The Crew Is Revived, But Be Careful If You Want To Play It
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After launching in 2014 as an online-only title, the hugely popular open-world racing game The Crew was killed off when Ubisoft shut down the servers in March 2024, devastating many fans in the process. Now, it’s making a comeback.
Since the official game was online-only, players who had purchased and were still actively playing the game were cut off immediately. This prompted the beginnings of the Stop Killing Games campaign.
Just days after the shutdown, a team of modders known as ‘The TCU Team’ set to work, declaring, “We had to do something.” From here, ‘The Crew Unlimited’ was born.
Now, just over a year later, TCU is available to download, making The Crew playable again for fans.
If you’d like to learn more about TCU, we take a deeper look at the project here.
Initial teething issues
Following the release, as expected, things weren’t entirely smooth out of the gate. The r/TheCrewUnlimited subreddit and Discord were soon flooded with bug reports.
However, the team is doing their best, having already rolled out a launcher update and several hotfixes since the free ‘server emulator project’ went live. The latest version of the free TCU Launcher is available for download on the official website, with the latest fixes included.
Pirate game files are adding to the problems
While fixing many of the issues, the team stated that they’re “not responsible” for broken or corrupted game files that have been emerging from “shady sources.”
The problem lies with many people who want to enjoy the new release, but don’t have the original game files. Before the rollout, the team stated, “we have absolutely no way to tell a legit copy from a non-legit one, so we just have to let you in.”
Following this, members of the subreddit have taken to sharing torrents and other potentially dodgy game files, leading a Moderator to state: “I want to have it said again that sharing of game files in this community IS NOT ALLOWED ANYMORE.”
If you’re planning to enjoy what TCU has to offer, we highly recommend using your original files wherever possible or being cautious if using other sources.
Minor bug fixes can, and likely will be sorted by the team who have been hard at work since launch.
However, many of the reports on the subreddit are from people saying they’re getting trojan horse warnings from their antivirus programs due to these pirate copies. While it’s not unheard of for antivirus software to falsely flag these things, you’ll need to tread carefully.
Stay safe out there, folks, so that you can finally enjoy The Crew’s (unofficial) comeback in all its glory!
Here’s HokiHoshi’s early review of TCU, which brings plenty of nostalgia:
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Bill is a writer and photographer who has been part of the Drifted team since 2015. His work extends to various print and online publications, including Wangan Warriors.
As part of the King of Nations team, he traveled extensively for several years, capturing top-tier international drift events worldwide. His hands-on experience, including rebuilding his own Nissan Silvia S15 drift car, gives him unique insights into drift car building and global drift culture.
When not behind the lens or keyboard, Bill can be found browsing classifieds for his next JDM project or shredding virtual tires on popular simulators like Assetto Corsa, CarX, and Forza.
You can learn more about Bill’s story here or follow his socials on X (formerly Twitter), Flickr, Facebook, and Instagram.
