Campaigners are pressing to keep sold games playable
Many games need the publisher's servers to run, even when played alone. When the servers go off, the game stops working for everyone who paid for it. Players have organized against this, including a European petition with 1.29 million verified signatures.
What is digital ownership?
When you buy a digital game, do you own it, or are you only allowed to play it for as long as the publisher keeps it available? That is the digital ownership question. Preservation is the follow-up question: what happens to the game, and whether anyone can still play it, once the publisher pulls the plug.
Where it stands
No government yet requires it. The European Commission said in June 2026 that it cannot propose a legal duty to keep games playable, and offered talks on an industry code. The UK says its law will not change, and a California bill failed. Campaigners have moved to the courts: a French consumer group is suing Ubisoft over The Crew. Old games are a separate problem, about whether a game can still be bought, not whether it still runs. The Video Game History Foundation found 87% of US games released before 2010 can no longer be bought.
| Market | State of the rule | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| EU | No duty to keep games playable | The European Commission said in June 2026 that at this stage it cannot propose a legal obligation to keep games playable after a publisher stops supporting them. It will open talks with the industry on a code of conduct by the end of 2026. | European Citizens' Initiative portal, the Commission's reply (16 June 2026) |
| UK | No plans to change the law | The government told Parliament it has no plans to amend consumer law on disabling games. After a debate in November 2025, the only step it floated was guidance for sellers from the trading standards body. | |
| USA | California: a rule about the word 'buy' | Since 1 January 2025 it has been unlawful in California to advertise a digital license that can be revoked using the words buy or purchase, unless the seller makes clear that it is a license. The rule does not stop a game being switched off. | |
| USA | Archives: no remote access | The US Copyright Office refused in October 2024 to let libraries and archives give researchers remote access to out-of-print games. Access on the premises is all the law allows. | Video Game History Foundation, Phil Salvador (25 October 2024) |
| France | A lawsuit, no ruling yet | The consumer group UFC-Que Choisir sued Ubisoft in March 2026 over the shutdown of The Crew, alleging unfair contract terms and misleading commercial practices. The court has not ruled. | |
| Brazil | A bill, not yet law | A bill filed on 9 July 2026 would require sellers to say at the point of sale that a game depends on servers, to support it for at least two years, and to give 180 days' notice of a shutdown, followed by an offline version, tools for players to run their own servers, or a partial refund. The lower house approved urgency for it on 15 July, and it is listed as ready for a floor vote. | |
| Japan | Kept by the national library, for research only | Publishers have had to deposit physical games with the National Diet Library since October 2000. The games can be accessed only for the purpose of research. | |
| USA | A claim that a closed server takes the currency with it | No rule requires a publisher to redeem or carry over virtual currency when it closes a game's servers. A class action against Take-Two over NBA 2K, filed in California in 2023 and still unresolved, argues that doing neither is theft from the player. |
Timeline
2000
Japan's national library starts collecting games
From October 2000, Japan's legal deposit system, under which publishers must give the National Diet Library a copy of what they publish, covers video games on discs and cartridges. By 2025 it holds more than 9,600. The library says games sold as a download key, with no game on the cartridge, fall outside the scheme.
2023
A study finds 87% of classic games are no longer on sale
The Video Game History Foundation samples 1,500 games released in the US before 2010 and finds only 13% still commercially available. The study measures whether a game can be bought, not whether it has been preserved.
A minor sues Take-Two over virtual currency lost when NBA 2K servers close
A class action filed in California by a minor and his mother alleges that Take-Two takes from players when it closes servers for older NBA 2K games, usually about two and a half years after release, stranding unspent virtual currency bought with real money. Take-Two does not reimburse the balance or let it move to a newer edition. Documents unsealed in September 2026 show the publisher tracks each player's sessions, modes, hours and spending day by day.
2024
Ubisoft switches off The Crew, and a campaign starts
Ubisoft shuts down the servers of its racing game The Crew, which then stops working for everyone who bought it. The same week the YouTuber Ross Scott launches Stop Killing Games, a campaign to make publishers leave games in a playable state.
California restricts the word 'buy' for digital games
California passes a law, in force from January 2025, against advertising a revocable digital license as something you buy or purchase without saying that it is a license. Steam adds a notice to its checkout within weeks.
The US Copyright Office refuses remote access to archived games
The Copyright Office declines to let libraries give researchers remote access to games that are out of print. The Video Game History Foundation says the games industry's lobby told the hearing it would never support remote access under any conditions.
Video Game History Foundation, Phil Salvador (25 October 2024)
2025
The UK government says the law will not change
A petition of nearly 190,000 signatures forces a debate in Parliament. The minister, Stephanie Peacock, says the government has no plans to change consumer law, and describes online games as dynamic, interactive services, not static products.
2026
A French consumer group sues Ubisoft
UFC-Que Choisir takes Ubisoft to court over The Crew. Buyers, it says, were never told the game had an expiry date.
