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More and more gamers are getting disgruntled with the video game industry. From watching at the sidelines while the workforce is decimated for profit, to watching mega companies using AI to cheap out on salaries, there is another aspect of the gaming industry that it is tough to argue that it is good for gaming.
There has been a creep towards companies (certain ones at least) insisting that even though you might actually hand over your $70 you don’t actually own the game, you merely lease the right to play it. Now this should be nonsense, but it has not, as yet, ever been tested in a court of law but now Ross Scott from the YouTube channel Accursed Farms has set up the Stop Killing Games campaign to call this out, and the fact that games companies can merely kill a game seemingly at a moment’s notice while keeping your money.
The most recent case in question is from Ubisoft (remember they of “gamers are going to have to get used to the fact they don’t own their games” fame) suddenly announced that they are killing off the multiplayer online game The Crew.
Last December Ubisoft was still peddling The Crew at $25.99 before suddenly announcing that as of the end of March, there would be no more Crew for you. It would disappear into the ether. As if it never existed. Go and buy the upcoming Crew Motorfest instead.
Scott believes that this is ridiculous and equates it to somebody taking the clothes you have bought off your back in the street and saying, hey we still own these.
Imagine if in a few years time, after a waning player count a game such as Fortnite simply disappeared. A game so fundamentally important to the history of video gaming just didn’t exist anymore. Guess who could do nothing about it?
Scott said, “An increasing number of videogames are sold as goods, but designed to be completely unplayable for everyone as soon as support ends. The legality of this practice is untested worldwide, and many governments do not have clear laws regarding these actions. It is our goal to have authorities examine this behavior and hopefully end it, as it is an assault on both consumer rights and preservation of media.”
The Stop Killing Games website is full of information on what is going on and has links to petitions and letters you can send in order to highlight this practice to the appropriate regulators, some of whom will still think the kids are playing Space Invaders or that Doom causes violent incidents.
Featured Image: AI-generated with Ideogram
