Stop Killing Games EU petition hits 1.3m verified signatures

The EU version of the Stop Killing Games petition was signed by 1.3 million people.

In a post on Reddit, the organisation’s director general Moritz Katzner wrote that of the close-to 1.5 million signatures the petition attracted, 1,294,188 were legitimate. That’s still more than the 1 million milestone that it needed to cross in order to be discussed at the European Commission.

Germany was the biggest contributor to the petition, with 233,180 people signing, while second place went to France, with 145,239 signing the petition.

“Things are moving quite fast right now, and we’ve decided to share the final count with you ahead of schedule,” Katzner wrote.

“Originally, this wasn’t possible due to certain background limitations, and our plan was to wait until shortly before our next meeting with the EU Commission.”

Katzner also replied to another user discussing the number of signatures that were rejected, saying that the Stop Killing Games petition was one of the most successful on the European Citizens Initiative platform.

“I’d say we’re definitely in the top three when it comes to low rates of failed signatures,” they said.

“We’re sitting at around 10%, while the best-performing initiatives tend to fall in the 10–15% range, which puts us firmly in the upper bracket. Some initiatives see failure rates as high as 20–25% and still manage to get over the line, but it’s worth noting that the overall sample size is quite small, only 11 initiatives.”

Stop Killing Games started in 2024 following Ubisoft shutting down its online racing game, The Crew, which launched ten years prior. By July 2025, the initiative had attracted 1.2 million votes, as well as a response from trade body Video Games Europe.

“We appreciate the passion of our community; however, the decision to discontinue online services is multi-faceted, never taken lightly, and must be an option for companies when an online experience is no longer commercially viable,” the organisation said.

“We understand that it can be disappointing for players but, when it does happen, the industry ensures that players are given fair notice of the prospective changes in compliance with local consumer protection laws.

A similar petition was launched in the United Kingdom, attracting more than 10,000 votes. The country’s government responded, saying that there is no law that forces companies to support older versions of their software.

“Consumers should be aware that there is no requirement in UK law compelling software companies and providers to support older versions of their operating systems, software or connected products,” a statement from the Department of Culture, Media & Sport read.

“There may be occasions where companies make commercial decisions based on the high running costs of maintaining older servers for video games that have declining user bases.”

Earlier this year, the managing director of PC platform GOG, Maciej Gołębiewski, said that developers and publishers might make fewer games if they are compelled to keep them online indefinitely.