https://www.stopkillinggames.com/

"Stop Killing Games

This site is dedicated to real-world action on ending the practice of publishers destroying videogames they have sold to customers. Please click on the "Take Action" button below.

Take Action Here

An increasing number of videogames are sold as goods, but designed to be completely unplayable for everyone as soon as support ends. The legality of this practice is untested worldwide, and many governments do not have clear laws regarding these actions. It is our goal to have authorities examine this behavior and hopefully end it, as it is an assault on both consumer rights and preservation of media. We are pursuing this in two ways:

Action on "The Crew"

The videogame "The Crew", published by Ubisoft, was recently destroyed for all players and had a playerbase of at least 12 million people. Due to the game's size and France's strong consumer protection laws, this represents one of the best opportunities to hold a publisher accountable for this action. If we are successful in charges being pressed against Ubisoft, this can have a ripple effect on the videogames industry to prevent publishers from destroying more games.

Government Petitioning

Official government petitions have been introduced to prohibit the practice of intentionally rendering commercial videogames inoperable when support ends. Currently, petitions for the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have been launched and will soon be open for signing. Plans are also underway for the European Union, but will unfortunately be delayed due to processing times. Further government petitions may be started later with enough assistance.

If you are able, please engage in assisting in this effort, or encourage others who can. The FAQ can also be viewed for more information."

The largest campaign ever to stop publishers destroying games

"Campaign video to stop games from being destroyed! It's being done in a few ways, owners of the game "The Crew" can help especially. There are more worldwide legal options brought up here on what we can do stop this than I think has ever been examined before. Also check out stopkillinggames.com for how to take action directly!"

I don't think I agree with this. It's not realistic to expect an online-only game to be supported forever. It's also not a good but a service.

At best you could encourage the elimination of this genre entirely. But you won't get a publisher to support a service indefinitely. If such a law existed, there would simply be a new company created for each game as a service and then when they no longer were profitable the company would simply be closed.

You do realize that absolutely no political party will care about this at all, as there is no party running on anything that closely resembles this. Games are still very much considered a luxury, an entertainment, and as such do not gain any traction. Especially since there are 'real' life and death issues that it will need to compete with, such as global warming, cost of living, wars, homelessness and housing, immigration, unemployment, energy crisis, child protection acts, and so on. This will be an issue that no one will care about, no matter how many petitions get signed (and perhaps rightly so).

If a sizable amount of people sign up for it, then there is a quantifiable amount of people interested in changing the law that politicians/lawmakers from respective countries' mainstream parties can make a stance for to help them get elected. Yes, it certainly isn't as important as the list of priorities compared to those you listed, but there are a few politicians and civil servants whose responsibilities this falls under. Not to mention single-issue voters. Non-profit libraries and copyright offices can only do so much.

As for the case example that the issue is based on, I agree with EverNightX that it's very weak. It's an online game and I'm guessing car manufacturer IP licensing rights are expiring. I don't think there's any obligation for Ubisoft to keep the game alive without having to renegotiate licensing agreements or remove and remake those models into something that doesn't infringe on copyright.

the only way for an issue like this to get trackion in todays political climate and system would be if there was a lobby pushing it through. that is not going to happen

Correction: In every political climate.

I don't demand eternal support, I demand a lack of need for support. This "killing games" garbage is exactly why every online game ever made should have been offline from the start. And whenever a game that requires a connection is cracked, whoever insisted on that requirement doesn't deserve to see even one penny from all the downloads of the unconnected version.

You have no right to your demands. People are not obligated to provide you want you desire. They should be free to make and sell what they wish and you have the right to pay for their work or ignore it. You do not have the right to steal it because it's not what you wanted it to be.

Here's my view:
A reasonable game should have an exit support plan. Here's what we're going to do once we put the chairs up on the table and turn off the lights.

For example, here's the server software and API calls required to make it. You can figure the rest out. We're turning off the game for ourselves, but if you've got a server laying around, here's how to set up a private server.

Is that[i] too much to ask?[/i]

Why make a fight over this and not online stores shutting down and what you "own" with them with no chance of backing it up? It's not even specifically a video game industry specific issue at this point? It's really just about the size?

Need more details on the specifics of the game too. I'm assuming they are using it because it is possible to fully function without the online features?

Those who pay for access have a right to indefinite access. Whoever would scam them by destroying the product that's been payed for has themselves to blame when the stolen version is immune to such destruction and therefore superior.

Your "They should be free to make and sell what they wish" is as hallow as Bobby Kotick's eyes. MMO developers aren't independent artists, they're corporations with business strategies that I can't be payed to respect. Either sell me the thing and GTFO or skip to step 2.

No. It's like the 1st line item in the user agreement:

"1. GRANT OF LICENSE.
1.1 UBISOFT (or its licensors) grants You a non-exclusive, non-
transferable, non-sublicensed, non-commercial and personal license to
install and/or use the Product (in whole or in part) and any Product (the
“License”), for such time until either You or UBISOFT terminates this EULA."

LOL. You don't even know what the word agreement means.


You know, it occurs to me that people like you are a great argument for live services. I don't like live services. But you make a great case for them. At least with a live service the creators maintain control from people like you who would steal because they don't like the conditions.

The Crew is a singleplayer game with multiplayer options, it could be played completely offline if it weren't for the online drm bullshittery.

Basically it boils down that Ubisoft and their complicit distributors Steam stole money from gamers by shutting down the servers, making the game unplayable, a.k.a. an act of piracy.