Gamers vs. Corporations: European Parliament Begins Discussion on the Stop Killing Games Initiative

Gamers vs corporations european parliament begins discussion on the stop killing games initiative

The European Parliament has shoved a peculiar civic initiative into the spotlight: a proposal that could bar publishers from turning games you bought into a "pumpkin" (i.e., making them effectively unplayable by killing servers or removing key functionality).

The push traces back to activists calling themselves Stop Killing Games — though in parliamentary papers the name appears as Stop Destroying Videogames, for reasons unexplained — and they demand that companies keep titles running even after official servers close and support officially ends.

The petition has gathered nearly 1.3M signatures, so officials can’t ignore it; the European Commission now has until the end of July to decide what happens next.