“Stop Killing Games”: do our video games really belong to us?

Imagine: you buy a video game, you invest time, money. Furthermore, One day, without warning, the publisher decides to cut the servers and your game disappears. Therefore, Impossible to replay it, even offline. However, This is exactly what happened with The Crew In 2024 when Ubisoft closed the game servers. In addition, The publisher had then been prosecuted by two players in California who accused him of having deceived consumers by selling them the game. Moreover, even if they actually bought a simple license of “stop killing games”: do our use.

Ubisoft, for its part, justified the closure of the servers of The Crewten years old, by technical constraints and licenses. Nevertheless, And if the company has proposed reimbursements. they were only valid for recent purchases, leaving many historic players out of the game.

The preservation of video games: a question that is debated – "stop killing games": do our

This case highlights a crucial question in the video game industry: when you buy a game. especially in digital version, do you really have the game, or just the right to play it until the editor allows? It is a fundamental difference that can have heavy consequences for players. This is why the movement “Stop Killing Games” (“Stop killing video games”) is growing.

The objective? That publishers incorporate off -line fashions into their games as Suicide Squad : Kill the Justice League did it. or that they provide the tools necessary for communities to keep “stop killing games”: do our the games after stopping servers.

The European video game industry lobby. Video Games Europe, which represents behemoths like Microsoft or Epic Games, has published a five -page response. According to them. imposing such legal obligations would put too heavy limits on developers, increase already astronomical production costs, and could even pose security and confidentiality problems for players. They claim that companies are already engaged in preservation efforts.

Solutions to save video game heritage exist

In France. since 1992, the French National Library (BNF) has required video game publishers to deposit their production there. This is how more than 22,000 titles accessible to the public were collected, but for some, it is not enough. If the games are saved, but the servers cut, it will not be possible to have access to it.

When you think that creating a video game requires years of work. hundreds of people, one “stop killing games”: do our can actually wonder if making it disappear forever is really the way to follow. The current Vice-President of the European Parliament. Nicolae ștefănuță, also supported and signed the petition by claiming ” that a game, once sold, belongs to the customer, not to the company ». And if you are of the same opinion, the petition is available online.

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