Live now: Ross Scott discusses the Stop Killing Games movement

Ross Scott’s Stop Killing Games movement is now one of the clearest examples of player pressure turning a preservation complaint into legislative momentum. The campaign began in 2024 after Ubisoft shut down The Crew’s servers, leaving a purchased game effectively unplayable for many owners.

Since then, the effort has gathered millions of signatures on petitions calling for some form of perpetual access to games people buy. The core ask is straightforward: if a game depends on online infrastructure, publishers should either keep that infrastructure available or provide a path for players to run their own servers.

That framing matters to developers because it cuts straight into live-service architecture, backend dependency planning, and long-tail support obligations. It also raises practical questions about what “ownership” means for digital games, how much server code or tooling would need to be exposed, and where the line sits between preservation and ongoing operational cost.

The campaign has already forced the issue into formal channels, including an official parliamentary debate, a response from the European Commission, and proposed legislation moving through the California legislature. For studios shipping online-dependent games, this is no longer just a community argument; it is becoming a compliance and product-planning issue.