After for than a year since its inception back in March 2024, the European initiative titled "Stop Killing Games" has not only met the desired goal of 1 million signatures, but it has even surpassed it and its still growing.

The "Stop Killing Games" initiative aims to challenge gaming companies legally to provide an end-of-life plan for videogames where the game effectively becomes unplayable once the publisher stops supporting said game. This might include live-service games, but is not exclusive to them, as we have seen many games throughout the years met their end just because the publisher has decided to shut down the servers for said games, with the famous case of games like "The Crew" as a clear example of this.

Now with the initiative's goal met, it's very likely that the European Union will see this as a topic worth considering in terms of consumer rights, as this kind of practice where the publisher determines the end of the product, or rather, planned obsolescence as it is called, is seen as abusive by the vast majority of consumers.

As expected, as soon as the million European signatures goal was met, the European lobbying board for video games, Video Games Europe, released a statement regarding this news, claiming that the decision to discontinue online games is never taken lightly and that "it must be an option for companies when an online experience is no longer viable", and that the companies will "give fair notice" to players before their discontinuation, claiming that "private servers are not always viable."

The lobbying board consists of people representing many giants in the gaming industry, like Electronic Arts, Activision, Microsoft, Epic Games, Nintendo, Sony, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and more.

Aside from the released statement, Video Games Europe released a detailed Position Paper where they go into detail about why such an initiative would be detrimental to the gaming companies, explaining "why an obligation on video game companies to provide only a limited type of end-of-life plan is disproportionate".

It's still unknown what will come out of this, and/or when this initiative will be properly discussed in a proper legal manner by corresponding entities, but we'll make sure to follow the situation as it continues to evolve.

Stop Killing Games website
Video Games Europe statement
Video Games Europe Position paper

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

For the consumer side yeah this logic is shit as it is anti consumer as fuck.

Looking at the groups opposing this, I can safely say their reasoning would be something like this:

Not being feasable due to budget. Spend as little as possible and get the most out of it, having to actually pay someone or a team to handle EOL would cost money, and require actually paying money. Not acceptable, CEOs need more bonuses! How can we take a bigger cut if the peasants keep taking what is rightfully ours!

It's hurting newer game sales. If they can play something they already paid for, how are we going to continue to take our money that is rightfully ours? We decide when and how you play our games and you will buy the next thing we over price and say thank you!

Asking for games to stay online forever. See, see! These peasants are so UN-reasonable! The 5 people in a year who will still be playing this should just move on and pre-order the next next game.


Won't happen. That would require them providing closed (in-house) code ect. Requesting this would just hurt the cause, developers would instantly cite losses from having to do all the work and getting none of the benefits when other developers just use the "open source" code.

A much better solution for this specific scenario would be like valve and other developers used to do for PC and let users host their own dedicated servers. That way things like *match making* and such can go offline and then put the finding players issue onto the player base.

Wouldnt be shocked if a few companies on that list just joined in seeing all the others who were for it.

 

[Mayo1990]

Remember when you could host dedicated servers to online games so even when companies stopped supporting the game you could eventually still play with them? Pepperidge farm remembers

 

[Noctosphere]

Wait a minute! A big company who wants money from their customers but doesn't want to make them happy?
Blasphemy! Never happened! Fake news!

 

[Marc_LFD]

I've signed up for it first time, but I too wish it wasn't just the EU region rather it be worldwide.

Moreover, I read about fake signatures though for that to happen you'd need to provide a fake Passport ID number and I know there are websites that generate those types of numbers (and addresses, etc), hopefully not too many regardless it was meant to not do harm.

Post automatically merged: Jul 9, 2025

I see Stop Killing Games as a digital extension of right to repair. If the original creators who sold a product choose not to support it anymore, it doesn’t logically follow that the product is obsolete. They should release the final version of server files at minimum so that consumers could continue to use the product. I don’t think the source is required if there are concerns about copyright at play, all that’s required is the bare minimum binaries that allow for the continued use of the product. People have hosted private servers for huge projects, MMO’s especially, for as long as I can remember. It’s perfectly feasible.

I really want to play The Crew, but due to Ubisoft's stupidity I can't since the game is unplayable. Yes, I read about a patch on the PC version by fans though it should be provided by UniSoft for all platforms* (I guess except the 360 as it's dead now).

