Stop Killing Games Initiative

It has been quite some time since I posted anything, hope you are all doing well. This announcement is not related to anything I do, rather it's about a huge step in the ongoing battle for games preservation.

This is a call to European Union citizens. I don't have a huge audience, but if some of my EU homies could help out, we'd all very much appreciate it!

Here is a link with instructions: Stop Killing Games

Here is a link to the Frequently Asked Questions: FAQ

I am not an expert, so please feel free to watch or read the above posted links!

What's This About?

If you haven't heard about it, Stop Killing Games is an initiative started by legendary YouTuber, Accursed Farms (Ross Scott), of Freeman's Mind and Game Dungeon fame. It's gotten pretty big, and we may have an actual chance to make a huge difference that will literally improve people's consumer rights world-wide!

He started this worldwide endeavour when it was announced that The Crew (made by Ubisoft) was going to have it's servers disconnected, leaving the game unplayable. Essentially 12 million players lost access to their game when the servers shut down, rendering the application useless and leaving said millions with useless plastic discs only fit for use as a coaster.

Unfortunately this is the destiny of many hundreds of games, especially live-service type games that require an always online connection to the developers/publishers. In fact dozens of games that were sold to gamers over the last 20 plus years have already been yeeted off into the void, never to be played or experienced again. Hell, there are single player games that require internet connections to operate!

Why Is This Important?

This is a huge customer rights violation, and because no laws exist to stop this from happening, more companies are moving towards this distribution model every day. They know there is nothing you as a customer can do, and they are completely taking advantage of it.

Companies can revoke access to a game you paid for, barring you from ever playing or experiencing it ever again, and you currently have no legal means of stopping that from happening.

This is also a sign of things to come in other areas of life, as this will set a precedent for what other companies can do in the future, outside of gaming.

Imagine buying a car that requires you to have a subscription to access certain normal features cars have had since the 90's. You don't have to, car manufacturers are already on that wave length: Hyundai Will Lock Some In-Car Features Behind a Paywall

A Ubisoft Executive has already said earlier this year that gamers need to "get comfortable not owning their games" in order to move all games to subscription models. Link here: Ubisoft Exec Says Gamers Need to Get 'Comfortable' Not Owning Their Games for Subscriptions to Take Off

Many developers have already come out against this initiative, expectedly. What I did not expect was the amount of gamers who also spoke against this movement, for God-knows what reason. Maybe they like the taste of someone's boot on their faces, I don't know. They probably also still wear masks, alone, in their cars.

Imagine not being able to play Duke 3D, Quake, Blood or any of the greats ever again. I first realized this was an issue with the two The Division games, two of my favourite games on PS4. Someday Ubisoft will also shut down those servers, destroying all that amazing work and art developers laboured over. All I'll have left is some screenshots and videos on my PS4 hard drive. This is wrong on every fundamental level, and is destruction of history and property.

That is the future that many in high positions want for us.

If we can stop this crap from continuing in gaming, we can pretty much stop similar things from happening in other sectors of the business world. Stop the infection at the source.

You have the sovereign right to keep and access that for which you have paid money for.

Extremely Important Information

To be clear, this is not an initiative to force publishers to keep servers online, rather it is to leave games in a playable state after server shutdown. Games need to be playable offline after publisher support ends, nothing less, nothing more. Kind of like how you can still play Unreal Tournament 1999 even though its official servers are long gone. Funny how this wasn't a problem 25 years ago ;)

Also this is not retroactive, meaning that games already sold won't be affected, they are dead forever. The initiative won't necessarily fix the problem, rather it is to get the EU parlaiment to address the issue and offer solutions. This isn't a law, but a call to action.

What Can I Do?

If you are an EU citizen, you can go to the website linked above, and follow the instructions, it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes of your time. If you are someone like me outside of the EU, you can spread awareness and reach out to anyone you may know in the EU.

While there are other options available for those in other nations, this one is the strongest. Tell as many people about this as you can, as the EU is the last hope for this movement.

I'm aware of the irony of asking this on Steam, a DRM heavy platform.

We have a once in a lifetime opportunity here friends, let's use itːsteamthumbsupː

I have some updates coming soon. Hope you guys are well! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-fyNgHdmLI