Ubisoft CAUGHT: €92 Million Privacy Fine Over Forced Online, Secret Data Collection

Ubisoft just can't catch a break — and ...for good reason. This time, it’s not terrible game sales or some sorta 'woke' controversy dragging them into the mud. Nah - instead now it's a powerful European privacy group, NOYB (None Of Your Business). They have officially filed a legal complaint against the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry publisher, accusing Ubisoft of breaching General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws and secretly harvesting player data during single-player sessions.

At the heart of this storm was a lone Far Cry Primal player who dared to ask Ubisoft what data they were collecting. The response opened up quite the... can of worms. Ubisoft admitted to the basics — like game launch times and session lengths — but a deeper investigation revealed far more alarming behavior going on under the hood: the game made 150 server connections within just 10 minutes, even though it was supposedly just a "single-player" offline experience. The NOYB calls this "secret data collection" — a direct violation of GDPR's requirement that all data collection must be necessary and transparent. OOF, Ubisoft. Big OOF!

It gets even worse, though. Ubisoft claimed the constant online checks were to verify ownership, yet the game had already been purchased and verified through Steam so... The NOYB is arguing Ubisoft’s insistence on players logging into Ubisoft Connect was unnecessary — a sneaky excuse to harvest more user data under the guise of DRM... and Ubisoft knew exactly what they were doing.

And here's the kicker: Ubisoft tries to protect itself by stuffing all of this tracking into its massive End User License Agreement (EULA) and Privacy Policy that no one ever really reads. But now the NOYB is challenging whether agreeing to that EULA just to play a single-player game should ever legally allow Ubisoft to siphon off personal data without explicit, informed consent — as GDPR demands.

If found guilty, Ubisoft could face a massive fine of upwards of €92 million — roughly about four percent of its €2.3 billion annual turnover. This is on top of the already sinking ship that is Ubisoft proper. NOYB isn’t just asking for a slap on the wrist either; they’re demanding sweeping changes to Ubisoft’s shady practices across all their games, noting that millions of users worldwide could have been impacted by this kind of hidden data farming.

It’s yet another blow to Ubisoft’s crumbling reputation — and even putting it like that is saying it nice. A company already hemorrhaging any remaining goodwill with gamers, investors, and now privacy watchdogs alike. From collapsing game launches to completely tone-deaf marketing, consultants, and now potential GDPR violations, Ubisoft’s slow-motion implosion is lasting longer than the Springfield tire fire (Sorry, I can't stop myself from a good Simpsons reference whenever I can).

At this point, you have to wonder: what's left of Ubisoft to salvage?

...I guess all we are left to do is just pull up a chair, and watch the fire burn.

~Smash