On 16 June 2026, the European Commission officially declined to propose new legislation that would legally oblige video game publishers to keep discontinued games playable. The decision directly answers the European Citizens’ Initiative titled “Stop Destroying Videogames”, a campaign that gathered 1,294,188 verified statements of support from citizens across the European Union to protect consumer access to software they purchased.
The initiative passed the required one million signature threshold in January, leading to a formal examination by the Commission, a European Parliament hearing in April, and a plenary debate in May. In its official response, the Commission stated that introducing a legal obligation to keep games functional after commercial support ends would be disproportionate. The regulatory body cited concerns over existing intellectual property rights, publisher costs, and potential cybersecurity risks.
Campaign organisers highlighted the timing of a separate industry meeting held just two weeks prior to the regulatory decision. On 4 June 2026, Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer at Ubisoft, attended an invitation-only meeting with senior European Commission officials. The meeting was hosted by the industry trade group Video Games Europe, and representatives from the Stop Killing Games movement were not invited to participate.
Ubisoft has been a central focus for the movement since the publisher shut down the servers for its racing game The Crew, rendering the online-dependent title completely unplayable for consumers who purchased it. The company is currently facing a lawsuit in Paris brought by the French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir, which alleges that the publisher misled buyers about the game’s lifespan and the nature of digital ownership.
The Commission argued that existing EU consumer laws already safeguard the economic interests of buyers, pointing to options for proportionate refunds if a game closure violates a contract or defies reasonable expectations. However, digital storefronts rarely issue automatic or retrospective refunds for game software purchased years in advance. Critics also note that the official response focuses heavily on copyright protection and ongoing corporate costs, whereas the initiative explicitly requested technical solutions such as an offline patch or public server tools upon commercial abandonment, rather than ongoing server support from publishers.
The campaign announced its next steps via social media, stating an intention to seek amendments through the European Parliament.
Stop Killing Games said in a statement,
This decision is not unexpected. But we were prepared. Hence, we’re pushing forward with @Europarl_EN ammending #StopKillingGames to the Digital Fairness Act.”
Photo by Samsung Memory on Unsplash.
