"Stop Killing Games" Movement Hearing Receives Positive Response from All European Parliament Members
It’s astonishing how much can change in a short period of time. Two years ago, the "Stop Killing Games" campaign, opposing the practice of shutting down online games reliant on servers once they cease to be profitable, seemed like a long shot; now, the organization’s founder, Ross Scott, and campaign organizer, Moritz Katzner, have appeared before the European Parliament to formally present their demands – and things are looking exceptionally promising.
Like most parliamentary committee meetings, the hearing itself was somewhat dry in its proceedings, but the discussions within were quite noteworthy. For example, advisor Daniel Ondruska stated that the "Stop Killing Games" campaign was "not unreasonable," as they are not demanding game developers provide permanent online support for games, nor are they asking for already-shut-down old games to be reactivated, but rather hoping for regulations to prevent such arbitrary game closures in the future.
“Games developed 20 years ago are still running today,” Ondruska said, “and as mentioned before, games developed 3 years ago are now unplayable. This isn’t a technical issue, it’s a design decision, and a business decision.”
After detailing the actual process of game closures, "Stop Killing Games" founder Scott also offered his perspective from a business standpoint. He stated that incorporating end-of-life maintenance planning into the development budget would have a “minimal” cost impact. He added that game companies’ estimates of end-of-life maintenance costs are based on a “fundamental fallacy,” as these estimates include the costs of features that would no longer be needed if the game were switched to offline mode.
Towards the end of the hearing, Anna Cavazzini, Chair of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, thanked the speakers and congratulated them, praising them for “doing an excellent job,” and stating that she “heard support for this initiative from almost all political groups.” MEP İlhan Küçük also expressed the same sentiment, reiterating the “broad support” for the initiative within the relevant committee.
Following the hearing, the group held a press conference on Twitch, where the atmosphere was noticeably optimistic. When Scott asked Katzner how he felt the hearing went, the latter replied, “It’s incredible. I think anyone who watched the livestream could see that every European Parliament member present gave a positive response. You could even say that the attitude from the European Commission side was also very positive.”
Katzner also stated that it must be made clear that this hearing was “our first step towards the public and into the legislative process,” and that the committee is still reviewing the materials submitted by the "Stop Killing Games" organization. However, he added that every member of parliament who attended the hearing expressed support for the initiative, and that, as far as the core goals of the hearing were concerned, they had already “accomplished the task.”
Scott agreed, saying, “I feel that even if we had done everything perfectly on our side, the final result wouldn’t have been much better than it is now. If we had more preparation time, the process might have been smoother, but I don’t think it would have made any difference in the end.”
Afterwards, a long discussion hosted by Katzner with other stakeholders continued, with a consistently positive atmosphere.
“The road ahead is still long,” Katzner wrote, “but this momentum is real.”
This appearance before the European Commission marked a successful conclusion to the "Stop Killing Games" organization’s strong start to 2026. In February of this year, the organization announced that it would establish non-governmental organizations in the EU and the US to “conduct long-term counter-lobbying” on the issue of game closures; in March, the organization also provided official support for a lawsuit filed by a leading French consumer association against Ubisoft for shutting down *The Crew*.