement. Most gamers are familiar with this kind of agreement and will just click “accept” without even reading it, and that’s what Ubisoft is counting on. The agreement includes the terms “You hereby irrevocably and unconditionally RELEASE, WAIVE, AND FOREVER DISCHARGE AND COVENANT NOT TO SUE Ubisoft Entertainment, S.A., and each of its past, present and future divisions […]” It’s a really long list of terms you can read at the bottom, but the bottom line is that if you feel you have any reason to sue Ubisoft over the release of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, by accepting their “apology” you are giving up your right to actually sue them.

Ubisoft isn’t the first company to do this, though. After Sony’s PSN was taken down, the new update and EULA also had conditions preventing Sony users from suing. Unfortunately, it worked then, and probably will work now. This sort of sneaky maneuver is sadly legal. So be warned about accepting the free game if you have any intention or desire to enter into a class-action lawsuit in the future. Read below for the complete, relevant paragraph in the new EULA.

“You hereby irrevocably and unconditionally RELEASE, WAIVE, AND FOREVER DISCHARGE AND COVENANT NOT TO SUE Ubisoft Entertainment S.A., and each of its past, present and future divisions, parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, predecessors, successors and assigns, together with all of their respective past, present and future employees, officers, shareholders, directors and agents, and those who give recommendations, directions, or instructions or engage in risk evaluation or loss control activities regarding the Campaign (all for the purposes herein referred to as “Released Parties”) FROM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY TO YOU, your assigns, heirs, and next of kin FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, DEMANDS, CHARGES, LAWSUITS, DEBTS, DEFENSES, ACTIONS OR CAUSES OF ACTION, OBLIGATIONS, DAMAGES, LOSS OF SERVICE, COMPENSATION, PAIN AND SUFFERING, ATTORNEYS’ FEES, AND COST AND EXPENSES OF SUIT, KNOWN OR UNKNOWN, SUSPECTED OR UNSUSPECTED, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE PURCHASE, ACQUISITION, RENTAL, POSSESSION AND/OR USAGE, AND/OR THE INTENT TO PURCHASE, ACQUIRE, RENT, POSSESS AND/OR USE, THE ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY VIDEO GAME AND/OR THE ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY SEASON PASS ON ANY AND ALL PLATFORMS, AND/OR RELATED TO THE CAMPAIGN, WHETHER CAUSED BY THE NEGLIGENCE OF THE RELEASED PARTIES OR OTHERWISE.”

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About Stephen Crane

Stephen was hooked by the NES at a very young age and never looked back. He games on a daily basis and is currently trying to climb his way up the ranked ladder on League of Legends! Outside of the video game world he actually likes running and owns a rapidly growing collection of toed shoes. Stephen Crane is the owner of Armed Gamer.

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