According to KitGuru.net, the Stop Killing Games EU petition has officially confirmed 1,294,000 valid signatures after a months-long verification process, easily clearing the threshold needed to force a formal debate. The initiative was founded by YouTuber Ross Scott in response to Ubisoft shutting down servers for The Crew. The petition originally gathered over 1.4 million signatures, but validation weeded out entries from non-EU residents. Germany was the strongest supporter, providing 233,180 of the valid signatures. With this milestone, the European Commission is now mandated to review the proposal, which could lead to new laws requiring publishers to provide ways to play games after official support ends.
What this actually means
So, the petition succeeded. That’s huge. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t automatically make new laws. It forces the European Commission to formally look at the issue, hold hearings, and then decide whether to propose legislation. Basically, it gets the topic on the official docket in a big way. The core argument from Ross Scott and the movement is pretty straightforward: if you buy a game, you should own a functional copy of it. Publishers shouldn’t be able to flip a switch and turn your purchase into a worthless digital coaster. Seems reasonable, right? Yet the current standard practice for “live service” or always-online games is to do exactly that when it’s no longer profitable to run the servers.
The inevitable pushback
Now, the opposition is already lined up. Trade groups like Video Games Europe are going to argue that providing private server tools or offline patches is too costly and creates legal nightmares over code ownership and licensing. And they have a point—retrofitting an online game for solo play isn’t trivial. But look, the petition’s massive scale changes the game. Politicians can’t easily ignore over 1.2 million verified constituents. It creates real political pressure that a smaller campaign, or even the recent UK Parliament debate that went nowhere, simply didn’t have. This isn’t just a niche gamer complaint anymore; it’s a mainstream consumer rights issue in the EU.
A potential sea-change
If the EU actually passes something, the ripple effects would be global. Publishers would have to fundamentally rethink their “games as a service” shutdown strategy for one of the world’s largest markets. Would they provide standalone executables? Release server code? It might even push development models toward more offline-friendly architecture from the start. I think the real win here is shifting the conversation. For years, we’ve accepted that online games have an expiration date. This movement is forcing a debate about whether that should be legally acceptable when no alternative access is given. It’s a big fight over digital ownership, and the players just scored a major opening victory. You can see the community discussion on the official Stop Killing Games subreddit.
