European Pirates endorse citizens’ initiative to protect gamers rights

European Pirates endorse citizens’ initiative to protect gamers rights

The European Pirate Party endorses the ‘Stop Destroying Videogames’ European Citizens’ Initiative as the first European political party to do so, and calls on everyone to sign and support it!

Stop Destroying Videogames seeks to require publishers that sell or license video games to consumers in the European Union to leave them in a playable state. Today publishers are shutting down and disabling games when it suits them, relying on obscure paragraphs in the licensing agreements people are made to accept when they purchase the product.

“We as Pirates always opposed gate-keeping of online pieces of culture, when they are valued and shared across communities and can be kept alive by the public,” says Markéta Gregorová, Member of the European Parliament, representing the European Pirates. “I signed this initiative, as a gamer myself, and hope that the will of the people will make the game developing companies see what their customers want.”

For the European Commission to respond to this issue, the European Citizens’ Initiative needs to collect 1,2 million signatures across Europe by the end of July 2025. It has collected over 400.000 signatures since its launch in August 2024.

The spark that lit the initiative was the decision by the French computer game manufacturer Ubisoft to make the racing game ‘The Crew’ unusable as of April 2024. The game had been sold to consumers up until December 2023. But this problem has been around for much longer, and extends far beyond games. The initiative is organized by the Stop Killing Games community, who has already collected a third of the required signatures on volunteer promotion and word of mouth alone.

“People who learn about the initiative almost always sign it” says Damian Marcinczyk, ECI Organizer for Stop Killing Games. “We are thrilled that the European Pirates have decided to endorse the initiative and help us spread the word!”

Stop Killing Games organizers are available for interviews and podcasts in English and all EU languages; Stop Killing Games also provides a news service with a continuous stream of news related to the initiative. Members of the media, content creators, and other interested persons can reach out via the contact emails listed below.

Information about the ECI: https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2024/000007_en
Sign the ECI: https://eci.ec.europa.eu/045/public
Stop Killing Games Campaign page: https://www.stopkillinggames.com/

Contacts:

Marketa Gregorová, Member of the European Parliament, markéta.gregorova@europarl.europa.eu
Mattias Bjärnemalm, Pirate Parties Network Officer, mattias.bjarnemalm@europarl.europa.eu
Damian Marcinczyk, ECI Organizer, damianstopkillinggames@gmail.com