Big gamer campaign "Stop Killing Games" it has just achieved a key milestone and is now going before the institutions of the European Union. A citizen's initiative, launched by players across Europe with the aim of protecting the digital games they have purchased, has managed to collect 1,294,188 verified signatures, significantly more than the required million signatures for the initiative to be formally considered before by the European Commission.
The aim of the initiative is stop the practice of shutting down online game servers and thereby preventing access to the game even for those who have legally purchased it. It advocates that publishers provide a way in advance for games to remain playable — at least in basic offline functionality — after official support and servers are deactivated. The initiators point out that games are not only software, but also cultural goods which deserve preservation.
The initiative has already provoked political reactions: in Great Britain, the petition was debated in the parliament, and the vice-president of the European Parliament, Nicolae Ștefănuță, publicly supported the campaign, emphasizing that the purchased games should belong to the players, and not disappear when the server is turned off.
Now comes the formal process: after the signatures have been verified by the national authorities, the organizers will submit the initiative to the Commission, which will have six months to decide whether to propose legislative measures. If that happens, the proposal could pave the way to new rules on the protection of digital consumer rights in the EU, including an obligation for publishers to plan end-of-life support for games.
