Stop Killing Games: Difference between revisions
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==Campaign history== | ==Campaign history== | ||
On April 2, 2024, Accursed Farms posted the video "The largest campaign ever to stop publishers destroying games"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70Xc9CStoE "The largest campaign ever to stop publishers destroying games"] ''Accursed Farms.'' April 2, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2025.</ref>. In the video, Ross Scott explains the issue with modern gaming, where video game publishers often take advantage of laws.<!-- We need to explain the topics that Ross Scott discusses. For example, what points does he bring up? I haven't done this yet as that would require me going through the half-hour video and I don't have the time just yet to do that. If anybody else could do this, that would be amazing! --> | On April 2, 2024, Accursed Farms posted the video "The largest campaign ever to stop publishers destroying games"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70Xc9CStoE "The largest campaign ever to stop publishers destroying games"] ''Accursed Farms.'' April 2, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2025.</ref>. In the video, Ross Scott explains the issue with modern gaming, where video game publishers often take advantage of laws.<!-- I wished to include a history of Ross Scott fighting to preserve games but I don't know if this is the best place --> | ||
Ross W. Scott has a history of advocating for game preservation and decrying what he calls "war on ownership" for over 12 years<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=12 May 2025 |title=Stop Killing Games: A History |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlOX3wRQvUg |access-date=2025-07-08 |website=Mrglanet YouTube Channel}}</ref><!-- We need to explain the topics that Ross Scott discusses. For example, what points does he bring up? I haven't done this yet as that would require me going through the half-hour video and I don't have the time just yet to do that. If anybody else could do this, that would be amazing! --> | |||
===UK Parliament petition=== | ===UK Parliament petition=== | ||
On April 16, 2024, a UK Parliament petition titled "Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state"<ref name=":0">[https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/659071 "Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state"] ''UK Parliament Petitions.'' December 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2025.</ref> began collecting signatures. The petition intended to create laws to prevent publishers from removing the ability to play games after purchase. The petition was subsequently closed on May 30, 2024 due to the UK general elections<ref name=":0" />, preventing further signatures. It reached 27,341 signatures and was originally scheduled to close on October 16, 2024<ref>[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/uk-government-responds-to-stop-killing-games-campaign "UK government responds to Stop Killing Games campaign"] ''Games Industry.'' May 15, 2024. Retrieved on January 24, 2025.</ref>. | On April 16, 2024, a UK Parliament petition titled "Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state"<ref name=":0">[https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/659071 "Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state"] ''UK Parliament Petitions.'' December 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2025.</ref> began collecting signatures. The petition intended to create laws to prevent publishers from removing the ability to play games after purchase. The UK government answered on May 2, 2024 but the petitions committee requested Government to revise their response<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 May 2024 |title=UK Original petition: Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state |url=https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/659071 |access-date=2025-07-08 |website=UK Parliament Petitions (archive)}}</ref> . The petition was subsequently closed on May 30, 2024 due to the UK general elections<ref name=":0" />, preventing further signatures. It reached 27,341 signatures and was originally scheduled to close on October 16, 2024<ref>[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/uk-government-responds-to-stop-killing-games-campaign "UK government responds to Stop Killing Games campaign"] ''Games Industry.'' May 15, 2024. Retrieved on January 24, 2025.</ref>. | ||
On January 14, 2025, Lewis Evans created a petition titled "Prohibit publishers irrevocably disabling video games they have already sold"<ref name=":1">[https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702074/ "Prohibit publishers irrevocably disabling video games they have already sold"] ''UK Parliament Petitions.'' January 14, 2025. Retrieved January 24, 2025.</ref> closely following the prematurely closed petition in 2024. It is yet to receive a government response and is due for one on January 30. | On January 14, 2025, Lewis Evans created a petition titled "Prohibit publishers irrevocably disabling video games they have already sold"<ref name=":1">[https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702074/ "Prohibit publishers irrevocably disabling video games they have already sold"] ''UK Parliament Petitions.'' January 14, 2025. Retrieved January 24, 2025.</ref> closely following the prematurely closed petition in 2024. It is yet to receive a government response and is due for one on January 30. Ross Scott published a video listing the events of the original petition, the government response and the creation of new petition<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 Jan 2025 |title=Stop Killing Games: UK Edition |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQnZ91mUB0E |access-date=2025-07-08 |website=Accursed Farms}}</ref> | ||
