Ubisoft’s fall from grace is a saga that has been well documented. The company has alienated gamers with tone-deaf executive boasts about the virtues of digital media, telling players to “get comfortable with not owning their games” only to follow through with such threats by axing The Crew, an always-online racing MMO, and attempting to erase it from users’ Ubisoft Connect libraries.
Add to that the retroactive removal of purchased DLC from several titles including Assassin’s Creed 2, 3, Brotherhood and Revelation after terminating online validation services, leaving the bonus content of games such as Far Cry 3 inaccessible, and it’s clear Ubisoft’s commitment to its customers is shaky at best.
Then came the whole Assassin’s Creed Shadows mess. Ubisoft, driven by what many see as a globalist DEI agenda, released what’s arguably one of the most controversial and racist game in decades. Set in Feudal Japan, it features Yasuke, an otherwise minor “historical” figure turned into a fantasy samurai who not only dominates and decapitates Japanese warriors but also witnesses Oda Nobunaga’s Seppuku.
The game even lets him romance “non-binary” male characters and even Oichi, Nobunaga’s sister who is believed to be tied to the Imperial bloodline. To make things worse, the game came under immense scrutiny not just for its fantasy-driven historical revisionism but also for the destruction of sacred shrines and temples without any consultation or approval from the real-life caretakers responsible for these sites to be featured in the game.
Despite Ubisoft’s claims of robust “player engagement” (bolstered by Ubisoft+ subscriptions), Shadows flopped on Steam, peaking at just 47,616 concurrent players at launch and only peaked to 64,825 players over its launch weekend, a very dismal showing for an Assassin’s Creed title.
It was swiftly eclipsed by an indie game, Schedule I, casting further doubt on Ubisoft’s hype. Post-launch, the company officially announced that it had become a shadow of itself, with Tencent snagging a 25% stake alongside a new subsidiary housing Ubisoft’s prized IPs, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and more for €1.16 billion.
A glorified shell company? Perhaps. A new low? Hardly the bottom, it seems because somehow, Ubisoft found a way to stumble again.
Just like how Square Enix, another major game company deeply entrenched in global ethics and obsessed with diversity and inclusivity initiatives that have rapidly eroded the legacy it once built pushed a retroactive censorship update for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade ahead of the disastrous launch of its sequel, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, toning down Tifa Lockhart’s iconic cowgirl outfit by covering up her cleavage under the flimsy excuse of “continuity” with the next installment, gamers have now discovered that a recent update to Far Cry 4, a decade old title has quietly censored nudity in the game.
On April 3rd, Far Cry 4, a game now over a decade old, received a silent patch on Steam. Ubisoft never acknowledged the update publicly, but players quickly noticed that nudity had been removed. Most notably, in the Shanath Arena area, a topless female character was suddenly covered up following the update. The game itself also features other scenes with male and female nudity.
Retro gaming enthusiasts with a sharp eye spotted the change almost immediately. Considering this discovery came just days after Ubisoft announced its partnership with Tencent, which grants the Chinese conglomerate significant influence over Ubisoft’s key IPs many were quick to connect the dots given China’s strict stance on nudity in media.
At first glance, it seemed Ubisoft was following Square Enix’s lead sanitizing older titles outside of butchered remakes and remasters. However, Ubisoft eventually responded, claiming the censorship was unintentional.
According to them, the issue stemmed from mistakenly pushing the censored Japanese package of the game which had always omitted nudity to the global Steam depot, thus affecting consumers worldwide.
The company has since addressed the mix-up and restored the original content. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon had also received a mysterious update which also resulted in the removal of depictions of nudity.
While the censorship in Far Cry 4 has since been reverted, that doesn’t mean it sits right with me nor should it for anyone paying attention. In today’s digital landscape, where consumers are tethered to DRM-infested storefronts like Valve’s Steam store, the idea of actually owning a video game has become a farce.
Companies like Ubisoft have already demonstrated this by stripping access to DLC content that people paid for, all because the online validation services that “confirmed ownership” were shut down.
That’s the reality: in the digital age, no matter the platform or storefront everything is a license, temporary, revocable, and completely out of your control.
This latest incident just further proves how easily game companies can arbitrarily patch and censor their back catalogs to fit shifting “modern standards.” And unless a developer explicitly allows legacy branches or rollback options, players are forced to accept these changes as mandatory updates. That means you’re stuck with a neutered version, one with content removed, rewritten, or softened to match whatever corporate ethos is fashionable at the time.
And here’s the kicker: if players hadn’t immediately caught the switch to the censored Japanese build, would Ubisoft have even fixed it? Or would it have quietly slipped through, normalized over time? Who’s to say other companies would do the same? Ubisoft’s public image is already in freefall thanks to Assassin’s Creed Shadows, there’s little reason to trust that similar “mistakes” won’t be made (or allowed) again.
The truth is, in this digital-first world, you don’t own the games you buy. You’re just purchasing a license tied to your account, one that can be revoked, altered, or shut down whenever the publisher decides. Between Square Enix’s and Ubisoft’s retroactive censorship, the message is clear: the only way to truly own your media is to pirate it.
The implications are bleak. Sony’s removal of purchased TV shows from PlayStation libraries is just one more sign of a growing trend where digital ownership is nothing more than an illusion. In Ubisoft’s case, pirated copies of Far Cry 4 bypass dead DLC servers, sidestep stealth censorship, and shield players from invasive updates like this one.
It’s a grim irony: a full decade after its original release, the only way to play the game as it was meant to be experienced, free from corporate molestation is to pirate it. Piracy frees you from the grasp of corporate validation servers, from arbitrary license revocations, from surprise patches that gut content years down the line. No disappearing DLC. No forced “modern standards.” No updates you didn’t ask for.
When even paying customers can lose access to what they’ve bought, the truth becomes undeniable: piracy isn’t some fringe rebellion, it’s preservation in its purest form.
