EU lawmakers support 'Stop Killing Games' campaign

What once felt like a long-shot campaign is starting to look like a serious movement. Two years after launching Stop Killing Games, founder Ross Scott and organizer Moritz Katzner found themselves speaking before the European Parliament—and by most accounts, it couldn’t have gone much better.

The hearing itself had the usual formal tone typical of parliamentary sessions, but beneath that, there was genuine interest. The core message from the campaign was clear: they’re not asking for the impossible. As consultant Daniel Ondruška explained, the goal isn’t to keep every online game running forever or to revive titles that are already gone. Instead, they want future games designed in a way that prevents them from becoming completely unplayable once support ends.

His point landed simply but effectively. Games made 20 years ago still work today, while some released just a few years back are already inaccessible. That contrast, he argued, isn’t due to technical limitations—it’s the result of choices made during development and publishing.

Scott built on that idea by addressing one of the industry’s biggest defenses: cost. According to him, planning for a game’s end-of-life during development would barely affect the budget. He also pushed back on claims from studios that such changes would be expensive, suggesting those estimates often include unnecessary features that wouldn’t matter if a game were designed to function offline after shutdown.

By the end of the session, the tone from lawmakers was strikingly positive. Anna Cavazzini, who chairs the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, thanked the speakers and noted that support appeared to come from across the political spectrum. MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk echoed that view, pointing to broad agreement among committee members.

That optimism carried over into a post-hearing Twitch stream, where Katzner didn’t hide his excitement. He described the experience as “absolutely incredible,” pointing out that every MEP who spoke reacted positively—even representatives from the European Commission.

Still, both he and Scott were careful to keep expectations grounded. This was just the beginning of a much longer legislative process, with the proposal still under review. Even so, Katzner described the hearing as a success—“mission achieved,” at least for this stage. Scott agreed, suggesting that even with more preparation, the outcome likely wouldn’t have been much different.

If there’s one takeaway from the day, it’s that the movement has momentum. There’s still a long road ahead, but for the first time, Stop Killing Games doesn’t look like a niche internet campaign—it looks like something policymakers are starting to take seriously.

That shift comes after a busy start to 2026. In February, the group announced plans to establish NGOs in both the EU and the US to push for long-term policy change. Then in March, it backed a lawsuit against Ubisoft filed by France’s leading consumer organization over the shutdown of The Crew.

For now, the fight is far from over—but it’s clearly moved to a much bigger stage.