Ubisoft's decision earlier this year to shut down the servers of the online racing game The Crew, which was released in 2014, has made the game, which relies on a constant internet connection, inaccessible to players, even those who have already paid for it. The decision sparked an immediate backlash from consumers and activism, with players collectively protesting against the publisher's unauthorized access to the game they had legally purchased.
In this context, the "Stop Game Ends" campaign, led by Ross Scott, was launched, which aims to push for legislation that would require game publishers to obtain players' consent before shutting down online-only gaming services. The campaign's overarching goal is to collect 1 million signatures as a basis for proposing legal amendments to the EU. According to EU regulations, citizen initiatives that meet the million-signature threshold will have the opportunity to engage in dialogue with decision-makers from the European Commission.
Although the goal of 1 million signatures was challenging and the campaign had a year to collect signatures, the campaign has now garnered 92,823 supports. Although there is still some distance from the goal, given that the campaign has only just begun, there is still a possibility of achieving it.
The 2022 survey of the European Union, with a population of around 449 million, shows that 53% of the population is involved in video games, but this percentage includes a broad player base, and many core players may not often pay attention to such industry issues, making it complicated to accurately estimate the number of players interested in this topic.
And in Scott's latest video, he also continues to call for and believes that if enough power can be gathered, it is possible to change the status quo of the game industry. He warns that if people don't come together, the problem will continue to worsen, and eventually players may lose the games they have already purchased and still have to pay for services they can't enjoy.