Back in 2023, Ubisoft announced it would shut down The Crew’s servers on 31st March, 2024, which would make the game unplayable due to its always online requirements – even those with physical copies of the game were to be locked out. Needless to say, many were unhappy with Ubisoft’s decision.
Some, though, decided not to just leave it there, and set about reviving the game on their own time and dime. Now a little over a year later, the fan lead Crew revival project – known as The Crew Unlimited – is gearing up for its release on 15th September.
But, what has it taken to get to this point?
“We started working on the server emulator project (to revive the game) a bit before the official server shutdown,” project lead whammy4 told Eurogamer. “Ever since then it’s been a non-stop technical uphill battle: network data analysis, reversing, implementation, rinse and repeat.”
This was all to “implement the networking and communications between the game client (the game that the players play) and the server (what we’re working on)”, they explain. “Then there’s a whole other side of it where we have to re-implement and rewrite entire parts of The Crew’s game/data design, functionality and logic, entirely from scratch.”
Think that all sounds difficult? Well, it was. The rest of The Crew Unlimited’s team is made up of r00t0, ChemicalFlood, mono24 and Guki. It was r00t0 who started and carried out the actual server emulator project, with whammy4 calling them an “absolute godsend”. Whammy4, then, is “mainly responsible for programming the actual game functionality and logic, and all the MMO stuff on the server”, while ChemicalFlood is “helping and assisting us with the networking and IT side of things (also archiving everything)”. Guki, meanwhile, is the expert on The Crew’s data and file systems, and mono24 provides “invaluable advice on how to run and manage the project correctly”. The entire team have their own jobs, families and lives outside of The Crew Unlimited.
So, what does this all actually mean in practice, though? “The game’s economy, prices, items, rewards, databases, MMO systems and logic; we have to manage things down to each individual part you install on your car in the game,” whammy4 explained. “Oftentimes working on this project feels like an unpredictable rollercoaster ride, one day we’re feeling like we’re making huge progress and got everything sorted, next day we’re bashing our heads on the wall failing to figure out how some minor gamemode’s reward formula works… sometimes for months.”
Whammy4 added there would be times when the team would have to deal with issues in their personal lives, and this would halt any progress for a not insignificant period of time. “But you know what really warms our heart and keeps us going? It’s the amount of support we get from fans of the game,” whammy4 said, adding the entire team is very grateful for this.
“It just shows how many people love and care for this game. We get kind words and support from people from all across the world, both young and old. Very few video games can boast such dedicated fanbases with such a large variety in age. This warms my heart to no end and just shows how special this game is, and to so many people.”
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While it is clear The Crew Unlimited has had a huge amount of passion and care poured into it, there is one elephant in the room – Ubisoft. What does it have to say about this community project to revive The Crew?
“We often get asked if Ubisoft has commented or acknowledged our project in any way. They have not, but as for The Crew’s developers Ivory Tower, one (alleged) developer has anonymously come out and expressed their and the studio’s gratitude and appreciation for our project,” whammy4 told me when I asked. While the developer chose to stay anonymous, whammy4 said The Crew Unlimited’s team “know for a fact we got supporters over at Ivory Tower”, adding “shoutouts to them all!”.
Whammy4 admitted Ubisoft could shut down the project, but said “causing trouble for anyone is not something we’re looking to do”. They said that “each player has to have their own The Crew game installation, then they install TCU over it to make it playable again”. They added The Crew Unlimited team doesn’t provide any game files. “TCU itself is 100 percent free of charge and always will be, including anything else we may release,” they said.
As for what will come next once The Crew Unlimited releases, whammy4 said the community is excited about the modding potential that they will be able to explore. “Now that the game is free from the publisher’s servers and control, we can practically do whatever we want (and can) with the game. Only problem is that this is one hell of a difficult game to work with and modify, but there already are people in the community that are making modding tools, software and documentation in preparation for the game’s revival,” they furthered.
“With a game as rich in its content and features as The Crew, lots of mods could be possible: New cars, new car customisations, map modifications, or entire new areas and parts of the map. Maybe even new races and gamemodes!
“Part of the TCU Project is the ‘TCU Mod’, which aims to restore a lot of the visuals and ambient content that was removed from the game post-launch. It’s still in development, but already features plenty of visual improvements, along with car handling and physics improvements. It’s all just a matter of time and effort.”
Whammy4 said the team ultimately still doesn’t “know where the winds will take us”, but believes the modding “could be incredible” in the future.
“The game already has so much to offer as is, and such a solid base for modding, it’s practically screaming to be modded,” they said. “I personally believe modding is the future of The Crew, that’s how it will live on and be relevant for decades more.”
I asked whammy4 why this Crew project is so important. “Let’s begin with the fact that… we’re basically giving… millions of players their beloved game back,” they replied.
But, it is more than just that. It is also about preservation, something that has been a big topic in recent years. “Sometimes we get dads thanking us for bringing the game back, because they wanted their kids to play it, or continue playing it,” whammy4 said. “I consider video games the ultimate form of art, they are a unison of a variety of different arts – visual arts, music, sound, writing, acting, etc. The Crew is a game that definitely took all of these elements very seriously, and each was done by talented, caring artists.”
They continued: “The original version and vision of the game had a visual direction never seen before or after in gaming, it was designed to look like a moving/dynamic painting, going as far as to have entire visual elements like skies and clouds be hand-painted.”
“This game also has a ton of educational value, about American geography, history (the game features several hundred landmark points with descriptions), even down to geographical and meteorological quirks of the different places of North US, expressed with the mappers’ careful and deliberate work, featuring a large variety of biomes and ecosystems (including lots of different animal types), and a staggering 40+ unique artistic regional weather conditions available in the game (cut down to… two weathers total, in later updates).
“All of this on a huge digital map of the North US, scaled down to 1900 square miles. And to lose all this? Destroy all this work? Take it away from everyone, and bury this game and experience forever? That should be a crime.”
Closing, whammy4 said they believe that thanks to The Crew Unlimited, Ubisoft’s game “will get the recognition and love it deserves”.
To stay up to date on how whammy4 and the rest of the team are getting on with The Crew’s preservation project, you can join the revival’s Discord server here. For more, you can also check out The Crew Unlimited’s website.
In Eurogamer’s own review for The Crew, Outside Xbox’s racing aficionado Mike Channel came away impressed. “It’s a game that requires and occasionally enforces patience, but like all great road trips it’s about the journey, not the destination,” he wrote.
