European Commission rejects Stop Killing Games petition on video game preservation

The Stop Killing Games petition, initiated by US YouTuber Ross Scott following Ubisoft's cessation of support for The Crew (2014), has been dismissed by the European Commission. This petition attracted close to 1.3 million signatures. The Commission pointed to intellectual property laws as an obstacle to enforcing the maintenance of game functionality after a game is no longer supported. Nonetheless, it intends to collaborate with consumers and publishers by the end of 2026 to establish a code of conduct for games at the end of their life cycle. Additionally, the UK government deemed the petition's requests unrealistic. In California, the Protect Our Games Act requires that paid games remain accessible even after servers are shut down, excluding free-to-play titles.