Stop Killing Games Movement Gains Momentum After Bill Passes in California
The Stop Killing Games movement gains more ground after the bill passes in California. The news was shared by Chris Ward, a California State Assembly member, who published a video on the Stop Killing Games YouTube channel.
The movement is also on Reddit, where a lot of information has been shared about the matter.
This week, the California State Assembly passed the “Protect Our Games Act,” moving the bill towards legislation. This is easily the biggest win for the Stop Killing Games movement so far.
The bill, Bill AB 1921, proposes conditions, for instance, publishers must give players a 60-day warning before ending a game’s service. This is a big factor, as many live-service games lately have shut down with little notice, for instance, Concord, Spellcasters Chronicles, and Highguard.
It would also require games to still allow access to them indefinitely, whether by a single-player mode or by having enough players to leave some servers on. However, this bill is only revolving around purchased games, not free-to-play games.
“In plain terms: this bill is meant to stop companies from making purchased digital games completely unplayable when they turn off the servers,” the Reddit post specifies.
But what happens now? According to the post, the bill heads to the California State Senate. “It’s over in the state senate now, the video informs. “We’re going to be able to debate that in committee in the month of June.”
This is a big push for the movement, which was initially launched by YouTuber Ross Scott in 2024 after Ubisoft announced plans to delist and take its open-world game The Crew offline, leaving owners without access. Since then, many have joined, expressing their frustration with purchased games shutting down quickly, leaving them without any access to a game they should rightfully own.
Want to stay in the know to the Stop Killing Games movement? Keep checking back here for more details.
