A movement to stop publishers killing games has reached California and the EU

When Ubisoft pulled the plug on The Crew in 2024, the game became permanently unplayable for everyone who had purchased it. Ross Scott turned that into a campaign, and that campaign has since produced parliamentary debates on two continents.

How Stop Killing Games started

Scott founded Stop Killing Games in 2024, with The Crew's server closure as the inciting case. The campaign's core argument: when a publisher sells a game and later renders it permanently unplayable by shutting down its servers, buyers received something with an undisclosed expiration date. The movement has since gathered millions of signatures on government petitions calling for legislation requiring publishers to provide some form of perpetual access, either through continued centralized server support or by releasing server software so players can host their own.

The legislative record so far

The signature count has translated into institutional attention. Stop Killing Games prompted an official parliamentary debate and drew a formal response from the European Commission. In the United States, proposed legislation shaped around the campaign's goals is now moving through the California legislature. Ars Technica hosted Scott in an Ars Live conversation on August 11, where its Senior Gaming Editor pressed him on the campaign's progress.

The counterargument publishers will make

The case against centers on cost and control. Running game servers indefinitely is expensive, and publishers will argue they cannot be required to fund infrastructure for titles that no longer generate revenue. There is also the question of what perpetual access looks like in practice for games whose backend depends on proprietary or licensed technology. The operational objection is real, and no proposed legislation has yet resolved it.

On balance

The movement has cleared a bar most consumer-advocacy campaigns do not reach: it forced a parliamentary debate and a formal response from the European Commission. Whether the California bill advances, and whether the EU's answer hardens into enforceable rules, will determine whether Stop Killing Games remains a pressure campaign or becomes the origin point of a new category of digital consumer rights. The Crew's server closure in 2024 remains the fact that started it.