From video video games to the European Commission: the battle for digital rights within the twenty first century begins | Culture | EUROtoday

From in the future to the following, gamers acquired a press release: on January 12, the servers of your online game shall be turned off. It meant the tip of service, entry and the sport itself. It occurred with Anthem (BioWare/EA, 2019), an formidable multiplayer world of flying robots that was lowered to a digital reminiscence when the definitive cessation of its construction was introduced on-line. It additionally occurred with the sport of magic and fantasy New World (Amazon Games), to which the corporate gave on January 31 a lifespan of 1 yr till it disappears. And it occurred with The Crew (Ubisoft), a automotive recreation whose servers had been turned off, rendering it unusable in 2024 and making it the paradigmatic case of the so-called sunsetting: the second when an organization decides to show off the servers of a title that relies on everlasting connection and, with this, fully renders ineffective a product that tens of millions of customers had bought legally. It isn’t just a technical subject; When video games that promised continuity disappear as if they’d by no means existed, issues come up in terms of preserving digital works, and authorized doubts come up as a result of hurt suffered by customers.

That unrest crystallized on the finish of 2024 with the Stop Killing Games marketing campaign (cease killing video video games). Driven by the youtuber Ross Scott, the initiative was born after the closure of The Crew and rapidly remodeled right into a pan-European motion. Its goal is to not drive firms to take care of servers eternally – one thing that even its promoters take into account unfeasible – however to demand that, earlier than disconnecting a bought recreation, an inexpensive type of entry is assured: modes offlinelaunch of instruments to create non-public servers or technical options that enable the group of gamers to protect the work on their very own. Within the framework of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), the marketing campaign gathered 1,300,000 signatures and exceeded the minimal threshold in 24 Member States. Today, Monday, the marketing campaign organizers will formally current the proposal to the European Commission in Brussels. The Commission must research the case and reply formally earlier than July 27, opening the door to a legislative debate that transcends the area of interest gamer to delve into the center of European digital rights.

For historian Víctor Navarro-Remesal—professor at Tecnocampus and co-president of the History of Games congress—, the second is “key” not solely due to the variety of helps, however due to the conceptual change it poses. “This is not about a specific game, as happened in the United Kingdom with The Crew“, but rather to establish a general framework,” he explains. Navarro-Remesal emphasizes that the European Commission has already indicated that it will review the initiative and issue a statement, but warns that the real challenge will be to translate the indignation into truly applicable measures. “It is not about forcing a server to be maintained for 10 years for four people to play on, but rather that, when official support ends, the necessary keys will be delivered so that the community can preserve it.”

Navarro-Remesal links the debate with the right to repair electronic products and with digital planned obsolescence. On platforms such as Valve Corporation, owner of Steam (the largest digital store in the world), the terms of use specify that the player does not acquire full ownership of the game, but rather a temporary use license. “Europe could force to clearly indicate how long the title for which the player pays will be available,” he factors out. Furthermore, he insists that preserving a online game shouldn’t be solely about saving the code base, but in addition the successive enchancment patches. “In the era of cartridges or CDs, a video game was a closed product; now it is an object that is constantly updated, and is fragmented. If we want to be serious about preserving digital heritage, we have to redefine what exactly the digital work is.” For him, the initiative raises a basic query: what does it imply to personal a cultural work within the digital age?

The current phrases of youtuber Ross Scott replicate enthusiasm. “The signatures have already been verified: we have officially crossed the threshold and on February 23 we will present them to the European Commission,” he introduced every week in the past in a video on his YouTube channel. Although he defines the act as a formality – the signatures had been already digitized – within the video he highlights the significance of the direct assembly with the group authorities. Legal consultants corresponding to Professor Alberto Hidalgo Cerezo and representatives of the French client group UFC-Que Choisir will take part in Brussels to argue that the destruction of video video games by publishers can represent a authorized and client safety drawback. Paradoxically, Scott will be unable to attend the formal periods, though he’ll take part in a subsequent press convention. “I want us to win,” he declared, conscious that the battle is each authorized and symbolic.

“Research by organizations like the Video Game History Foundation has shown that a significant portion of old video games are no longer commercially available. This is a cultural problem, not just a commercial one,” says Piotr Gnyp, a journalist specializing in video video games and public relations at GOG, a digital PC online game retailer that sells traditional titles and actively works on preserving outdated titles in order that they work on present methods. “We are aware of initiatives like Stop Killing Games and the broader regulatory debates taking place in Europe, and these conversations are important, because what is clear is that digital games can disappear very quickly.” Video recreation preservation is essential for GOG, initially known as (it was created in 2008) Good Old Games in response to a really particular drawback: traditional titles had been changing into inaccessible simply as digital distribution was starting to emerge.

“Preserving these titles raises complex technical, legal and economic issues. There are issues related to server architecture, security, player data protection, licensing and long-term operational costs,” notes Gnyp. “We welcome this debate to be taking place more openly across the industry, but meaningful solutions will require cooperation between developers, publishers, platforms and players. It’s a delicate balance between preserving access while respecting intellectual property, security and sustainability.”

The background of the battle exceeds video video games. In digital music and movie, albums and flicks disappear from catalogs when licenses expire. The query Stop Killing Games poses shouldn’t be a lot nostalgic as structural, and factors to the important thing query for all sorts of digital works, not simply video video games: ought to the legislation defend entry to a digital work for which cost has been made? Exceeding a million signatures doesn’t mechanically assure a brand new legislation, nevertheless it does drive the Commission to talk out and, maybe, to provoke consultations or regulatory proposals. Today in Brussels not solely are 1,300,000 signatures introduced: a dialogue is placed on the desk about cultural reminiscence, digital rights and the very which means of property within the twenty first century.