A new "Stop Killing Games" campaign has been launched that seeks to prevent publishers from taking down live service games by making them offline, thus transforming them into something unplayable for most people.
The launch of the campaign came a day after Ubisoft officially shut down the servers of the popular race The Crew, which made it functionally dead for gamers worldwide. YouTuber Ross Scott of Accursed Farms was the one who launched the campaign in an effort to highlight how developers nowadays are intentionally designing games to become unplayable when support ends.
"Stop Killing Games" Campaign
(Photo : Ivory Tower, Ubisoft / Screenshot taken from Steam)
The website of the Stop Killing Games campaign noted that the practice lies in a legal gray area primarily because the majority of governments in the world do not have clear laws regarding the issue. The goal of the campaign is to convince authorities to examine the legality of this practice and hopefully pass laws that would end it.
It is hoping that such legislation would label the practice as an "assault on both consumer rights and preservation of media." Shortly before it was taken down, The Crew was said to have had a player base of roughly 12 million people, according to TechSpot.
The move to end live service support for such a large game as The Crew marked an ideal opportunity to hold a AAA game publisher responsible for their actions. The Stop Killing Games campaign is petitioning multiple governments to investigate the current issue.
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The main focus is France's Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Protection (DGCCRF). This comes as people in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia will all be able to sign petitions to join the campaign in an effort to pressure their respective governments to look into the matter.
There are also plans underway for the European Union but Scott said that this part of the efforts could be delayed due to "processing times." Games getting shut down a few years after they launched have now slowly become the norm and have affected gamers everywhere.
Shutting Down Live Service Games
The current defense that publishers make regarding the issue is that games bought digitally are not actually sold and that players are buying a condition license to play the titles. They also maintain the stance that this license can be revoked at any time for any reason, said PCGamer.
Steam's subscriber agreement is explicit about a certain part of the issue, saying that the games players buy "are licensed, not sold." However, Scott argued that when put in front of judges, these defenses will not hold up in every country. While it can be difficult to get a favorable judgment in the United States, the YouTuber is hoping that if at least one country rules in favor of players, they can find a way to keep games playable indefinitely.
The YouTuber has been talking about leading a legal response to Ubisoft's decision to take down The Crew since the announcement. He explained in a video that he hopes to trigger a broader regulatory discussion regarding the controversial practice, according to Rock Paper Shotgun.
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