Despite UK government response, Stop Killing Games is pushing for debate over publisher accountability in live service games

After 10,000 signatures and an unsatisfactory response, the Stop Killing Games campaign is pushing to go one step further in holding publishers accountable for shutting down their live service games, making them forever unplayable.

The Stop Killing Games campaign set up a petition on the UK government’s website last month following the shutdown of servers for and subsequent delisting from every digital marketplace of The Crew. Any petition that gets 10,000 signatures requires a government response, which in this case was, “Those selling games must comply with UK consumer law. They must provide clear information and allow continued access to games if sold on the understanding that they will remain playable indefinitely.”

Don’t get excited, though. As originally reported via GamesIndustry.biz, the government follows up: “Consumers should be aware that there is no requirement in UK law compelling software companies and providers to support older versions of their operating systems, software, or connected products. There may be occasions where companies make commercial decisions based on the high running costs of maintaining older servers for video games that have declining user bases.”

Unfortunately, this is a non-statement explaining that if a publisher released a game telling consumers it would always be available, they must keep it online. However, if they didn’t advertise that it would be live forever, they can end services, effectively killing the game, whenever they want.

If Stop Killing Games’ petition can hit 100,000 signatures, it’ll have drawn enough attention to be the subject of a Parliamentary debate. To be clear, this doesn’t mean anything will change, but it will raise the subject of games preservation and, more importantly, the subject of how shutting down live service games consumers pay for is unfair, with those who craft the laws in the UK.

If the debate goes the way Stop Killing Games and games preservationists want, then it could create a law that would force publishers to either release offline patches that make live service games playable after their servers are shut down or keep them online indefinitely. Of course, this would likely only be a law in the UK, meaning publishers could perform some server wizardry to only keep their games playable within the region.

The Crew, the game that prompted this petition, was an always-online title listed on multiple digital storefronts, but you could and can still buy physical copies of it. Ubisoft first shut down the game’s servers, then pulled it from storefronts, and even removed it from Steam and Ubisoft Connect libraries.

Fans were warned about the server shutdown well in advance, but it was the sneaky delisting and removal of the game from libraries that triggered quite an emotional response. The aspect that bothers me the most is the impact this is going to have on the second-hand market.

You can still go out to a charity shop or second-hand game store and pick up a physical copy of The Crew. While writing, I even found new copies on Amazon. While you’re not buying that from Ubisoft, it’s also not a copy of the game Ubisoft can slap a label on, warning potential buyers that it’s unplayable. I’m certain people will buy this game for years to come without realizing they’re buying a pretty disc in a box that does absolutely nothing.

While The Crew wasn’t a massively popular game, it’s definitely a noteworthy title as it was Ubisoft’s first foray into the MMOCARPG genre, and the subject of major criticism around its release. It’s become a game content creators would play out of morbid curiosity to see how Watch Dogs‘ driving mechanics fared in what was meant to be a serious online racer with Ubisoft’s regimented open world formula layered on top.

People can and will still buy this game, and it’s not good enough that Ubisoft can just leave physical copies out there to disappoint those who may not realize it won’t work, thanks to a legal loophole. I’d say that if a publisher shuts down a game’s servers, it has an onus to recall those copies, as Ubisoft has already done with digital copies in player libraries.

While it’s very difficult to point at one specific action or law and say where the line has been crossed here, Ubisoft definitely steps beyond it. If you buy a product, you should be able to use it until it’s broken, not until the company that made it decides it wants to stop you. At the very least, Ubisoft should be forced to allow preservationists to set up private custom servers so the game can be documented for future generations. But we all know how big publishers feel about that sort of thing.