WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Stop Killing Games, a consumer advocacy group seeking stronger protections for paid online video games, has lost its two biggest legal battles in Europe and the US over the past few weeks but remains undeterred. Accusing video game industry lobbyists of fearmongering and making false statements, the group plans to take its fight to other US courts and has launched a recruitment drive.
California's Protect Our Games Act, which would have required publishers to provide remedies when ending support for paid online games, stalled in the state Senate after falling just three votes short of a majority. The bill's leading supporter, Stop Killing Games, quickly seized on an opposing lobbyist's claim that private Minecraft and Call of Duty servers amount to illegal piracy.
Also known as AB 1921, the bill would have required publishers that sell online-only games as one-time purchases to notify customers at least 60 days before ending official server support, stop selling the affected games during that period, and provide a remedy. Those remedies could include an offline mode or a full refund, while subscription-based and free-to-play games would be exempt.
The bill sought to prevent a repeat of 2024, when Ubisoft rendered roughly 12 million physical and digital copies of The Crew unplayable by shutting down the online-only game's servers. The incident triggered lawsuits and led to the creation of Stop Killing Games. Ubisoft also drew criticism after an executive said customers should "get used to not owning games," although the company later added an offline mode to The Crew 2.
