Gamers attack! "Stop Killing Games" petition garners over 1.4 million signatures demanding eternal life for games

A real revolution is brewing in the world of video games. The Stop Killing Games petition managed to collect more than 1.4 million signatures just ten days before the deadline. This is an incredible victory, as this number of signatures is sufficient for the petition to be legitimised by the European Citizens' Initiative, even if a significant number of signatures are invalid.

Here's What We Know

This ambitious goal was reached ahead of schedule, and the number of signatures continues to grow, possibly fuelled by recent controversial statements by some influential industry figures.

"Stop Killing Games" is a movement that tries to work within the framework of preservation to ensure that no video game ever goes offline. The initiative does not require that publishers and developers actively support games long after they have served their time on the market. It merely asks that a method be provided to keep them up and running after servers are shut down.

Here is the main point of the petition:

• This initiative calls for publishers who sell or license video games to consumers in the European Union (or related features and assets sold for the video games they operate) to be required to leave said video games in a functional (playable) state.
• In particular, the Initiative seeks to prevent publishers from remotely disabling video games before providing reasonable means for the continued operation of said video games without the publisher's involvement.
• The Initiative does not seek to obtain ownership of the video games, related intellectual property rights or monetisation rights, nor does it expect the publisher to provide resources for the video game after it is terminated, leaving it in a reasonably functional (playable) state.

Recently, the long-time CEO of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, has added fuel to the fire by speaking out against the Stop Killing Games initiative. He referred to the fact that games have a natural life cycle that always involves disconnecting them from the network, and that Ubisoft is particularly clear about this when people buy and start playing its games.

Ubisoft has been at the forefront of this initiative after disconnecting games such as The Crew in recent years. This conflict between the desire of players to keep digital games alive and the business models of publishers is gaining momentum.

The Stop Killing Games petition will now move to the consideration phase, where MEPs will review its content to determine the next steps. The journey has only just begun, and it may still be several months before any decision is made.

Source: Europa