Back in April 2024, I wrote about the Stop Killing Games initiative from Ross at Accursed Farms. Now, it's heading to the European Union with a European Citizens' Initiative you can give you vote to. Sorry fellow Brits, but thanks to Brexit we can't get involved in this. If you're part of the European Union though, you can now truly try and make your voice count.
As a reminder on what it's all about from the ECI:
This initiative calls to require publishers that sell or license videogames to consumers in the European Union (or related features and assets sold for videogames they operate) to leave said videogames in a functional (playable) state.
Specifically, the initiative seeks to prevent the remote disabling of videogames by the publishers, before providing reasonable means to continue functioning of said videogames without the involvement from the side of the publisher.
The initiative does not seek to acquire ownership of said videogames, associated intellectual rights or monetization rights, neither does it expect the publisher to provide resources for the said videogame once they discontinue it while leaving it in a reasonably functional (playable) state.
It's a worthy cause, because some publishers do have a habit of shutting down games when they move on, leaving players with nothing to show for it even though they paid for it. Games that contain a single-player element especially should always have an option to let you continue on. It's a bit more complicated for online-only games, say for those that have micro-transactions and battle passes, but still you're often spending a whole lot of your money to be again left with nothing.
Check out the initiative and give your vote. See more on the Stop Killing Games website.
Direct Link
williamjcm Aug 1
Vortex_Acherontic Aug 1
/s (I hope it does not turn out to become true though)
I have cast my vote to help and am spreading the word as much as I can. Hopefully this will go somewhere, though not getting my hopes up.
robertosf92 Aug 1
Kimyrielle Aug 1
That being said, maybe it will create some public pressure on studios that this practice is considered unacceptable by their customers and they need to do better.
I would sign it if I could, but I am not in the EU. I hope everyone there does, though! :)
Last edited by Kimyrielle on 1 August 2024 at 6:49 pm UTC
Quoting: KimyrielleLegally, I can't see initiatives like this going anywhere. Our society seems to ban undesirable business practices only when people start dying, and otherwise let "the market" sort it out. In other words, do nothing and let businesses screw their customers for fun and profit.This particular initiative might not go anywhere, but the EU doesn't always bend over for corporate interests. Some pro-consumer regulations do get enacted. Your defeatism is not entirely warranted. And this is an official EU Citizen's Initiative, not a petition, despite Liam's choice of words in the title. If it gathers enough votes, it'll end up as a legislative proposal.
I signed, obviously.
Last edited by tuubi on 1 August 2024 at 8:56 pm UTC
Super easy to sign with the eID also and it only checks if you are valid citizen, not your other info.
Mountain Man Aug 1
Quoting: Mountain ManI expect this to go nowhere. The idea that you can force a company to make their product available indefinitely is ridiculous on its face.Well, open source the server code would be sufficient
Mountain Man Aug 1
Quoting: loggeAssuming it's not proprietary or licensed. That's one part of this debate that is never considered, that developers may not legally be able to release their games for free.Quoting: Mountain ManI expect this to go nowhere. The idea that you can force a company to make their product available indefinitely is ridiculous on its face.Well, open source the server code would be sufficient
TheRiddick Aug 2
Kallestofeles Aug 2
I hope this goes anywhere, I really hope...
Quoting: Mountain ManAssuming it's not proprietary or licensed. That's one part of this debate that is never considered, that developers may not legally be able to release their games for free.
I don't see why this should be the consumers problem instead of the developers. If a legislation is enacted according to the initiave, than such kind of licensing isn't the way to go (within EU) anymore, so what? THEN the market could sort out the rest.
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