Random: Over 1M People Have Signed A Petition To ‘Stop Killing Games’

For an extended period, and especially in recent years, we’ve witnessed numerous games disabling their Xbox servers and subsequently becoming unplayable – a situation that the “Stop Killing Games” initiative is striving to avert.

The initiative specifically focuses on addressing games that are “entirely unplayable once publisher support ceases” – a scenario regarded as detrimental to consumers and “rendering preservation practically impossible”.

“We support publishers choosing to terminate support for a game whenever they wish. What we are requesting is that they create an end-of-life strategy to update or patch the game, enabling it to operate on customer systems without any further aid from the company being needed.”

To achieve this, they have been gathering signatures across diverse locations, including in the EU, where the European Citizens’ Initiative is emphasized as “the most potent option available to us”. They suggest that if they can reach the signature benchmark, there’s a “substantial chance” that a new regulation could be enacted by the European Commission.

“This is the most effective option at our disposal, but it necessitates a considerable number of signatures from the populace of EU nations to succeed. If we can surpass the signature threshold, there is a very strong possibility that the European Commission will enact new legislation that will not only safeguard consumer rights to retain video games that they have acquired but also significantly enhance preservation initiatives.”

Yesterday, the Stop Killing Games initiative indeed reached this landmark – one million signatures – and it has now surpassed 1.1 million, with the team indicating that every signature still matters at this stage.

In the UK, the petition has garnered 150,000 unique signatures, prompting Parliament to review the matter for a discussion – although back in February, it was noted that they had no intentions to modify UK law regarding this.

Regardless of the outcome, the level of backing for this initiative is quite astonishing. They detail their goals on the official Stop Killing Games website, with the FAQ elaborating on the situation and addressing inquiries such as whether it is “unreasonable” and potentially harmful to developers.

We’ll certainly be monitoring this closely – it could significantly influence the future of online-exclusive games.

What are your opinions on this? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.