On February 3, 2025, The UK Government responded to the Petition, “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.”<ref name=":1" /> As of July 2nd, 2025, the petition reached the goal of 100,000 signatures to be considered for debate in the UK Parliament. | On February 3, 2025, The UK Government responded to the Petition, “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.”<ref name=":1" /> As of July 2nd, 2025, the petition reached the goal of 100,000 signatures to be considered for debate in the UK Parliament. | ||
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For a European citizens' initiative to be valid, it must obtain at least one million valid signatures and meet the minimum thresholds in at least seven countries. The deadline of the initiative is on July 31, 2025. As of June 25th, 2025, there are over 500,000 signatures and the threshold has passed for over ten countries. | For a European citizens' initiative to be valid, it must obtain at least one million valid signatures and meet the minimum thresholds in at least seven countries. The deadline of the initiative is on July 31, 2025. As of June 25th, 2025, there are over 500,000 signatures and the threshold has passed for over ten countries. | ||
As of July 3, 2025, the European campaign has reached its goal of 1,000,000 signatures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stop Destroying Videogames |url=https://eci.ec.europa.eu/045/public/#/screen/home |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250703072953/https://eci.ec.europa.eu/045/public/#/screen/home |archive-date=2025-07-03 |access-date=2025-07-03 |website=European Union Online Collection System}}</ref> | |||
the | |||
===Industry push back=== | |||
On July 4, 2025, one day after the campaign reaching 1,000,000 signature Video Games Europe, an industry lobby group, released an statement on Stop Killing Games<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 Jul 2025 |title=Statement on Stop Killing Games |url=https://www.videogameseurope.eu/news/statement-on-stop-killing-games/ |access-date=2025-07-09 |website=Videogames Europe}}</ref> on their website and published a 5-page position paper<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why providing continued support do not work for all games |url=https://www.videogameseurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/VGE-Position-Discontinuation-of-Support-to-Online-Games-04072025.pdf |access-date=2025-07-09 |website=Videogames Europe}}</ref> against the campaign where it outline perceived problems seen by the industry even though some of those perceived problems were already clarified by the lengthy FAQ section provided by the campaign. | |||
Video Games Europe response is not only unsurprising but also expected since their board is composed by major publishers like EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony and they see no problem in how the industry works today. | |||
==Video game preservation== | ==Video game preservation== | ||
Latest revision as of 19:35, 9 July 2025
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2024 |
| Type | Public Campaign |
| Industry | Videogame Consumer Rights |
| Official website | https://www.stopkillinggames.com/ |
Stop Killing Games (SKG) is a campaign intended to spread awareness regarding publishers revoking licenses for consumers and removing game functionality so that they are no longer in a playable state. The campaign was announced on April 2, 2024 by Accursed Farms, better known as Ross W. Scott, an American YouTuber and consumer activist who is best known for his Freeman's Mind series.
Campaign history[edit | edit source]
On April 2, 2024, Accursed Farms posted the video "The largest campaign ever to stop publishers destroying games"[1]. In the video, Ross Scott explains the issue with modern gaming, where video game publishers often take advantage of laws.
Ross W. Scott has a history of advocating for game preservation and decrying what he calls "war on ownership" for over 12 years[2]
UK Parliament petition[edit | edit source]
On April 16, 2024, a UK Parliament petition titled "Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state"[3] began collecting signatures. The petition intended to create laws to prevent publishers from removing the ability to play games after purchase. The UK government answered on May 2, 2024 but the petitions committee requested Government to revise their response[4] . The petition was subsequently closed on May 30, 2024 due to the UK general elections[3], preventing further signatures. It reached 27,341 signatures and was originally scheduled to close on October 16, 2024[5].
