Image: Nintendo Life
Over the last couple of weeks or so, an online consumer movement has been doing the rounds that challenges the legality of publishers “destroying” video games sold to customers by revoking access following the cessation of online support. Dubbed ‘Stop Killing Games’, it consists of petitions to the European Citizens’ Initiative and the UK government, with the former surpassing 1.2 million signatures at the time of writing.
Now, the European lobbying group ‘Video Games Europe’, which includes Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft, Square Enix, and more within its membership, has responded to the movement with a statement, making clear that it does not support the ‘Stop Killing Games’ proposals in the slightest.
Here’s what it had to say:
“We appreciate the passion of our community; however, the decision to discontinue online services is multi-faceted, never taken lightly and must be an option for companies when an online experience is no longer commercially viable. We understand that it can be disappointing for players but, when it does happen, the industry ensures that players are given fair notice of the prospective changes in compliance with local consumer protection laws.
“Private servers are not always a viable alternative option for players as the protections we put in place to secure players’ data, remove illegal content, and combat unsafe community content would not exist and would leave rights holders liable. In addition, many titles are designed from the ground-up to be online-only; in effect, these proposals would curtail developer choice by making these video games prohibitively expensive to create.
“We welcome the opportunity to discuss our position with policy makers and those who have led the European Citizens Initiative in the coming months.”
It has also released a more extensive paper providing further detail on its position. It stresses that forcing publishers to maintain online support indefinitely would “have a chilling effect on game design, and act as a disincentive to making such games available in Europe”.
“The right to decide how, when, and for how long to make an online video game services available to players is vital in justifying this cost and fostering continued technical innovation.
“As rights-holders and economic entities, video games companies must remain free to decide when an online game is no longer commercially viable and to end continued server support for that game. Imposing a legal obligation to continue server support indefinitely, or to develop online video games in a specific technical manner that will allow permanent use, will raise the costs and risks of developing such games.
“It will have a chilling effect on game design, and act as a disincentive to making such games available in Europe. It is far from a trivial modification or a simple addition to the game development phase. It would ignore material reputational, safety, and security concerns.”
It’s a complex situation, to be sure, and we should also point out that it’s not Nintendo or any of the aforementioned publishers making this statement.
Ross Scott, a YouTuber who started the ‘Stop Killing Games’ movement, describes the arguments put forth by Video Games Europe as “flimsy”, and has uploaded a fresh video talking about the topic in more detail.
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube826k
What are your thoughts on this ongoing matter? Leave a comment and let us know in the usual place.
[source videogameseurope.eu]
Nintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry.