Where you could once walk into a store, buy a physical game and own it forever, today’s digital video game industry operates on an entirely different model.
The shift from physical media to digital downloads may have made purchasing a game easier and more convenient than ever, but it comes with a hidden cost.
When you buy a game digitally like on the PlayStation or Microsoft Store, you’re not actually purchasing the game itself – you’re buying a license to play it. And that license can disappear at any moment if publishers decide to pull the plug on their servers, rendering the game ‘unplayable.’
In response, a consumer-led movement has emerged with the goal of pressuring gaming developers to change their ways.
YouTuber Accursed Farms launched the Stop Killing Games initiative in April 2024 after Ubisoft decided to shut down its popular open-world racing game, The Crew.
Now, the consumer-led movement has over 1.2 million signatures after being endorsed by major figures in online gaming, including PewDiePie and Asmongold.
Former King YouTuber PewDiePie encouraged his 110 million viewers to sign the petition, stating he ‘100% supports this movement.’ Meanwhile, Asmongold noted how close the petition’s finish line was, tweeting: “10 months and over 800k signatures later, the Stop Killing Games initiative is almost across the finish line of 1 million.
“If you’re from the EU and care about game preservation and consumer rights, consider signing this petition.”
Even Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk showed his support for gaming by retweeting Asmongold’s post.
According to the Stop Killing Games website, the movement challenges ‘the legality of publishers destroying video games they have sold to customers.’ The European Citizens petition gained such momentum that the website crashed from traffic as tonnes of supporters rushed to add their names.
However, in a celebratory tweet recognising the milestone, Accursed Farms pointed out that some of the signatures could be spoofed.
“The site says we have cleared 1 million signatures!” he shared on X. “I hate being like this, but there’s a chance a significant number of them aren’t real. That means we have to keep signing in overdrive mode to make up for them!”
If the European Commission does pass protective legislation, it could force publishers worldwide to reconsider how they handle end-of-life support for online games. However, if many of the signatures are found to be from bots or fraudulent accounts, the entire initiative could lose credibility.
Critics like game developer Pirate Software have been opposing Stop Killing Games since its inception, arguing that the initiative is too vague and could set a bad ‘precedent’ for the gaming industry.
After receiving a storm of backlash, harassment and even death threats, Pirate Software has stepped back from his role at Offbrand Games.
