The California State Assembly has passed the ‘AB 1921′ bill, also known as the Protect Our Games Act, which is centered on protecting consumer rights as detailed by the Stop Killing Games movement. The bill passed the State Assembly floor vote by 43 to 16.
The movement was originally motivated by Ubisoft’s decision to shut down The Crew’s servers last March, preventing access to both multiplayer and single-player modes as the game had an “always online” nature. Adding to this, more controversy followed when Ubisoft began revoking customers’ licenses to the game, permanently removing it from their libraries and preventing hopes or resurrecting it through private servers.
The consumer-driven initiative is now demanding game publishers leave their titles playable once support is terminated. The proposed consumer protection law would ensure either offline versions of games or refunds at end-of-service would be available. It’s caused some consternation across the industry, with EU trade body Video Games Europe – which represents the likes of Ubisoft, Take-Two, Warner Bros., Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, and Nintendo – insisting the initiative’s proposals would make games “prohibitively expensive to create”.
Since the bill has passed the floor vote, it has now moved to the California State Senate, where it’ll need a much wider public support to progress. If it moves into law, it will “require video game companies to give players advance notice before shutting down server-dependent games and provide a way to keep purchased games playable afterward, such as offline access, community servers, or another workable option”. From what I have read, the advance notice is 60 days.
Pushing back against the bill, the ESA – the organisation that used to host the E3 annual conference – previously said: “Many games depend on evolving technology, licensed content, and online systems that change over time.
What are your thoughts? Should games live long after support has ended for them? I say so!
Author: HLX Typhon 7