Why It's Important You Support Stop Killing Games
If you buy a book, physically or digitally, you own that book forever and can read it whenever you want to for the rest of your life. If you purchase a record, physically or digitally, you can listen to it in perpetuity, across the universe. Same goes for buying a movie, or a TV show. As long as you’re not streaming only, you have unlimited access to a piece of media you’ve bought. Video games are the only exception, because if they’re designed to be always online and the publishers pull the plug on the servers, then you’re left with a worthless piece of plastic at best. And the Stop Killing Games initiative hopes to change this.
Stop Killing Games Initiative Fights Publishers Making Games Unplayable
The Crew is only the latest title to fall victim; many have disappeared before. However, it is the most high-profile case, because The Crew wielded a player base twelve million strong. Which is why Stop Killing Games is using it as the jumping-off point for a bigger campaign. That, and the fact that Ubisoft is a French company, and France has pretty good customer protection laws. If you want to join, and I strongly urge you to do so, head to the official Stop Killing Games site and click the Take Action here button. And don’t worry, even if you’re not a French citizen, the org has other things for you to do, even if they’re as small as sharing on your socials.
Now, the aim of Stop Killing Games is to end the practice of games you’ve paid money for vanishing into thin air when the publishers pull the servers. Not that anyone expects companies to support every single game until the heat death of the universe (though they should); it’d be enough that they let players maintain full functionality by themselves. The current situation only benefits corporations (read: only the top executives) while shafting the consumers. The iron is hot, so it’s time to strike. And if you want more information, check out this interview the Second Wind crew did with Ross Scott, the man behind the initiative.
