July 8, 2025
Over the past few years, an uncomfortable trend has quietly escalated in the gaming world — publishers and platforms shutting down games permanently, often leaving players with nothing to show for their time, progress, or money. But now, gamers across the globe are fighting back.
The #StopKillingGames campaign, an initiative launched by the YouTube channel BroadbandTV Extra Credits and supported by preservationists, modders, developers, and fans, is gaining serious momentum. As of this week, the EU petition backing the movement has surpassed 1 million signatures, signaling a turning point in how we view ownership in the digital age.
What Does “Killing Games” Mean?
“Killing games” refers to when a publisher or developer disables a title permanently—often a live-service or online-dependent game—removing it from storefronts, deactivating servers, and making it unplayable for everyone, even those who paid for it.
Games like:
- Anthem (EA/BioWare): Shutting down servers in January 2026.
- The Crew (Ubisoft): Delisted and rendered unplayable even for buyers.
- Overwatch 1 (Blizzard): Fully replaced by OW2 with no legacy access.
- Jump Force, Gears Pop, and Battleborn also suffered similar fates.
In most cases, there’s no offline mode, no refund, no preservation—and no say from the community.
Why Gamers Are Angry
There’s a growing realization that digital game ownership isn’t really ownership at all. You might pay $60, invest 200 hours, build a character or online presence — and still lose it all overnight. Publishers are protected by End User License Agreements (EULAs) that allow them to revoke access at any time.
The frustration isn’t just about entitlement — it’s about history, preservation, and respect for the player. For many fans, it’s like buying a movie or book that gets ripped off your shelf because the distributor decides they’re done with it.
What the Petition Is Demanding
The EU petition, which has now crossed the 1 million mark (and climbing), is calling for legal protections that would:
- Mandate offline modes or emulator-friendly versions when possible.
- Preserve access for owners, even after official support ends.
- Restrict the ability of companies to delist or shut down a game you paid for without offering alternatives or refunds.
- Support historical archiving of digital titles, much like libraries do for books or film.
This is a push not just for gamers’ rights, but for cultural preservation.
Publishers Respond — And Critics Push Back
Some major publishers have fired back. A trade group representing big studios, Video Games Europe, said the demands were “impractical” and potentially damaging to innovation.
Ubisoft, one of the most targeted companies in this debate, defended its shutdown of The Crew as a necessary resource allocation decision. But the pushback hasn’t slowed the movement — if anything, it’s energized it.
Developers like Larian Studios, Double Fine, and Nightdive Studios have expressed support for long-term game preservation. Indie communities have begun creating modded “offline server” patches to help save titles from total extinction.
What Happens Next?
The petition has officially triggered a required response from the European Commission, meaning policymakers in the EU will now review the matter and potentially draft regulatory action.
Even outside Europe, the movement is sparking conversations in the U.S., U.K., and Japan — where similar consumer protection laws may be considered.
Final Thoughts: Games Deserve to Be Remembered
Games are art. They are stories, worlds, and experiences we live through — alone or together. Losing access to them isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s cultural erasure. It’s time we start treating games like the lasting creative works they are.
If you’ve ever booted up an old favorite only to be greeted by a 404 error or server shutdown notice, you already know the pain. The Stop Killing Games movement is proof that gamers won’t sit back and accept it anymore.
📝 What You Can Do:
- Sign the official EU petition
- Support studios that provide offline modes and preserve their work
- Use the hashtag #StopKillingGames to keep the conversation going
- Back projects and emulators that prioritize preservation
History matters. Let’s make sure we’re not deleting ours.
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