The Crew 2 is getting an offline mode play test and it, unsurprisingly, won't have all of its online features
Who could have guessed!
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Last year, Ubisoft announced that both The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest would be getting offline modes, something quite likely driven (pun intended) by how upset people were by the original The Crew being shut down completely. There's an ongoing lawsuit over the first game and all! Still, The Crew 2 and Motorfest getting an offline mode is something, and there's a playtest for the former coming next week, April 30th.
Producer Gregory Corgie shared this in a quick update video (you can watch that below) that mostly focuses on The Crew 2, as that's the one that'll be getting an offline mode first. It's probably worth noting that not everyone is guaranteed access to the aforementioned playtest, it'll be based on their individual "configurations and previous involvement in the community." Don't worry about your save either, as it'll be a separate one made for the sole purpose of testing the offline mode.
As it stands, the developer is apparently planning to release a hybrid mode, meaning you can switch between on- and offline, by the end of this year. The reason you're not getting an outright offline mode right out the gate is pretty much just because the racing game was designed to be an always online game, so Ubisoft need to actually make sure an offline mode works 100% of the time.
Corgie also made sure to make it clear that no, online multiplayer features won't be available in offline mode, though this won't apply to all aspects of the game. Not entirely sure if this point needed to be made, but he did also say a full list of what features will and won't work will be coming further down the line. I imagine that'll actually be a useful thing to hear other than the obvious difference between online and offline gameplay.
I do have to wonder if the existence of an offline mode for The Crew 2 and Motorfest will hinder Ubisoft at all in the ongoing lawsuit against them. They argue that those that purchased the game were "purchasing a license" to play it, not to own the actual game, which is obviously a stinking pile of "um, actually…", so it's a matter of waiting to see if that argument works out for them.