1 million signatures could make killing video games illegal in the EU

A new European Citizens’ Initiative has launched to try and make it illegal for game publishers to render games useless to players. Should it succeed in getting 1 million signatures, the European Commission will have to consider making it law.

One of the most frustrating things you can encounter as a gamer is when a publisher decides to kill one of your favourite games. This can happen for a number of reasons — licence agreements expire, server maintenance becomes too costly, end-of-life-strategies to push players towards new titles, etc.

An increasing number of games rely on servers to run. If a publisher decides to switch one off, they essentially “kill” the game, and no one can ever play it again. 

Needless to say, this can cause severe backlash among dedicated player communities — as well as developers who see all their hard work go up in smoke. 

Not only because it deprives players of a favourite pastime, but also because a company decides to vanish a product they have paid for, and potentially also thrown a lot of additional money into in the form of downloadable content, boosts, or skins. 

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Some unhappy campers have even said they want to sue video game publisher Ubisoft for killing popular racing game The Crew by pulling gamers’ licences. The move, described by many Reddit users as “stealing,” sparked a new wave of outrage over the practice.

The initiators of the Citizens’ Initiative say killing games “robs customers, destroys games as an artform, and is unnecessary.” They are hoping that by getting enough people to sign their petition, the EU will have to consider making it illegal for publishers to kill games. 

What is a European Citizens’ initiative?

A European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a mechanism intended for citizens of the EU to participate more directly in the development of the bloc’s policies by proposing new legislation. If more than a million people (with across a minimum of seven countries) sign a petition, the Commission has to propose new legislation, or provide a detailed reason for why it won’t. 

Policy-savvy gamers have now taken it upon themselves to mobilise the dedicated online gamer base of Europe to “stop the destruction of video games.”

The “Stop Killing Games” initiative was first brought to our attention through PC Gamer. If successful, this will require publishers to leave games in a “reasonable” working state at the time of shutdown. It would also apply to games that are free to play but offer microtransaction features to customers. 

You can watch the campaign video below for more details, and find the petition here. Seldom has direct democracy been exercised by so many nerds.