Campaign "Stop Killing Games" Close to 1 Million Signatures

The global petition "Stop Killing Games" is on track to reach 1 million signatures, reaching 95% of its goal. The campaign, started a year ago, gained momentum after Ubisoft shut down the online racing game The Crew, making it unplayable for those who had purchased it. This movement reignited the debate about digital game ownership and industry legacy preservation.

The initiative "Stop Killing Games" reflects the growing frustration of the gaming community with the practice of companies discontinuing support for online games, making them inaccessible even to those who have paid for them.

The catalyst for the "Stop Killing Games" campaign was Ubisoft's announcement in April 2024 that they would shut down the servers for The Crew, their online racing game released in 2014. The decision to completely deactivate the game, even for players who owned digital copies, was seen as a violation of consumer rights. Furthermore, Ubisoft removed the game from digital stores in December 2023, and starting in March 2024, access to the game was blocked for all owners. This means that even those who had the game in their libraries were prevented from playing it.

Ubisoft defended the decision citing the "age of the game" and the need to focus resources on other titles, such as The Crew Motorfest, released in September 2023. However, this justification did not appease fans, who argue that the company should have provided an alternative for single-player offline or at least maintained access to the content for solo players.

The petition, hosted on the Change.org platform, demands that companies stop disabling games without providing preservation alternatives, such as offline modes or tools for the community to maintain servers. It seeks to pressure publishers into recognizing digital ownership as a continuous right, and not just a temporary license for use.

The "Stop Killing Games" movement highlights a larger concern for the preservation of digital games, especially those that rely on online servers to function. Every year, numerous games are discontinued, resulting in the permanent loss of gameplay experiences and elements of video game history. This is particularly problematic for games that do not have offline modes or that are inherently online, such as MMORPGs or service-focused titles.

The campaign is a plea to the industry to adopt more preservation-friendly policies, perhaps through official emulation, patches that enable offline gameplay, or even the release of source code to the community. As the industry increasingly moves towards the "games as a service" model, where online connectivity is central, the responsibility of companies to ensure access and longevity of the games they sell becomes a point of growing tension.

By shutting down The Crew, Ubisoft has sparked a fuse that could lead to significant changes in game preservation policies across the industry, as the petition nears its goal of 1 million signatures.