{"id":6076,"date":"2026-06-19T16:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/?p=6076"},"modified":"2026-06-19T16:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:13:13","slug":"eu-refuses-force-publishers-keep-delisted-games-playable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/eu-refuses-force-publishers-keep-delisted-games-playable\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Refuses to Force Publishers to Keep Delisted Games Playable: What Happens Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite over 1.29 million verified signatures from the Stop Destroying Videogames initiative, the European Commission has refused to legally require publishers to keep discontinued games playable, opting instead for a voluntary industry code of conduct.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The European Commission officially declined to propose legislation requiring video game publishers to keep discontinued titles playable. The decision, published on 16 June 2026, is the Commission&#8217;s formal response to the &#8220;Stop Destroying Videogames&#8221; European Citizens&#8217; Initiative (ECI), which gathered 1,294,188 verified signatures across 24 EU member states. Instead of a binding law, the Commission committed to pursuing a voluntary industry code of conduct by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ruling effectively means there is no new EU-wide legal obligation for publishers who pull the plug on online games. For players who bought titles like Ubisoft&#8217;s The Crew only to see them permanently disabled, the Commission&#8217;s answer boils down to: existing consumer law is enough, and any further action will be negotiated, not mandated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why the Commission Said No to Mandatory Preservation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its official Communication (C(2026) 4110), the Commission stated that forcing publishers to maintain playability after commercial discontinuation &#8220;would not be proportionate.&#8221; The reasoning rested on several pillars: existing intellectual property rights give publishers exclusive control over their creations, forcing open access could expose confidential business information, compliance costs could be significant, and unsupported games left running could create cybersecurity or safety risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Commission also argued that current EU consumer law already includes meaningful protections. Under the Directive on Digital Content and Digital Services, in effect since January 2022, game providers must inform consumers about a service&#8217;s expected duration and termination conditions before purchase. If a shutdown conflicts with the contract or the consumer&#8217;s reasonable expectations, remedies including proportionate refunds may apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is a Voluntary Code of Conduct?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rather than legislation, the Commission plans to bring together video game industry representatives and consumer organisations by the end of 2026 to develop a voluntary code of conduct for managing games&#8217; &#8220;end of life.&#8221; This could include clearer storefront labelling about potential discontinuation and partnerships with cultural heritage institutions for game preservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critically, a voluntary code carries no legal force. Publishers would not be compelled to provide offline patches, private server tools, or any specific mechanism to keep games running after servers shut down. The code would function more as an industry best-practice guideline than a regulatory requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Stop Killing Games Got Here<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The movement traces its origin to April 2024, when YouTuber Ross Scott launched the Stop Killing Games campaign after Ubisoft shut down The Crew&#8217;s servers on 31 March 2024. The always-online racing game became completely unplayable, and Ubisoft subsequently revoked players&#8217; licences. Scott&#8217;s data showed that 93.5% of 400 discontinued online games were left in an unusable state, with only 16 titles receiving official offline patches from their developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The European petition launched in mid-2024, initially stalling around 450,000 signatures before a surge in mid-2025 pushed it past the one-million threshold on 3 July 2025. The final count of 1,448,271 signatures was submitted in July 2025, with 1,294,188 validated. The initiative reached the required thresholds in 24 member states, making it the 14th successful ECI in EU history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A European Parliament hearing took place on 16 April 2026, where Scott compared terms of service in online games to &#8220;an insurance policy that can be nullified by the seller at any time and for any or no reason without a money-back guarantee.&#8221; A plenary session followed on 21 May 2026 before the Commission delivered its final response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Ubisoft Lawsuit and The Crew&#8217;s Legacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Crew remains the case study that sparked the entire movement. On 31 March 2026, French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir sued Ubisoft with Stop Killing Games&#8217; backing, alleging the company misled consumers about the permanence of the game and applied unfair contract terms that stripped players of ownership rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ubisoft&#8217;s defence centres on the claim that players purchased limited access under specific conditions rather than full ownership. The company did add an offline mode to The Crew 2 in October 2025, but has not taken any similar action for the original The Crew. The lawsuit remains ongoing and could set a significant legal precedent in France regardless of the Commission&#8217;s broader decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Do You Actually Own Your Digital Games?