The Stop Killing Games European Citizens' Initiative just cleared a massive milestone: 1,294,188 verified signatures out of 1,448,270 total submissions. This is huge.
For context, this initiative aims to force game publishers to keep multiplayer games functional after they shut down official servers. No more "sorry, we're turning off the servers, your $60 game is now a coaster" situations.
Why This Matters
We've all been there. You buy a game, invest hundreds of hours, build a community, and then the publisher decides it's not profitable enough to keep the lights on. Poof. Your game is gone forever.
The Crew shutdown was the final straw for a lot of people. Ubisoft pulled the plug on a racing game people paid full price for, rendering it completely unplayable. Not "the multiplayer is dead"—the entire game stopped working. That's not just anti-consumer, it's digital book burning.
The Stop Killing Games initiative, led by activist Ross Scott, argues that when publishers sell you a game, they should be required to leave it in a functional state when they're done with it. Not necessarily with official servers running—just in a state where the community can keep it alive if they want to.
What Happens Now?
With over 1.2 million verified signatures, the initiative has cleared the threshold for the European Commission to formally respond. This doesn't guarantee legislation, but it forces the issue onto the agenda.
The gaming industry won't like this. Publishers love the current model where they can sell you something and then delete it whenever they feel like it. But tough luck—gamers are fighting back.
The Community Responds
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Gamers are tired of being treated like walking wallets with no rights to the products they purchase. This initiative represents a fundamental shift: you bought it, you should own it.
Some publishers argue that keeping old games functional is too expensive. Fine. Then make the server software available so the community can do it. We've kept Counter-Strike 1.6 and Quake III Arena alive for decades without corporate support.
Verdict: This is the kind of consumer advocacy the industry desperately needs. Game preservation isn't just nostalgia—it's protecting the medium's history. Would I speedrun through a preserved game? Absolutely. And I should be able to do that in 20 years, too.
Join the movement on Reddit if you believe games should be more than temporary licenses.
