EU lobby group says law forcing developers to support online games would make them ‘too expensive’
Stop Killing Games urges lawmakers to force publishers to provide offline alternatives
The EU lobbying association responsible for the video game industry has responded to the Stop Killing Games petition and has suggested that, among other objections, forcing companies to support online games perpetually would make live service titles too expensive to develop.
Stop Killing Games is a consumer activism movement that challenges lawmakers to introduce legislation that would stop publishers from being able to “destroy” video games they have sold to consumers.
For example, the movement wants to enshrine in consumer law that games can’t be taken offline with no offline alternative, such as The Crew, Concord, and MultiVersus.
“An increasing number of video games are sold effectively as goods – with no stated expiration date – but designed to be completely unplayable as soon as support from the publisher ends,” reads a statement from the group.
“This practice is a form of planned obsolescence and is not only detrimental to customers, but makes preservation effectively impossible.”
A petition launched by the group aimed at the EU has gained over 1.2 million signatures at the time of writing, which has prompted lobbying group Video Games Europe to respond.
“We appreciate the passion of our community; however, the decision to discontinue online services is multi-faceted, never taken lightly and must be an option for companies when an online experience is no longer commercially viable,” reads a statement from Video Games Europe.
“We understand that it can be disappointing for players but, when it does happen, the industry ensures that players are given fair notice of the prospective changes in compliance with local consumer protection laws.”
The statement also addresses the common argument from players that suggests companies should allow players to run private servers once all official means of playing an online game have ceased.
“Private servers are not always a viable alternative option for players as the protections we put in place to secure players’ data, remove illegal content, and combat unsafe community content would not exist and would leave rights holders liable.”
It’s then claimed that due to some games being developed “from the ground up to be online-only,” it would be prohibitively expensive for developers to develop these games in a way that could be supported when official developer support ends.
“In addition, many titles are designed from the ground up to be online-only; in effect, these proposals would curtail developer choice by making these video games prohibitively expensive to create.”
In 2024, Velan Studios director of marketing Josh Harrison said that developers who shut down live titles should consider releasing a modified version that supports private servers.
Velan’s cross-platform dodgeball game, Knockout City, was released in May 2021 under the EA Originals publishing label before the studio, which also developed Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, took over publishing duties and made it free-to-play in 2022.
