Stop Killing Games Petition Passes 1.3M Signatures, Here’s What It Means for Players

You may not have heard of Stop Killing Games, but I’m going to imagine you already agree with the movement’s sentiment.

In today’s world, rarely does a week go by without news of a game being delisted or taken offline.

As licenses expire or player bases dwindle, it’s not unusual for publishers to decide that it’s more cost effective to sunset a game than keep it active.

To an extent, you can understand that line of thinking, but the problem comes from the fact that players aren’t compensated when said game they’ve purchased is removed from their library forever.

Anthem, Credit / EA

“Stop Killing Games" is a consumer movement started to challenge the legality of publishers destroying video games they have sold to customers,” the movement’s website reads.

“An increasing number of video games are sold effectively as goods - with no stated expiration date - but designed to be completely unplayable as soon as support from the publisher ends.

“This practice is a form of planned obsolescence and is not only detrimental to customers, but makes preservation effectively impossible. Furthermore, the legality of this practice is largely untested in many countries.”

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Already, Stop Killing Games has made progress escalating this problem with consumer agencies in France, Germany, and Australia.

The movement is encouraging EU-based gamers to submit feedback on The Digital Fairness Act which is currently accepting public input.

Delisting and Removing a Game You’ve Purchased Outright Shouldn’t Be Allowed

It doesn’t currently cover delisting but it does touch on adjacent issues and the hope is that with enough feedback, it may be altered.

In fact, Stop Killing Games has been gathering signatures supporting the European Union Citizens’ Initiative, and it’s now well surpassed the 1,000,000 count it needs to be brought to the EU Commission’s attention.

As reported by PC Gamer, the EU has verified 1,294,188 of 1,448,270 signatures. This gives the petition one of the lowest failed signature rates amongst EU Citizens’ Initiatives.

“Most of you already understand this, but it still needs to be said: please be patient with the team. We do this because we believe in it, and because we believe what we’re doing is right,” Stop Killing Games’ Moritz Katzner said in a statement posted to Reddit following the reveal of the initiative’s success.

“None of us are paid for this. We all have jobs, families, and responsibilities, and for some, the past weeks have been rough. Keep that in mind.

“You’re not talking to some abstract institution like the EU, you’re talking to real people. Yes even the mods are real! In fact, you’re talking to someone who’s about to play Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 in about 30 minutes just to decompress after a stressful week.”

Stop Killing Games now has an opportunity to present its case which it adds it has kept close to its chest so it doesn’t “unintentionally leak [...] to lobby groups”.

The movement is also in the midst of updating its social channels, so do be sure to follow Stop Killing Games if you want to be kept up to date with the excellent work those volunteers are doing.

Game preservation is so incredibly important and has, until now, been so vastly overlooked.

It’s incredible to see gamers taking the matter into their own hands, with Stop Killing Games’ work having the capacity to welcome real change.