Many online video games stop working when their companies shut down the serversservers/ˈsɜːrvərz/L2服务器，指为网络游戏提供运行支持的计算机系统computers that store data and allow players to connect and play online games. In the first half of 2026, dozens of games became unplayableunplayable/ʌnˈpleɪəbəl/L2无法游玩的，不能玩的not able to be played or used for playing a game. For example, BioWare turned off Anthem's servers after seven years. Also, Activision Blizzard took Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile offlineoffline/ˌɒfˈlaɪn/L2离线的，不连接网络的not connected to the internet; no longer available to play online in April. When a game goes offline, it is usually dead and does not come back.
However, a movementmovement/ˈmuːvmənt/L2运动，指一群人为改变某件事而进行的行动a group of people working together to achieve a goal or change something called Stop Killing Games wants to change this. It started in 2024 after Ubisoft shut down the online game The Crew. Stop Killing Games asks governments to create laws that protect games. For example, they want publishers to allow players to run their own private servers. The group has grown quickly. It has filed lawsuits and petitionspetitions/pəˈtɪʃənz/L2请愿书，签名要求政府或组织做某事的文件formal written requests signed by many people asking a government or organization to do something in Europe and the US.
In Europe, the European Commission said it cannot force companies to keep games playable because of copyright laws. But it will work with publishers to create a code of conduct. Stop Killing Games plans to push for new rules in a law called the Digital Fairness Act. Moritz Katzner, a leader of the group, said: "The Digital Fairness Act ... is perfect for us." In the US, a bill in California would require publishers to give notice before taking a game offline. It would also let players keep accessing purchased games. The bill passed the state Assembly in June and will go to the Senate next.
The video game industry opposes these ideas. The Entertainment Software Association says keeping old games online costs a lot of money. If companies have to support old games forever, they might make fewer new games. But Stop Killing Games believes this is just a business choice. Katzner compared it to buying a car: "If you buy a new car, your old provider doesn't come and destroy the old one." The movement expects more states and countries to introduce similar laws in the future.
