Scott Ross talks about how the Stop Killing Games initiative seems to be targeted by accusations and false claims. He suspects the industry to be behind it.
Stop Killing Games (SKG) is still going great. Scott Ross started the campaign in 2024 and when it seemed to have lost all momentum, the EU petition "Stop Destroying Videogames" brought it back to life. But while the petition seems to be doing well – having reached the 1.4 million signature milestone – it now seems to be under attack. Ross is suspecting foul play by the industry.
False Claims About The Initiative
Recently, Ross uploaded a video where he reports that the initiative has received serious accusations by an anonymous source. The accusations claim that Ross's contribution is worth an estimated €63.000-147.000 and by not reporting on that, it would violate guidelines. This is proven to be false by Ross, since he is only a voluntary supporter of the initiative, not a financial backer or hired professional.
Since it is highly unlikely that these accusations come from a worried citizen acting independently, Ross assumes that this is an attempt by the gaming industry to take the petition down. This would fall in line with the narrative that more and more big names in the industry seem to misrepresent the initiative's goals on purpose.
The Lies Of The Industry
On July 7, Video Games Europe issued a statement where they, again, misrepresent the initiative, seemingly while trying to protect bad practice by publishers. They state that it is unclear what the initiative seeks to achieve and how it wants to achieve it. They even assume the initiative requires publishers to provide online servers for as long as players want them, regardless of price paid. This, again, is untrue.
Reading about this begs the question: "What is Video Games Europe?" They are a lobbying group, representing the interests of many big players in the gaming industry. Keeping this in mind, it is not exactly far fetched to think they want to preserve the status quo, especially when seeing that other big names in the industry handle the topic in a similar way.
Ubisoft About SKG
In a shareholder-meeting, CEO of Ubisoft Yves Guillemont was asked about his opinions on Stop Killing Games and game preservation as a whole. He too completely misrepresented what SKG and the initiative are trying to reach. He stated that "nothing is eternal" and that Ubisoft warns players soon enough for how long they will be able to play their games.
But the initiative questions the legality of there even being an expiration date on a game that the consumer purchased. Guillemont also repeats the same narrative that publishers can't provide servers and online services forever. And again, this is not at all what the initiative is asking for.
I'm surprised, The CEO of Ubisoft has responded to SKG. I think he might be purposefully acting ignorant talking about endless support; it's easier for the industry to pretend they don't understand the demand than acknowledge the problem + the solution.https://t.co/7kKQO04z1n
— Accursed Farms (@accursedfarms) July 18, 2025
Is SKG Unclear?
Hearing the claims of big companies and names in the industry made me question if Stop Killing Games or the Stop Destroying Games initiative are in any way hard to understand or unclear in their goals. And no, the opposite is the case. All SKG is asking for is that a game remains playable, even when a publisher stops their support. This can easily be found on the website of SKG.
Publishers should just implement an end-of-life plan for games, so that the game can be handed to the community without any further support or services by the publisher. One example would be implementing the opportunity forusers to host their own online servers instead of always relying on the publishers' servers. Simply put: "If you buy a copy of a game, you should be able to keep it".
Ignorant Or Malicious?
All of these claims and accusations about SKG by the games industry seem like an attempt to shift the narrative and make consumers forget the real issue that SKG is trying to fight, especially since they are all misinterpreting it the exact same way. The playerbase is on the side of Ross and the initiative, with many saying that the changes they ask for are "long overdue".
The initiative is still open until July 31 and even though the milestone of 1.4 million signatures has been reached, it is better to be safe than sorry and collect as many more as possible. It is unclear if any more false claims will be made about SKG before the end of the month, but SKG simply wants that buying means owning, which I support wholeheartedly.