Stop Killing Games progress tracker (opens in new tab)

"Stop Killing Games" is a consumer movement started to challenge the legality of publishers destroying video games they have sold to customers. An increasing number of video games are sold effectively as goods - with no stated expiration date - but designed to be completely unplayable as soon as support from the publisher ends. This practice is a form of planned obsolescence and is not only detrimental to customers, but makes preservation effectively impossible. Furthermore, the legality of this practice is largely untested in many countries.

Over the past year, we have successfully escalated complaints on this problem to consumer agencies in France, Germany, and Australia, and have brought forth petitions for new law on this problem to various countries. A list of the actions taken to date can be viewed here. As of 2025, most consumer action on this matter has concluded and we are awaiting decisions on it from several governments. However, there are a few remaining avenues left where people can participate if they are eligible.

[European Citizens' Initiative] is the most powerful option at our disposal, but it requires a massive number of signatures from citizens of EU countries in order to pass. If we can pass the signature threshold, there is a very strong chance that the European Commission will pass new law that will both protect consumer rights to retain video games that they have purchased and advance preservation efforts massively.

Source: https://www.stopkillinggames.com/

It's interesting to see how clearly you can distinguish non-anglophone countries from the per-capita data. This appears more clearly in this map [1].

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1lk461g/stop_destro...