The European Stop Killing Games petition is over 95% of the way to its 1 million signature target. Founded to challenge the legality of publishers cancelling games they have sold to customers, it advocates for better game preservation and consumer rights.
What does the Stop Killing Games petition aim to achieve?
In the video game industry, games are frequently sold as goods with no expiration, but are designed to collapse the moment publisher support is withdrawn.
The campaign itself originated from Ubisoft’s shutdown of the open-world racing game, The Crew. The shutdown rendered all purchased copies unplayable.
Following this shutdown, the Stop Killing Games initiative was launched to contact lawmakers across several countries and encourage legislation that prevents the complete deactivation of online games.
The main petition is targeted at the European Commission, which is now nearing its 1 million signature target. Hopefully, this will lead to the EU investigating legislation to enhance video game preservation and consumer rights in the online market space.
It is essential to exceed the 1 million signatory goal to account for errors. The Stop Killing Games organisers reiterated this on July 2nd during a significant social media post for the petition.
While the petition circulated in strength across the first few days of July, the industry simultaneously faced significant layoffs and cancellations.
Mass layoffs at Microsoft and Xbox have already confirmed the cancellation of several games in development.
What has already been achieved by the petition’s organisers?
Stop Killing Games has taken several actions since 2024 to advocate for greater game preservation.
Their action includes collaborating with members of the European Parliament to push questions surrounding the legality of destroying sold games, alongside agency action in individual countries.
Some of their regional campaigns are still ongoing, whereas other national governments have either forced the issue on agencies or smaller internal regional bodies.
However, they were able to determine through their collaboration with Member of European Parliament Niklas Nienaß and MEP Patrick Breyer that video games that can have consumer access withdrawn post-purchase may be violating Directive 93/13/EEC. The European Commission determined that resolving this lay with member states.
Their petitions have also triggered extensive discussion and unity across the gaming industry. Content creators, game developers, and consumers have united in a multi-platform movement to push the initiative online.
Which petitions are still active?
Currently, the European Citizens’ Initiative is the primary open petition. Sitting at over 965,000 signatures, it is projected to reach its 1 million goal very soon.
Due to the UK’s departure from the European Union, a separate UK petition is also currently live.
This petition initially launched in 2024. However, it was ended prematurely due to Parliament’s dissolution and the government’s misunderstanding of the petition’s purposes and goals.
Before the petition reached its goal, the UK government issued the following statement:
“There are no plans to amend UK consumer law on disabling video games. Those selling games must comply with existing requirements in consumer law and we will continue to monitor this issue.”
Since this statement in February 2025, the petition has surpassed 100,000 signatures and must be considered for debate.
In the meantime, signatures can still be added to the petition to lend it greater importance among UK citizens. Already, the number of signatures has surpassed 125,000.
It is unknown what the response will be from governing bodies. Nevertheless, halting the destruction of purchased games is clearly an important issue in the gaming community.
Signatures continue to flow into the EU and UK campaigns, while layoffs paint a bleak backdrop to passionate consumer efforts.