The “Stop Killing Games” petition has surpassed 1.4 million signatures, marking a major milestone in its push for EU legislation to prevent companies from shutting down purchased digital games. This European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) needed one million valid signatures to move forward through the official EU process, and the extra 400,000 signatures provide a buffer in case some entries don’t count.
Launched in 2023 by Ross Scott, creator of Accursed Farms, the petition addresses growing concerns about digital ownership rights. The campaign is specifically calling out companies that turn off access to games that people have paid for, especially those that rely on online services or verification checks.
The campaign gained a lot of traction after being picked up by international influencers and well-known YouTubers. All this extra attention helped the petition hit its goal way faster than expected, though it’s also raised questions about how many of the signatures actually come from eligible EU citizens.
Now that signature collection is done, the next stage is a verification process carried out by authorities in each EU country. This checking step can take up to three months, and then the certified signatures get officially submitted. As long as there are still at least one million valid signatures from at least seven EU countries, the European Commission will have to respond.
There could be public hearings and even discussions in the European Parliament after that, but actually getting any law changes could still take nine months or more. If it works, it would be a pretty rare thing—only a few ECIs ever make it that far.
