Almost 200,000 gamers have signedthe petition so far, showing that there’s a contingent of players who believe that the closing of games hurts the industry. I can’t help but agree, though I say this with hesitation. The example given on the petition website is for Ubisoft’sThe Crewwhich they claim had a player base of “at least 12 million” when it was shut down.
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The Crew - Ubisoft
I don’t think so, though I’d love to see something change. Pushing large companies like Ubisoft and EA to support games for longer may seem like the best way to go, but these games tend to be closed down because the daily players don’t often justify the servers staying open.
When EA closed downBattlefield: Bad Company 2earlier this year, the game hadless than 500 playersat its peak in March 2022, and many companies can’t keep the servers open for these games. You could argue that EA has the cash on hand, and I’d agree, but how many games would they have to keep ‘alive’ if they met the player’s expectations?
Ultimately, if a petition like this were to succeed and get the attention of the EU governments, any law that could be implemented may hurt smaller studios and publishers. Being forced to keep servers running on a game with so few players would negatively impact the finances of smaller publishers forcing them to cut costs.
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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - Electronic Arts
If we look at the core goals of the petition, it reads, “To have authorities examine this behavior and hopefully end it, as it is an assault on both consumer rights and preservation of media.” For me, it’s that second point that is most important - game preservation.
Aside from a few companies - like Limited Run Games and Super Rare Games - who are bringing digital games to physical discs and cartridges, there is little in place to preserve gaming for historical purposes, for future generations, and to protect the money we’ve spent on games.
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Marvel’s Avengers - Crystal Dynamics
You only have to look backward. The Super Nintendo console lived for around eight years and saw around 522 games launched in the EU. How many of those games are available to play legally? How many have been preserved as a piece of gaming history, whether the game was successful or not? Even today, backward compatibility is barely supported and many classic PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 games are difficult or near impossible to play, especially as we live in a time of endless remasters.
We saw recently with theXbox 360 marketplaceclosing that hundreds of games - titles that teams of people worked hard on - have now vanished. Of course, if you still owned a console you could download them before they disappeared but not everyone is in a position to do so, and not all hardware will be supported with the swift movement of technology.
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Gaming, as an industry, is in a difficult position. It depends on technology - servers, consoles, controllers, televisions, and operating systems - and the games themselves are rarely supported for long after launch unless they’re billion-dollar opportunities. This mindset applies to both online functions and older games not being preserved. If this petition, and the sentiment behind it, gains any traction, I’d be amazed. I’m hopeful that one day consumers and players will be a bigger consideration for publishers, but I’m not holding my breath.
Topics:EA,Marvels Avengers,Nintendo,PlayStation,Retro Gaming,Ubisoft,Xbox,Opinion
