Momentum Builds for Stop Killing Games Initiative
The Stop Killing Games initiative has experienced a remarkable resurgence this year, transforming initial skepticism into a wave of support that has garnered over 400,000 additional signatures, surpassing the necessary threshold to present the initiative to the European Commission through a European Citizens’ Initiative. This movement advocates for game companies to establish support mechanisms for their titles even after they have been discontinued.
As outlined on the initiative’s website, the goal is not to compel companies to maintain servers indefinitely. Instead, it seeks to ensure that these companies develop comprehensive end-of-life plans. Such plans could include empowering fan communities with the resources needed to operate their own local servers, thereby extending the life of beloved games beyond their official shutdown.
According to updates from the StopKillingGames subreddit, the signature verification process is progressing steadily. User Mr_Presidentle reported, “Out of 1,448,270 signatures, 689,035 are already verified, and 15 countries have met their thresholds.” Notably, the two largest nations, Germany and France, have yet to reach their respective targets, but optimism remains high based on the current momentum.
In a further encouraging note, Mr_Presidentle indicated that only “About 3%” of the signatures have failed verification, which bodes well for the initiative’s overall success. To illustrate the impact of this verification rate, a brief calculation reveals that if 3% of the total signatures are invalid, that equates to approximately 43,448 signatures. This would leave a robust total of 1,404,822 valid signatures, comfortably exceeding the required one million.
With this strong showing, the initiative appears poised to take a significant step forward, reflecting a growing consensus around the need for sustainable practices in the gaming industry. All indicators suggest that the campaign is on the brink of achieving its first major milestone.
