Ubisoft won’t be supplying media with review copies of their upcoming open-world driving title, The Crew, until the game launches on December 2, the publisher shared yesterday evening on their Ubiblog website.

“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,” Ubisoft’s senior community manager Gary Steinman writes. “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.”

Because of this, The Crew will be available to media outlets to begin their review process once the game launches on December 2. No embargoes will be set for any kind of coverage when The Crew is made available, which means we’ll be able to stream and talk about the game as much as we want, for better or worse.

Ubisoft also warns its potential customers from reviews that are published immediately at the launch of The Crew. “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.”

If you’re the kind of person who likes to gauge what the professionals think of a game, it looks like you’ll have to wait a few days, maybe even weeks, for reviews to come rolling in. I plan on reviewing The Crew for Shacknews, and I’ll try my absolute best to get through it as quickly as possible to offer my opinion of the game so you'll know whether or not you should pick it up or add it to your wishlist this holiday season.

Also - if we learned anything from Ubisoft's handling of Assassin's Creed Unity, I'd recommend holding off on The Crew until we're able to give it a review.