Over the course of time, the wrongdoing and directly malicious practices of select publishers have been directly brought into the spotlight. Before, the bigger concern was from major companies with no proper restraints on lootboxes and how these business models could impact players – especially those of the younger demographic.
Back in 2019, Missouri Senator representative Josh Hawley did propose a ban on lootboxes as the outcry was becoming louder and the influence it was gaining on consumers were ever more apparent. It wasn’t until 2020 that the ESRB rating board included a new listing for such practices. Over time, lootboxes stigma has reduced the practice across many projects.
Now the new concern is preservation. As of recent, a new campaign ‘Stop Killing Games’ has been gaining momentum over in Europe as premium titles tied to online services are being disabled indefinitely as the lobbies are being closed. This is happening with Anthem already. Ubisoft’s The Crew was another victim as a lawsuit was filed last year.
Recently, the Stop Killing Games movement did obtain some political ground as the Vice President for the European Union stands by its sentiment. Romania politician Nicolae Ștefănuță recently went to Instagram where he posted a story advocating for the Stop Killing Games campaign. Already, it obtained over one million signatures to prevent more titles from meeting the chopping block by these publishers.
“I stand with the people who started this citizen initiative. I signed and will continue to help them. A game, once sold, belongs to the customer, not the company,” Ștefănuță wrote in the Instagram Reel which was translated by Stop Killing Games. Ștefănuță has already stated he signed the petition and encourages more Europeans to join the movement to solidify consumer rights.
Are you for the Stop Killing Games movement?
