200,000 gamers sign petition making it illegal to 'kill' multiplayer games

Gamers are raising their voices and signing a petition that hopes to prevent multiplayer games from being shut down by publishers.

The aptly titled petition ‘Stop Killing Games’ aims to tackle the ongoing trend of publishers ending support for multiplayer games.

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Trying to tackle this sticky situation is a difficult task. Publishers such as EA and Ubisoft are shutting down games after years of support, usually because the cost and time outweigh the need.

However, oftentimes players are still enjoying these games and are left without the ability to play a favourite title.

The petition specifically mentions The Crew as an example. A game that Ubisoft closed down despite having a “playerbase of over 12 million”, according to the petition’s website.

Those behind this initiative are hoping to lobby governments in the UK, EU, Canada, and Australia in the hopes of seeing a “ripple effect on the videogames industry to prevent publishers from destroying more games.”

So far, the petition has been signed by around 200,000 gamers who want to see an end to this practice.

According to the petition, the organisers believe “An increasing number of videogames are sold as goods, but designed to be completely unplayable for everyone as soon as support ends.”

The legality of this practice is being questioned and, because many countries have no laws or precedents in place, they hope to change the system.

While this seems like a honourable notion and it certainly could garner a wider movement, it’s hard to see how a law could be implemented.

Big companies like Ubisoft and EA are the target, but what about smaller developers and publishers who simply can’t afford to keep servers running and patches coming?

Games preservation is appalling compared to that of books, film, and TV, so something does need to be done, but it’s a very complicated matter that could drag on for years.