Ubisoft warns players not to trust early reviews of The Crew

The Crew is an upcoming multiplayer racing title from Ubisoft, and no copies of the game were sent to the press ahead of its launch on December 2. The embargo will drop, and access to the game will begin for the press, on launch day.

"While we fully anticipate that you might see some reviews immediately at launch — largely built around the preview sessions we facilitated during the past months or the limited content of the closed and open betas — they won’t be based on optimal conditions or reflect the finished game," Ubisoft posted on its official blog.

"We sincerely hope everyone will take the time to customize their ride as they progress through all five regions, explore every corner of the map solo and with friends, dive into our competitive and cooperative mechanics, race to the end of the main campaign, choose a Faction and compete with your crew in Factions Wars, and so much more."

The blog post stresses that The Crew is a social game, requiring full servers of players to fully enjoy. "...The Crew was built from the beginning to be a living playground full of driving fans, so it’s only possible to assess our game in its entirety with other real players in the world," the post states. "And by other, we mean thousands and thousands and thousands of players — something that can’t be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press."

The last game to warn players against rushed reviews? Destiny.

Ubisoft's press embargoes have drawn criticism — including from this publication — for extending past the launch of a still-broken game. As always, caution is advised, and this season has seen plenty of games launched with significant problems.