We've become quite used to video game publishers shutting down already launched titles and rendering projects effectively useless. It's a common thing in modern gaming, particularly for games that have broad online elements, which when the servers are closed, the project becomes irrelevant. Publishers have the entitlement to do this as and when they want but it's never a very pleasing prospect to consumers who spend hard-earned cash on a game that risks being redundant and worthless in the future.
This is why the Stop Killing Games petition has been launched. It's an initiative that aims to "challenge the legality of publishers destroying video games they have sold to customers," and fans have been quick to show their support for this movement. As of writing, the petition is nearing one million signatures, which will see it reach the goal it set out to achieve and put pressure on the European Commission to enforce a law that "will both protect consumer rights to retain video games that customers have purchased and advance preservation efforts massively."
As the UK is no longer part of the EU, there is also a UK petition that will take the action to Parliament. This petition set out to acquire 100,000 signatures and as of the moment it has blitzed past this and notched up 124,000 signatures, meaning Parliament will need to consider having a debate over this matter. There has yet to be a response from the UK government as to a debate date.
There is a deadline of July 14 on the UK petition, which is no doubt similar for the EU one. Signing off on what Stop Killing Games wants to achieve, the petition adds: "If you wish to prevent video games from being destroyed so no one can ever play them again, please tell others about these initiatives!"