No, Ubisoft Isn’t Deleting Your Games Because You Forgot To Log In

If you have been on the internet over the last few days, you likely saw the uproar that came from a Tweet that explained that Ubisoft had a policy in place to outright delete abandoned uPlay accounts. For many, this meant a chilling realisation that their digitally purchased games were at risk of being outright snapped out of existence, Thanos style. This of course received backlash, which was further exacerbated by the Ubisoft Support Twitter account trying to clarify things, and mostly just making it all worse.

However, an email conversation with IGN has revealed that there is both truth and falsities to this revelation – with the main point of difference being that accounts that include purchased PC games are not eligible for deletion.

Ubisoft clarifies its account deletion process is in accordance with the EU's GDPR legal requirements (General Data Protection Regulation), and it doesn't delete accounts with purchased games

Via: https://t.co/93RxX2MK9q pic.twitter.com/FTp6LvbOSD

— Shinobi602 (@shinobi602) July 24, 2023

In the email, Ubisoft details that they only delete inactive accounts in accordance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and industry standards. The company claims this is to protect user data and prevent fraud.

More importantly, they actually clarify the full criteria that is taken into account when considering deletion – detailed as follows, with emphasis from Ubisoft specifically:

• The gaming activity of the account since its creation
• The account’s libraries: accounts that include purchased PC games are not eligible for deletion
• The duration of inactivity of the account, meaning the last login to our ecosystem (including from Ubisoft games on Steam and other platforms)
  • In practice, as of today, we have never deleted accounts that have been inactive for less than 4 years
• The existence of an active subscription tied to the account.

So the initial furore about people losing their games, while worth being worried about, is kind of a moot point. It is still yucko that old accounts will be nuked if someone doesn’t take into account the ’30 day warning period’ (you will get 30 days notice before a deletion occurs) just because you created an account to snap up your username. It’s another point of consideration for those that consume their media digitally – while in this case, existing customers are safe, it is also worth considering what kind of retention procedures exist for the things you have spent money on.

But hey, at least that free copy of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag you got from Humble Bundle a few years back is safe and sound. Phew.

Did you have a heart attack when you thought Ubisoft was going to nuke old accounts? Let us know in the comments or on social media.

Shoutout to IGN.