A California bill aimed at preventing games from being "decommissioned" after server shutdowns is becoming the front line of a global player rights movement in the United States, and the gaming industry's most powerful lobbying organization, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), has publicly sided with the opposition. The bill, codenamed AB 1921, would require publishers to provide remedial measures to players before ceasing online services, otherwise they must not directly turn sold games into "bricks."
AB 1921's core requirements include that developers notify all paying customers at least 60 days before shutting down servers; cease sales of affected games during those 60 days; and provide players with refunds or a way to continue playing after a server shutdown, such as an offline mode, private dedicated servers, or similar alternatives. Free-to-play and subscription-based games are not covered by the bill, and the rules only apply to one-time buyout titles released after January 1, 2027.
The driving force behind this legislation is the rights protection group "Stop Killing Games" (SKG), which has become rapidly popular among European and American players in the past two years. Its demand is to ensure that purchased games remain playable after the official termination of services. However, the ESA said in a public statement and in an interview with US TV station ABC10 that AB 1921 "misunderstands how modern games are built", claiming that requiring games to be "permanently playable" is not technically feasible and will lead to fewer games and slower innovation. The ESA also cited existing California jurisprudence, emphasizing that digital game purchasers obtain a "license" rather than ownership, implying that players do not enjoy the right to "perpetual playability."
SKG responded quickly, criticizing ESA for misinterpreting the intent of the bill. The organization reiterated that the bill does not require manufacturers to operate official servers permanently, but requires that games must still exist in some functional state after the official service is stopped, such as providing a local offline mode or allowing players to build their own servers. This is in line with SKG's position when it rebutted European industry group Video Games Europe last year.
On the issue of "copyright expiration", the differences between the two sides are equally obvious. ESA believes that some games can no longer be sold due to the expiration of their licensing agreements. In this case, it is difficult to continue to provide support for old games. SKG countered that even if it cannot continue to be sold to the outside world, users who have already purchased the game should not be affected. Microsoft's racing game "Forza Horizon 4" is regarded as a typical case: due to the expiration of the vehicle license, the game was removed from the shelves and discontinued in 2024, but existing players can still download and play it in full.
The advancement of California’s AB 1921 is inseparable from SKG’s recent actions at the European level. In April this year, SKG was invited to attend a relevant committee hearing of the European Parliament and brought the real-name signatures of more than one million European players to petition the EU to formulate similar regulations to protect the rights of players after the "end of life" of digital games. The European Union is currently evaluating its own version of the rules, which has extended the movement around "Stop Killing Games" from social platforms and community petitions to transatlantic legislative battles.
The founder of SKG is the well-known YouTuber Ross Scott, who officially founded the organization in 2024. The trigger was French publisher Ubisoft's decision to shut down the servers of the racing game "The Crew," a move that left more than 12 million players who purchased physical or digital versions of the game collectively without access to the game. At the time, Ubisoft said that players should get used to "not really owning the game" and lamented that "nothing lasts forever." Today, this service shutdown has triggered a lawsuit from consumer groups in France. Ubisoft has promised that future new games will include an offline mode to alleviate players' concerns about being "forced to be scrapped."
With the advancement of the California bill and the brewing of EU legislation, the debate surrounding "whether digital games can end well" is moving from the player community to the policy-making level. On one side are activist organizations and player groups that advocate that consumers have the right to continue playing purchased games after servers are shut down. On the other side are industry associations and publishers that emphasize the limitations of technology, licensing, and business models. Whether AB 1921 can be passed despite the opposition of the ESA may become one of the key indicators of the direction of this global controversy.