Stop Killing Games initiative is a global grassroots organization that hopes to change legislations across the world in a way that would allow video games to remain playable forever - even after the game's servers have been shut down.
In practice, the demand would have been implemented so that in games that also offer a single-player mode, that single-player mode would also function completely without a connection to the game company's servers, meaning game companies could not simply shut down the game (but could shut down its network-dependent parts).
The campaign argued that the current practice no longer guarantees ownership of games after purchase, but is rather a one-time paid license that the game publisher can revoke at any time.
Through the campaign, over 1.2 million signatures were eventually collected, and the citizens' initiative was submitted to the European Union for consideration.
But unfortunately, the European Commission decided to reject (PDF) the citizens' initiative, meaning it will not proceed further in the EU's decision-making bodies.
Instead, the Commission states that it will initiate discussions with the gaming industry and consumer organizations at the end of 2026, aiming to create common rules for consumer protection in computer games.
According to the Commission, the citizens' initiative's demand that games should be kept playable forever is "disproportionately large". In its response, the Commission refers to copyrights, publishers' costs, and potential cybersecurity issues that may arise if a game, as it were, moves on to live an "afterlife" outside of support.
However, the Commission intends to bring up in the discussions the aspect that the Stop Killing Games campaign also emphasized, namely the cultural-historical value of games. Currently, some games disappear forever when their servers are shut down, and they cannot be transferred, for example, to museums and archives in a playable form.
The cultural significance of games has only begun to be understood in the last ten years, and strenuous efforts have been made to preserve them - mainly by enthusiasts.
However, the Stop Killing Games campaign does not intend to give up; the parties behind the project have already outlined the next steps they will take to achieve the desired outcome - that games remain playable forever (at least in some way).
The campaign argued that the current practice no longer guarantees ownership of games after purchase, but is rather a one-time paid license that the game publisher can revoke at any time.
Through the campaign, over 1.2 million signatures were eventually collected, and the citizens' initiative was submitted to the European Union for consideration.
But unfortunately, the European Commission decided to reject (PDF) the citizens' initiative, meaning it will not proceed further in the EU's decision-making bodies.
Instead, the Commission states that it will initiate discussions with the gaming industry and consumer organizations at the end of 2026, aiming to create common rules for consumer protection in computer games.
According to the Commission, the citizens' initiative's demand that games should be kept playable forever is "disproportionately large". In its response, the Commission refers to copyrights, publishers' costs, and potential cybersecurity issues that may arise if a game, as it were, moves on to live an "afterlife" outside of support.
However, the Commission intends to bring up in the discussions the aspect that the Stop Killing Games campaign also emphasized, namely the cultural-historical value of games. Currently, some games disappear forever when their servers are shut down, and they cannot be transferred, for example, to museums and archives in a playable form.
The cultural significance of games has only begun to be understood in the last ten years, and strenuous efforts have been made to preserve them - mainly by enthusiasts.
However, the Stop Killing Games campaign does not intend to give up; the parties behind the project have already outlined the next steps they will take to achieve the desired outcome - that games remain playable forever (at least in some way).
