Stop Killing Games will create non-governmental organizations protecting gamers’ rights in the EU and the US

The Stop Killing Games movement has announced the creation of non-profit organizations in the EU and the US. The initiative aims to promote laws against publishers who disable game support and effectively deprive users of access to already purchased products.

From campaign to NGO

The movement’s author, Ross Scott, announced in a new video that the two organizations will work to incorporate Stop Killing Games’ requirements into European Union law. In parallel, it is planned to launch a complaint system – users will be able to officially appeal about disabling access to purchased games.

The movement emerged in 2024 after Ubisoft stopped supporting The Crew and removed it from players’ libraries. This incident became the trigger for launching the campaign.

According to Scott, the NGO format will provide “undeniable advantages”, including the possibility of long-term counter-lobbying. As goals, he names either the adoption of a citizens’ initiative at the EU level, or the inclusion of provisions in the future Digital Justice Act. An alternative option is a revision of the Digital Content Directive.

The first petition has already collected more than 1.4 million signatures, which obliges the European Parliament to consider it. The initiative was publicly supported by representatives of the gaming industry and politics, including the creator of Minecraft. Mykola Štefanuce. In the UK, the petition was considered at the end of last year, but the authorities did not change the current regulations on the “digital obsolescence” of games.

Control over the closure of games and further plans

A separate task is the constant monitoring of cases of closure of games. Scott recalled that he had previously helped create a multilingual website with instructions for filing complaints to consumer protection authorities after the situation with The Crew. In the future, a similar system is planned to be launched for each major case of game shutdown.

The new structure will be headed by German politician Moritz Katzner, who has been involved in Stop Killing Games since 2. Scott himself is gradually stepping back from operational management and is going to focus on supporting initiatives.

He admits that in the US the effect of creating an NGO may be limited, but he expects public attention to grow. According to him, the industry is actively resisting regulation, since restrictions on aggressive monetization can cost companies significant sums. At the same time, he considers the problem of completely disabling games to be relatively small in terms of costs – according to his assessment, publishers spend more on lobbyists than they need to change internal processes.

In the future, the movement does not rule out expanding beyond the EU and the US. The option of creating a global structure with offices in different regions is being considered.