 

[ut2k4master]

Moreover, I read about fake signatures though for that to happen you'd need to provide a fake Passport ID number and I know there are websites that generate those types of numbers (and addresses, etc), hopefully not too many regardless it was meant to not do harm.

there are regions where you dont have to provide an id but just an address for example

 

[BlueFox gui]

these companies will give the exact same excuse when you ask about offline games that have the stupid license thing that you have to agree with, "oh but we need to remove your license so you have to pay for it again, or else there's no profit"

 

[Marc_LFD]

there are regions where you dont have to provide an id but just an address for example

Countries, more accurately.

And yes, I've just tried and Germany does that.

 

[YuseiFD]

I am not trying to be a debbie downer or anything, but if the game is based on being exclusively multiplayer, then they have every right to shut down the server and then get sued for damages (i.e.: players who bought it close to the surprising server end notice), you do own the client, not the server, BUT if the game has a single player mode, then by all means, all drm that requires always to be online should be removed promptly, or issue refunds, NO MATTER the time the game was alive.

 

[whitesword7]

If game studio plans to shut off server based games then they could simply pass a law they must make the code open source and leave it for the community to decide on how to host if they don't want to pay for server status anymore. Simple fix.

I’m really sorry to say this but forcing company to share their private code into open source is far from “simple fix” since there’s a chance they’re gonna use the same code for their next game and there’s a bunch of license tying the code. If this is the endgame then a company can just say they lost the code, and if the company does give the code but the code doesn’t work what are the community gonna do? reaching said company as tech support?

while I’m happy we got 1 mil signature, I’m still wondering what the endgame is…

 

[111112oo_]

It is worth noting that the initiative doesn't expect developers to share their source code, just the server software itself. Other routes include implementing direct peer to peer multiplayer not relying on a closed service, or offline modes.

 

[chrisrlink]

Won't somebody think of the big corporations ?

God I hope this blows up on their asses and they have to provide tools and/or permanent ways to purchase their games.

god i hope you make a mistep and get bannned but free speech isn't one of them

 

[CoolMe]

I wish it wasn’t just the EU, ngl

same. all the stuff that protect & defend consumers happen in the EU, ofc none of that ever happens in the states or NA in general

 

[chrisrlink]

might i also add some shops like eshop for 3ds would've benifet from this because of a few reasons
1)people who don't hack have no choice but to purchase inflated prices for catrages/disc because their digital eqivalent is no longer (legally) available and 2 it drives up piracy of said titles because of reason 1 , now i know this is about online games but online store fronts should be included in this too (if there's still people who own the systems which plenty do)

 

[Marc_LFD]

might i also add some shops like eshop for 3ds would've benifet from this because of a few reasons
1)people who don't hack have no choice but to purchase inflated prices for catrages/disc because their digital eqivalent is no longer (legally) available and 2 it drives up piracy of said titles because of reason 1 , now i know this is about online games but online store fronts should be included in this too (if there's still people who own the systems which plenty do)

The 3DS had an Anime Channel and it had some cool stuff dubbed in English which is kind of hard to find. It had Shin-chan and Doraemon dubbed in English.

Hopefully someone captured and preserved it despite the low resolution (the real reward is preserving the audio files).

 

[mrjr666]

cool

 

[Sir Tortoise]

IMPORTANT: This is not over, the ECI runs until the 31st of July and we need people to keep signing. Ideally we want 1.4m signatures to protect against the possibility of people messing up on the form, there will be a validation process.

 

[diggeloid]

There's so much money in online games, that it doesn't matter how "difficult" it is to comply with whatever law comes out of this. Publishers will find a way to comply and remain profitable. The ones that fail to do so will have their market share taken by the competitors that do, and the market will be better off in the long run.

 

[Osha]

god i hope you make a mistep and get bannned but free speech isn't one of them

What are you even talking about lmfao, me wanting corpos to go get bent is somehow a bad thing ?

 

[SecureBoot]

If game studio plans to shut off server based games then they could simply pass a law they must make the code open source and leave it for the community to decide on how to host if they don't want to pay for server status anymore. Simple fix.

Any person on the internet who claims there is a "simple" solution to a large problem is either lying or selling you something.

There is no one size fits all solution to EoL plans for games. That's why the initiative does not cover games that already exist. However, we are asking that games that have not been made yet are built in such a way where it is simple to keep them alive after the company ends support. That could look like building server code that is decoupled from third party libraries, removing DRM checks at EoL, converting multiplayer games to single player campaigns, etc. Ultimately, it's not our job to enforce HOW a company provides EoL support, only that they do.

 

[V800]

What they actually can't fathom is players enjoying for many years the exact same game without milking them. It happened with Wow Classic, it happened with Overwatch 1 and it may happened again if they leave players a choice.