The California State Assembly passes AB 1921, Stop Killing Games' Protect Our Games Act

California’s Assembly has passed AB 1921, also called the Protect Our Games Act, by a 43-16 vote. The bill is backed by Stop Killing Games and was championed by San Diego Assembly Member Chris Ward.

The practical change is straightforward but significant: if a game depends on live servers, publishers would need to give advance notice before shutdown and provide a path for continued play afterward. That could mean offline access, community servers, or another workable option rather than a hard kill switch.

For developers and publishers, this pushes preservation and sunset planning into the product lifecycle much earlier. It raises questions around server architecture, authentication, ownership expectations, and what “playable” means once official infrastructure is gone. Teams shipping online-only or heavily server-tied games may need to think about fallback modes, tooling, and legal/compliance costs.

The bill still has to clear the California State Senate, and Stop Killing Games says it will need public support to keep moving. The broader context is that consumer pressure around digital ownership has been building for years, especially after Ubisoft removed The Crew from both servers and customer libraries. The UK has acknowledged similar concerns but has not moved to change consumer law.