Stop Killing Games: Publishers Call Preservation 'Too Costly' as EU Petition Tops 1.3M

1.3 Million Signatures, Now Publishers Are Fighting Back

The Stop Killing Games consumer movement has 1,294,188 verified EU signatures and cleared a European Parliament public hearing. The petition demands that game publishers implement end-of-life plans for games they sell — not simply shut down servers and make games permanently unplayable.

Now the industry has responded. Video Games Europe, a lobby group representing over 30 major publishers including Ubisoft, EA, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, and Nintendo, has officially declared opposition to the campaign's proposals, calling them "prohibitively costly."

EU Parliament Public Hearing — April 16, 2026

Timeline

What Stop Killing Games Wants

The movement's demands are deliberately modest. When a game is shut down, publishers should choose at least one of:

1. 1Offline patch — Update the game so it can run without servers
2. 2Private server tools — Release software so communities can self-host
3. 3Full refunds — If a game is made unplayable, buyers get their money back

Campaign founder Ross Scott has responded to the publisher pushback:

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"The industry's arguments are untenable. They're trying to convince regulators that basic consumer protections are impossible when other industries manage them routinely."

— Ross Scott (Accursed Farms)

The Publisher Side

Video Games Europe's position on each point:

Legislative Status by Region

How It Started: The Crew

The Crew was an always-online racing game. When Ubisoft shut down its servers in early 2024, the game became permanently unplayable — not just online multiplayer, but the entire game, including solo content. Some players reported the game was deleted from their libraries entirely.

This single incident crystallized a growing concern: you can "buy" a game that a corporation can legally destroy after selling it to you.

Community Reaction

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"Private servers 'lack safety controls'? The same companies with the worst data breach records in tech are worried about safety?" — Reddit community reaction

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"You buy the game, but the publisher can delete it whenever they want. That's a scam, full stop." — Steam reviewer

Both the UK and US wings of the movement are actively lobbying their respective legislatures, creating simultaneous pressure across three major markets.

GamePeak Take

The core dispute is ownership versus license. Publishers argue they sold you a license, not a game. Stop Killing Games argues that license is an unfair contract that lets companies take back what you paid for.

With simultaneous legislative pressure in the EU, UK, and California, the outcome of this fight will likely set precedents that reshape how the entire live-service games industry operates. We'll continue covering this as it develops.