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This debate has forced the industry to confront an uncomfortable transparency gap. In September 2024, California governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2426, a law that prohibits digital storefronts from using the words &#8220;buy&#8221; or &#8220;purchase&#8221; unless the customer receives unrestricted, permanent access. The law took effect in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Valve responded proactively by adding a disclaimer to Steam&#8217;s checkout process, informing customers they are purchasing a licence rather than ownership. DRM-free platform GOG took a different approach, highlighting that its offline game installers &#8220;cannot be taken away.&#8221; These moves underscore a growing reality: for most digital games, players hold a revocable licence, not a permanent product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">California&#8217;s Protect Our Games Act: Where Legislation Is Actually Moving<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the EU opted against legislation, California is advancing the most concrete game preservation law in the world. AB-1921, the Protect Our Games Act, was introduced in February 2026 by Assembly member Chris Ward and passed the California State Assembly on 29 May 2026 with a 43-to-16 vote. The bill is now before the California State Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If enacted, AB-1921 would apply to games sold or substantially re-released in California after 1 January 2027. Key requirements include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Publishers must notify players at least 60 days before shutting down servers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Game sales must stop two months before end-of-life.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Publishers must provide one of three options: an offline patch, a standalone version that works without publisher servers, or a full refund.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Subscription-based, free-to-play, and already-offline-capable games are excluded.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ward has noted that due to the California effect, the law could influence publisher behaviour nationwide, since companies often adjust practices globally rather than maintaining state-specific systems. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has opposed the bill, arguing it could divert resources from creating new games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is the Fight Over in Europe?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stop Killing Games has stated clearly that the Commission&#8217;s decision is &#8220;not the end.&#8221; The campaign has pivoted its European strategy toward the Digital Fairness Act, an upcoming piece of EU digital consumer legislation where amendments related to game preservation could potentially be introduced through the European Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We can move on without the Commission and their non-decision,&#8221; the campaign said, referencing earlier comments from Ross Scott. The group claims to be in &#8220;a better position than ever&#8221; and argues that EU legislation could proceed even without Commission backing, through parliamentary amendments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, the UK has already debated the issue in Parliament (3 November 2025) and decided against amending existing law, though the government acknowledged sympathy for the concerns raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Players Should Know Right Now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does existing EU law protect me if a game shuts down?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Partially. Under the Digital Content Directive, publishers must inform you about service duration and termination conditions before purchase. If a shutdown violates the contract or your reasonable expectations, you may be entitled to a proportionate refund. However, enforcement varies by country and individual case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which games are most at risk?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Always-online titles with no offline mode and full dependency on publisher-maintained servers carry the greatest risk. Games like The Crew and Anthem are prominent examples of titles that became permanently unplayable after server shutdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Will the voluntary code of conduct change anything?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It could improve transparency and establish baseline expectations for how publishers communicate end-of-life plans. However, without legal force, compliance remains optional. The effectiveness will depend entirely on how seriously the industry and consumer groups engage with the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Could the California law affect games globally?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If AB-1921 passes the California Senate and is signed into law, the California effect could prompt publishers to apply its requirements across all markets rather than maintaining separate regional policies. This would be the single most impactful legislative change for game preservation to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EU&#8217;s decision not to legislate is a significant moment, but it is not the final chapter. Between the French lawsuit against Ubisoft, California&#8217;s advancing legislation, and the Digital Fairness Act still in development, the question of whether publishers can permanently kill games you paid for remains very much alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite over 1.29 million verified signatures from the Stop Destroying Videogames initiative, the European Commission has refused to legally require publishers to keep discontinued games playable, opting instead for a voluntary industry code of conduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6078,"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076\/revisions\/6078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}