Is the Stop Killing Games campaign destined to fail?

What the report says

Listen now on Apple, Spotify or YouTubeIn This Edition,An industry state-of-play (podcast only)What is Stop Killing Games?Why is it losing?Can it win?Hello and welcome back! How have you been?We took a bit of a break last week, and it was a chance to reflect on what has been a really tough couple of months for industry news.We’ve had to contend with huge price increases to consoles, the death of the disc and significant job cuts at the likes of Bungie and Xbox. The trust in the business, both from the outside and inside, appears to be at an all-time low. .But… change isn’t always good, but it is inevitable, and good things can come from it.

The video game industry remains a huge creative and commercial force. It’s what other industries look to when wanting to learn how to engage with customers. Hollywood is obsessed with games IP. And each new generation brings with it new players.The challenges are real. No motivational paragraph is going to change that. But we will overcome them, and we’ll do It together. That’s what The Game Business is all about. Sharing, learning and being inspired by one another. We’ll tackle the tough subjects, but in a positive way designed to move the conversation on.

And hopefully find a sustainable path for everyone.This week, we’re tackling the challenging conversation brought about by the Stop Killing Games initiative, which wants the industry to make sure its online games remain available even when they’re no-longer financially viable.You can hear our full chat, plus a whole lot more, in today’s edition of The Game Business Show. Alternatively, keep on reading for the highlights.Enjoy.The video game industry is taking Stop Killing Games very seriouslyThe Stop Killing Games consumer movement has had major game companies and trade bodies worried.The campaign started in 2024 when Ubisoft ended server support for its racing game The Crew, which rendered the title unplayable.

Key details

Since then, Stop Killing Games has prompted an official response from the UK Government and European Union, and is supporting court cases globally around the issue.It wants legal protections that ensures games don’t suddenly become unplayable, and various trade bodies are fighting against that idea.“The industry is engaging with it seriously and fairly intensely,” said Dr Ceila Pontin on today’s edition of The Game Business Show. Pontin is the director of policy and public affairs at Flux Digital Policy, and is an expert on the subject.“The Stop Killing Games campaign has been very vocal across multiple jurisdictions, it’s not that this is just an American issue and we don’t hear about it in the UK, or it’s just an EU one, it’s being shared everywhere.

It’s hard to escape, and it’s not something that you can really back away from. It’s also gaining momentum in the more general public consciousness, because it speaks to the move towards a digital-only culture, and that’s not just games.”Of course, the industry doesn’t want to ‘kill’ games, but legislative or legal changes would prove problematic.“One of the concerns is there’s a mismatch between what people might be calling for and what is possible”“One of the concerns is there’s a mismatch between what people might be calling for and what is possible, not necessarily just technologically, but also when it comes to how existing legislation works, whether that’s consumer protection or IP law, as well as the practical implementation of it,” she told us.“So, there might be some ideal solution being touted, but that might not actually work out.

And if that were to be legislated for, then you could have this real tension of [the industry] having to deliver something that might not actually really work in practice. That can be a real concern to them.”Currently, the EU and UK have pointed to existing consumer rights laws.“Are consumer rights being violated? Well, they already exist to be violated,” Pontin noted. “There is already a framework for dealing with these sorts of things about contracts having to be delivered as laid out in terms of service and things like that, and whether what you have been provided as digital content or service, whether that matches up to your expectations, and to what was promised.

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