Gaming Petition Forces EU Politicians to Consider New Digital Ownership Laws
Brussels, Monday, 26 January 2026.
The Stop Killing Games petition has successfully secured 1.3 million verified signatures, forcing European Union officials to formally review demands for game preservation legislation. This consumer movement emerged after Ubisoft shut down The Crew racing game, leaving players unable to access their purchased titles. The petition challenges industry practices where publishers can remotely disable games without providing alternatives like offline modes or community servers, effectively destroying what consumers believed they owned permanently.
Record-Breaking Verification Rate Exceeds EU Requirements
The European Union has verified 1,294,188 of the petition’s total 1,448,270 signatures, representing approximately 89.361 percent validity [1]. This verification rate significantly exceeds the standard performance for EU Citizens’ Initiatives, with Stop Killing Games volunteer Moritz Katzner noting the campaign achieved “around 10%, while the best-performing initiatives tend to fall in the 10–15% range, which puts us firmly in the upper bracket” [1]. The threshold for formal EU consideration requires one million verified signatures, making this petition’s achievement a decisive mandate for legislative review [1][2].
Germany Leads European Support for Game Preservation
Germany contributed the largest number of verified signatures with 233,180, followed by France with 145,289 and Poland with 143,826 signatures [1][2]. The Netherlands provided 90,413 signatures, while Spain contributed 121,616 verified signatures to the cause [1]. This geographic distribution demonstrates broad European concern about digital ownership rights, with significant participation across both large and small EU member states including Denmark (36,010), Ireland (36,073), and Finland (54,538) [1].
Movement Origins Trace to Ubisoft’s The Crew Shutdown
The Stop Killing Games movement launched in 2024 after content creator Ross Scott responded to Ubisoft’s shutdown of The Crew racing game [3]. The game was delisted from digital platforms on December 14, 2023, and its servers were permanently shut down on March 31, 2024, despite being primarily a single-player experience that required constant internet connection [3]. Ubisoft began revoking player licenses in early April 2024, effectively removing the game from users’ digital libraries even though they had purchased what they believed to be permanent access [3].
Industry Pushback Meets Legislative Progress
The gaming industry has actively lobbied against the Stop Killing Games initiative through Video Games Europe, claiming that maintaining private servers or developing single-player modes creates excessive costs and potential legal liabilities [2]. Despite industry opposition, the movement has achieved notable political milestones, with UK Parliament debating the petition on November 3, 2025, where MPs acknowledged that shutting down servers erases “a cultural and artistic heritage that is vital to society” [2]. The European Commission must now formally consider the petition’s demands, with Stop Killing Games preparing for upcoming meetings with EU officials to present their case for legislation requiring publishers to provide end-of-life contingencies for games [1].