It appears that community work to keep the game running has always been going on, but due to the recent news, there has been more incentive than ever to do something about it. As of the time of posting, they managed to uncover and display a hidden Offline Mode screen, although work is still ongoing to make this work function at all.
Let's hope they succeed. I'm not especially a fan of the game or any of the crap Ubisoft has its name on, but I'll once again paraphrase Ross Scott's words; even if everything else about it is average, you can drive across the United States. On scale alone, this game is an oddity. On principles alone, it shouldn't need to die. But everything combined together? Like it or not, this game is interesting in many ways. I'd like to be able to keep playing the damn thing from time to time.
I wish the Community Offline Patch people plenty of good luck.