The "Stop Killing Gaming" petition has officially received 1.4 million signatures, far more than the number of signatures required for its appeal to be considered. The previous goal was to collect 1 million signatures, a number the petition reached on July 3. Even the Vice President of the European Parliament has since signed the petition and expressed support for the movement on social media. However, that hasn't stopped several industry veterans, including Ubisoft's co-founder, from criticizing the movement.
While the petition was indirectly prompted by the removal of games like The Crew, Ubisoft is far from the only industry giant to make its own online games unplayable. EA has shut down dozens of games in the past two years alone, and the practice continues, as evidenced by its recent decision to remove EA Sports FC 24, a football game scheduled for release in 2023. The success of Stop Killing Gaming shows that, at least in Europe, gamers are frustrated with publishers who make such decisions and ignore potential solutions (such as player-hosted servers, etc.).
In this day and age, sometimes removing a video game from its digital store can render it unplayable. This has been an issue since the dawn of online gaming, but with companies like Entergram suddenly removing over 100 games from the PlayStation Store, it's clearly become a growing concern for many gamers. If the Stop Killing Gaming petition succeeds in persuading the European Parliament to make changes, it could prompt new laws across the EU to stop video game publishers from removing their games. That being said, there has been no formal announcement as to what specific actions will be taken if the petition is successful.