A new popular petition on the UK Government and Parliament website calls for legislation to preserve video games once publishers and game companies decide to abandon or pull the plug on them. The petition, which seeks 10,000 signatures, argues that while there are games that can run indefinitely, there are also games whose features and content, by design, can be switched off and remain inaccessible to the user who bought them if the publisher chooses to do so.
The brief argues that this is understood as a form of planned obsolescence, and that players are deprived of goods for which they have paid without compensation. This category could include all those games as a service and multiplayer games with in-game shops that, once they lose popularity and close servers, do not allow offline solo play.
So far, this initiative has only gained just over 350 signatures, but it seems like a way not only to protect consumer interests against companies and digital commerce, but also a way of preserving video games. What do you think?
You can follow the petition (and sign it), at this link.