PewDiePie's endorsement of a movement which seeks to stop publishers from destroying games they've already sold to customers may give it the traction it needs to change laws in the UK and EU.
The Swedish YouTuber, best known for his gaming videos, strongly encouraged fans to 'sign the petition.'
'In the comments, I've seen some of you mention "stop killing games" and I want to say: I 100% support this movement,' he wrote in a post on his YouTube channel.
'It ties in perfectly with what I talked about in my video "ownership over software (and the games we buy)",' he added, linking the EU and UK petitions at the end.
The Stop Killing Games initiative was launched in 2024 by Ross Scott (Accursed Farms) and has been shrouded in controversy with Twitch streamer Pirate Software's criticism of the initiative.
PewDiePie's endorsement might be enough for the petitions to receive enough signatures for the EU and UK Governments to take the movement seriously.
Stop Killing Games Movement Explained
Stop Killing Games (SKG) is described as a consumer movement designed to preserve video game ownership.
'Most video games work indefinitely, but a growing number are designed to stop working as soon as publishers end support,' the movement says on their website. 'This effectively robs customers, destroys games as an artform, and is unnecessary,' they elaborate.
SKG illuminates the growing issue of consumers spending real money on games but not truly having ownership over them.
The goal for the movement is to make it illegal for publishers to make games unplayable once they've been purchased.
When the initiative first started in 2024, it faced backlash from Thor of Pirate Software who said that SKG goes too broad. He believes that SKG's proposals may misinterpret the realities of game development.
Scott responded to Thor in a YouTube video last month and accused him of spreading misinformation. However, Thor doubled down and defended his criticism of SKG– that it's misrepresentative and could result in smaller developers who can't afford resources to keep severe infrastructure running forever being negatively impacted.
Stop Killing Games Petitions For EU and UK
The campaign to legally require publishers to leave their video games in a playable state even when the publisher is no longer involved is coming to a close this month.
There are two petitions supporters can sign.
One is for the EU titled the European Citizens Initiative which currently has over 800,000 signatures. In order for it to be valid, it needs one million signatures as well as meeting the minimum thresholds in at least seven countries.
The petition specifically seeks to 'prevent the remote disabling of video games by the publishers, before providing reasonable means to continue functioning of said video games without the involvement from the side of the publisher,' in the EU.
The other petition is to the UK Government and is very near its target of 100,000 signatures, which it needs to be considered for debate in parliament.
It states, 'The government should update consumer law to prohibit publishers from disabling video games (and related game assets / features) they have already sold without recourse for customers to retain or repair them. We seek this as a statutory consumer right.'
With PewDiePie giving the movement a major boost, it looks like both petitions will reach their targets by their closing dates (14 July for UK and 31 July for EU).
