The aptly titled petition‘Stop Killing Games’aims to tackle the ongoing trend of publishers ending support for multiplayer games.
We’ve playedStar Wars Outlawsand loved every minute of it
Trying to tackle this sticky situation is a difficult task. Publishers such asEAand Ubisoft are shutting down games after years of support, usually because the cost and time outweigh the need.
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However, oftentimes players are still enjoying these games and are left without the ability to play a favourite title.
The petition specifically mentionsThe Crewas an example. A game that Ubisoft closed down despite having a “playerbase of over 12 million”, according to the petition’s website.
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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 likeUbisoftand EA are the target, but what about smaller developers and publishers who simply can’t afford to keep servers running and patches coming?
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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.
Topics:PlayStation,Xbox,Nintendo,Ubisoft,EA