1.29 million signatures win a code of conduct, not a law
The campaign's European petition was submitted in January 2026 with 1,294,188 verified signatures, enough to oblige the European Commission to respond. In June the Commission says that at this stage it cannot propose a legal obligation to keep games playable. It offers talks with the industry on a code of conduct for a game's end of life.
European Citizens' Initiative portal, the Commission's reply (16 June 2026)
California's keep-it-playable bill fails
A bill requiring paid games to stay playable after their servers close passes the California Assembly by 43 votes to 16, then fails in a Senate committee, where four members vote yes, three vote no and the rest abstain. The campaign says it will take bills to other states.
A Brazilian bill would set a minimum life for games
The deputy Jandira Feghali files a bill in Brazil's lower house modeled on the campaign. It sets a minimum of two years' support, 180 days' notice before a shutdown, and fines of up to 1% of a game's Brazilian revenue.
Sony tells a court that buyers know they do not own their games
Four PlayStation users sue Sony in California over the 'buy' button in its store, the first case under the state's new law. In August Sony asks the court to send the case to private arbitration or dismiss it. Reasonable consumers, it argues, would not be misled, because its terms say buyers do not own the product. The motion was argued in San Francisco on 1 October 2026 and the judge had not ruled by the end of that week.
A single-player story mode is switched off with the servers
Take-Two delists NBA 2K25 from storefronts on 30 October 2026 and shuts its servers down on 31 December, two years after the game went on sale. Multiplayer and online modes stop on 1 January 2027, and MyCareer, the single-player story mode, becomes unplayable with them.
Consequences
012026
The Commission's no is not a reprieve
Bronwyn Molony of the law firm William Fry reads the decision as a warning to sellers. Regulators can still use existing consumer law, she argues: calling a license that can be revoked something you buy or own may count as a misleading practice, and switching a game off may entitle buyers to refunds. The point, she adds, applies well beyond games, to apps, streaming and connected devices.
022025
What happens to games could happen to other goods
In the UK debate the Labour MP Mark Sewards warned that if the practice goes unchecked, the erosion of ownership rights may spread to other areas.
032024
Researchers are pushed outside the law
Phil Salvador of the Video Game History Foundation says the industry's refusal to allow any remote access to archived games forces researchers to explore extra-legal methods to study games that cannot be bought.
Video Game History Foundation, Phil Salvador (25 October 2024)
042026
Owning your games becomes a selling point
Kyle Orland of Ars Technica notes that the store GOG now pitches itself on exactly this. Its games come as files with no copy protection, so, in GOG's words, no one can ever take the games you paid for away.
Objections
Counterpoint2025
The industry says switching off has to remain an option
Video Games Europe, the publishers' trade body, says closing an online game must be an option when it is no longer commercially viable. Servers run by players, it argues, would strip out protections for data and safety and leave the rights holder liable, and a legal duty would make online-only games prohibitively expensive to build.
Counterpoint2026
The industry says you never owned the game
The ESA, the American trade body, told California lawmakers that the keep-it-playable bill rests on a false premise: that consumers own digital games. Games, it said, are licensed, not sold as unrestricted property. It reads California's labeling law as confirming that.
Counterpoint2026
The test case may never reach the question
Sony's first request is for private arbitration under its terms of service, which would take the case out of open court. An earlier California case over The Crew ended in a settlement with no ruling on digital ownership. Nobody publishes how many purchased games are made unplayable each year.
What to watch
2026
The EU's Digital Fairness Act
The last quarter of 2026, when the European Commission is due to propose the Digital Fairness Act, a consumer law for digital products. The campaign wants Parliament to amend it to cover games that are switched off. The Commission has also promised to start its code of conduct talks by the end of the year. The separate KIDS Act the Commission adopted on 17 September 2026 is about minors, not about digital ownership.
2026
The ruling on Sony's 'buy' button
Sony's request to move the case to individual arbitration, with a fallback request to dismiss it, was argued before a federal judge in San Francisco on 1 October 2026. The ruling will decide whether the claim is heard in court at all. No date for it has been published.
Further reading
- PrimaryStop Destroying Videogames - Commission's reply to the European citizens' initiativecitizens-initiative.europa.eu
- ReportingGOG brings back "big box" PC games, one printable template at a timearstechnica.com
- ReportingProjeto de lei inspirado no Stop Killing Games é apresentado no Brasil para evitar que jogos morramtecmundo.com.br
Where to follow it European Citizens' Initiative register, stopkillinggames.com, r/StopKillingGames, Bellular News (YouTube), Digital Fairness Act consultations, UFC-Que Choisir, Video Games Europe statements
- Old games take most of players' time
- Older players are a large audience the industry overlooks
- Players are using review scores as a protest vote
- Regulators are age-gating loot boxes
- Governments are weighing legal caps on children's playtime
- Children's privacy rules are nudging games toward checking every player's age
- Problem-gaming research is shifting from hours to compulsion
- China is using game approvals as a policy dial