The end of March was, as announced last December, synonymous with the closure of the servers of Ubisoft’s racing game, The Crew. A decision which not only deprived players of online access to the title but which quite simply made it unplayable. And this, even for owners of the game.
Issue, The Crew is far from being the only title impacted by this type of decision and will probably not be the last as game services are increasingly invading the industry. We can also expect, in view of its results, a similar future for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
It was therefore quite natural that the Stop Killing Games initiative was created. Launched this week, the campaign is urging gamers around the world to petition their local governments on the issue. The goal here is therefore to use the closure of The Crew to challenge the government on what appears to be a form of planned obsolescence of video games.
Stop Killing Games also intends to file a complaint with the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Repression (DGCCRF). Ubisoft being a French company whose head office is in Paris, the objective is therefore to get the authorities to at least question themselves on the subject. It remains to be seen whether this initiative led by Stop Killing Games will be sufficiently impactful to raise awareness among decision-makers, whoever they may be.