Ars Live: Confronting Publishers Who Kill Their Own Games
During an Ars Live chat, Stop Killing Games founder Ross Scott detailed how publishers make games unplayable and how planning can preserve them.
This week's Ars Live discussion brought together Ross Scott, founder of the Stop Killing Games movement, and Ars Technica's senior gaming editor Kyle Orland to talk about the growing problem of video games becoming unplayable when publishers shut down their servers. Scott said the situation has been unacceptable for more than a decade. He explained that he had been waiting for someone with more expertise to step up, but when no one did, he felt compelled to start the movement himself.
Scott argued that the way game publishers disable titles without a clear timeline would be unthinkable in other industries. A product warranty or insurance policy that doesn't state its expiration date would likely violate consumer protection laws. According to him, publishers should be required to communicate shutdown plans well in advance.
On the technical side, Scott noted that if a game is designed with its eventual shutdown in mind, making it playable through third-party servers can be very cost-effective. He pointed out that most online-only games already have local test environments, since development cannot stop during server outages or maintenance. Having such an environment available is already a significant step forward.
Scott also expressed disappointment with how the European Parliament has dealt with the issue so far, but he remains optimistic that action will be taken in the near future.
