Recently, we noted that the Stop Killing Games petition had surpassed a whopping one million signatures across Europe, meaning over a million individuals want their voice to be heard by the European Commission in an attempt to prevent publishers from taking down existing games and effectively rendering paid consumer products useless. While there is reason to champion this movement, the political body Video Games Europe notes that it might have the right intention but not quite the correct goal.
In a statement, VGE explains: “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. 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.”
As for the reasoning behind its decision to reflect this angle, VGE notes that private servers are not the answer as they are typically poorly regulated and lack protections, and also that the petition will likely make it challenging or impossible for developers to make online-only games knowing that it’d be a commitment to host a server for life once published.
VGE adds: “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. 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.”
What is your stance on this matter? Is it a multi-faceted issue like VGE explains or is it more black and white like Stop Killing Games thinks it is?