On January 14, 2025, Lewis Evans created a petition titled "Prohibit publishers irrevocably disabling video games they have already sold"[6] closely following the prematurely closed petition in 2024. It is yet to receive a government response and is due for one on January 30. Ross Scott published a video listing the events of the original petition, the government response and the creation of new petition[7]
On February 3, 2025, The UK Government responded to the Petition, “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.”[6] As of July 2nd, 2025, the petition reached the goal of 100,000 signatures to be considered for debate in the UK Parliament.
European Citizens' Initiative[edit | edit source]
On June 19, 2024, "Stop Destroying Videogames"[8] was registered as a European Citizens' Initiative by Daniel Ondruska. A month and a half later, on July 31, 2024, the initiative began collecting signatures. Accursed Farms posted the video "Europeans can save gaming!"[9] later on the same day, encouraging European citizens to sign the initiative.
About a week later, Thor of Pirate Software published a video covering SKG, with the intent to negatively criticize SKG.[10] Ross from Accursed Farms attempted to contact Thor about having false assumptions of the campaign's objectives. Ross cited Pirate Software's video as the primary cause for signatures drying up on the European Citizens' Initiative petition. Ross stated that they did not initially make a response video directed at Thor, because "it might look like drama farming" for the campaign, but when the deadline started drawing near, Ross went through with making a response on June 23, 2025 as a last-ditch effort to save the campaign.[11]
For a European citizens' initiative to be valid, it must obtain at least one million valid signatures and meet the minimum thresholds in at least seven countries. The deadline of the initiative is on July 31, 2025. As of June 25th, 2025, there are over 500,000 signatures and the threshold has passed for over ten countries.
As of July 3, 2025, the European campaign has reached its goal of 1,000,000 signatures.[12]
Industry push back[edit | edit source]
On July 4, 2025, one day after the campaign reaching 1,000,000 signature Video Games Europe, an industry lobby group, released an statement on Stop Killing Games[13] on their website and published a 5-page position paper[14] against the campaign where it outline perceived problems seen by the industry even though some of those perceived problems were already clarified by the lengthy FAQ section provided by the campaign.
Video Games Europe response is not only unsurprising but also expected since their board is composed by major publishers like EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony and they see no problem in how the industry works today.
Video game preservation[edit | edit source]
- Main article: Video game preservation
There are also efforts to restore older games, or to allow the community of games to have access to the source code of games themselves. In 2025 there were several developments by major publishers, such as Valve and EA. Valve released the source code of Team Fortress 2 in February.[15][16] EA released the source code of classic command and conquer titles, also in February 2025.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "The largest campaign ever to stop publishers destroying games" Accursed Farms. April 2, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
- ↑ "Stop Killing Games: A History". Mrglanet YouTube Channel. 12 May 2025. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state" UK Parliament Petitions. December 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
- ↑ "UK Original petition: Require videogame publishers to keep games they have sold in a working state". UK Parliament Petitions (archive). 30 May 2024. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
- ↑ "UK government responds to Stop Killing Games campaign" Games Industry. May 15, 2024. Retrieved on January 24, 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Prohibit publishers irrevocably disabling video games they have already sold" UK Parliament Petitions. January 14, 2025. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
- ↑ "Stop Killing Games: UK Edition". Accursed Farms. 14 Jan 2025. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
- ↑ "Stop Destroying Videogames" European Citizens' Initiative. 19 July, 2024. Retrieved on January 24, 2025.
- ↑ "Europeans can save gaming!" Accursed Farms. July 31, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
- ↑ "Stop Killing Games" response video Pirate Software. August 6, 2024. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
- ↑ "The end of Stop Killing Games" Accursed Farms. June 23, 2025. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
- ↑ "Stop Destroying Videogames". European Union Online Collection System. Archived from the original on 2025-07-03. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
- ↑ "Statement on Stop Killing Games". Videogames Europe. 4 Jul 2025. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
- ↑ "Why providing continued support do not work for all games" (PDF). Videogames Europe. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
- ↑ "The TF2 SDK has arrived!". Team Fortress. 18 Feb 2025. Retrieved 10 Mar 2025.
- ↑ "Valve Releases Team Fortress 2 Source Code, Now open to Modders". BitSkins. 21 Feb 2025. Archived from the original on 10 Mar 2025. Retrieved 10 Mar 2025.