European Commission Rejects Mandatory 'Stop Killing Games' Requirement
The rejection blocks a binding EU requirement to keep games playable after shutdown, but the movement shifts focus to the Digital Fairness Act.
Reporting from 1 sources: Game Spark.
The European Commission has rejected a petition from the 'Stop Destroying Videogames' movement that would require games to remain playable after service ends. The petition gathered over 1.29 million signatures. The Commission cited existing consumer protections, intellectual property rights, costs, and security risks as reasons for not imposing a legal obligation, but will continue discussions on guidelines.
The European Commission announced on June 16 that it cannot propose a legal obligation for developers to keep videogames playable after commercial support ends. The response follows the 'Stop Destroying Videogames' European Citizens' Initiative, which collected 1,294,188 signatures, surpassing the 1 million threshold. The Commission cited existing EU consumer protection laws, intellectual property rights of rights holders, costs of redesigning licenses, and cybersecurity risks as reasons against a mandatory requirement. Despite the rejection, the Commission said it will continue discussions with industry stakeholders and consumer groups to formulate guidelines on end-of-service transparency. The 'Stop Killing Games' group said the decision was not unexpected and will now work to incorporate the movement's goals into the Digital Fairness Act in the European Parliament.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.