News: 0180840418

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Pro-Gamer Consumer Movement 'Stop Killing Games' Will Launch NGOs in America and the EU (pcgamer.com)

(Saturday February 21, 2026 @09:34PM (EditorDavid) from the game-on dept.)


The consumer movement Stop Killing Games "has come a long way in the two years since YouTuber Ross Scott got mad about Ubisoft's destruction of The Crew [1]in 2024 ," writes [2]the gaming news site PC Gamer . "The short version is, he won: [3]1.3 million people signed the group's petition, mandating its consideration by the European Union, and while Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reminded us all that [4]nothing is forever , his company promised to [5]never do something like that again ." (And Ubisoft has since updated The Crew 2 with [6]an offline mode , according to [7]Engadget .)

"But it looks like even bigger things are in store," [8] PC Gamer wrote Thursday , "as Scott announced today that Stop Killing Games is launching two official NGOs, one in the EU and the other in the US."

> An NGO — that's non-governmental organization — is, very generally speaking, an organization that pursues particular goals, typically but not exclusively political, and that may be funded partially or fully by governments, but is not actually part of any government. It's a big tent: Well-known NGOs include Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, and CARE International... "If there's a lobbyist showing up again and again at the EU Commission, that might influence things," [Scott [9]says in a video. "This will also allow for more watchdog action. If you recall, I helped organize a multilingual site with easy to follow instructions for reporting on The Crew to consumer protection agencies. Well, maybe the NGO could set something like that up for every big shutdown where the game is destroyed in the future...."

>

> Scott said in the video that he doesn't have details, but the two NGOs are reportedly looking at establishing a "global movement" to give Stop Killing Games a presence in other regions.

"According to Scott, these NGOs would allow for 'long-term counter lobbying' when publishers end support for certain video games," [10]Engadget reports "

> "Let me start off by saying I think we're going to win this, namely the problem of publishers destroying video games that you've already paid for," Scott said in the video. According to Scott, the NGOs will work on getting the original Stop Killing Games petition codified into EU law, while also pursuing more watchdog actions, like setting up a system to report publishers for revoking access to purchased video games... According to Scott, the campaign leadership will meet with the European Commission soon, but is also working on a 500-page legal paper that reveals some of the industry's current controversial practices.



[1] https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/stop-killing-games-campaign/

[2] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/stop-killing-games-is-launching-ngos-in-the-european-union-and-the-us-were-not-just-going-away-on-this/

[3] https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/final-count-for-stop-killing-games-petition-verifies-1-3-million-of-its-1-4-million-signatures-well-above-the-minimum-to-be-formally-considered-by-eu-politicians/

[4] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/ubisoft-ceo-responds-to-the-stop-killing-games-petition-stating-the-publisher-is-working-on-improving-its-approach-to-end-of-life-support-but-that-nothing-is-eternal/

[5] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/after-eating-it-for-killing-the-crew-ubisoft-promises-to-bring-offline-support-to-the-crew-2-and-the-crew-motorfest/

[6] https://www.engadget.com/the-crew-2-is-now-playable-offline-211629508.html

[7] https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-stop-killing-games-campaign-will-set-up-ngos-in-the-eu-and-us-203359604.html

[8] https://www.pcgamer.com/games/stop-killing-games-is-launching-ngos-in-the-european-union-and-the-us-were-not-just-going-away-on-this/

[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNVKqRDalLo&pp=0gcJCaIKAYcqIYzv

[10] https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-stop-killing-games-campaign-will-set-up-ngos-in-the-eu-and-us-203359604.html



Purpose? (Score:1)

by Dan East ( 318230 )

I was 85% through TFS before I realized this wasn't about banning games in which players kill things in-game.

Re: (Score:3, Informative)

by DeHackEd ( 159723 )

"Stop killing games" is meant to prevent companies from taking actions that render games unplayable ever again. Like a game has always online DRM and then they pull the verification servers even if it's a single-player game.

The goal is to make it law that all games must continue to be playable past their end of life in some way. The specifics are not spelled out, though there are obvious possibilities. Our always-on game I described above could have final patch that removes verification requirements, but as

How would this work exactly? (Score:2)

by jonwil ( 467024 )

The game Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight by EA requires logging in in order to play the single player (campaign and skirmish). Would this "stop killing games" mean that if EA ever shuts down the login servers, they would have to patch the game to remove the login requirement?

Re: (Score:3)

by Smidge204 ( 605297 )

Yes.

Any online requirements would either need to be disabled, or modified to work with a locally provided service. So if EA couldn't patch out the login entirely, they could also provide a local auth server and patch the game to use that instead.

=Smidge=

Your money, your responsibility (Score:1)

by NotEmmanuelGoldstein ( 6423622 )

I pay money, walk into a theatre, enjoy the entertainment - or not, and walk out. Online games have used the same model for the previous 4 years: Why are people so surprised it happened again?

To be fair, when I buy a theatre ticket, the manager is quite clear on, when I will be kicked-out. Software servers do not contain the same honesty but given the obvious cost of operating a server, it obviously will be switched-off, one day. One can argue for fraudulent advertising, at most.

If one doesn't like

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
All mimsy were the borogroves The jaws that bite, the claws
And the mome raths outgrabe. that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird,
He took his vorpal sword in hand And shun the frumious Bandersnatch!"
Long time the manxome foe he sought.
So rested he by the tumtum tree And as in uffish thought he stood
And stood awhile in thought. The Jabberwock, with eyes aflame
Came whuffling through the tulgey wood
One! Two! One! Two! And through and And burbled as it came!
through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack. "Hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
He left it dead, and took its head, Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
And went galumphing back. Oh frabjous day! Calooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogroves
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-- Lewis Carroll, "Jabberwocky"