The petition that retains video game access has recently achieved a significant milestone of one million signatures, but it has two more challenges before reaching the final level. The “Stop Killing Game” campaign reached one million votes earlier this month, meaning the EU will have to consider adopting legislation that addresses the issue. However, the petition must first deal with the threat of potential fake signatures and the resistance of major game studios and publishers.
The Stop Kill Games program, created by Ross Scott, is designed to pass new laws to ensure that video games still run even if developers support ends. The petition responds directly to Ubisoft (Ubisoft) crew From the online store, the game’s servers were shut down in 2024 and the license was revoked from the players who purchased the game. Scott and other critics argue that Ubisoft’s actions set a dangerous precedent for gamers who may lose their purchases in the developers’ whim.
Even if there are enough signatures to move to the next step, Scott explained in a YouTube video that many of them may have been filled in incorrectly, while others may have been submitted incorrectly. “This is not a change. To ensure that enough legal signatures are collected, Scott said that covering potentially invalid signatures must increase by 10%. As of July 6, the petition has received more than 1.2 million signatures.
In addition to signatures, European advocacy groups, including major game studios and publishers such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft and Nintendo, issued a statement against the movement.
“For players, private servers are not always a viable alternative, as the protections we make to protect players’ data, remove illegal content, and unsafe community content will not exist and will put rights holders in liability,” the statement said. “In addition, designing many titles from scratch, only online design; in fact, these suggestions will undermine the developer’s choice by making the creation of these video games expensive.”
In a longer report, the European Video Game Group said the plan would “increase the cost and risk of developing such games”, create “a creepy effect on game design” and “a repressive effect on providing such games in Europe”.
