Key points
- Ross Scott (Accursed Farms) launched the Stop Killing Games campaign in 2023 after Ubisoft announced it would shut down The Crew permanently
- The initiative aims to protect consumer access to games after publishers withdraw support
- Petitions in both the UK and EU are nearing their deadlines: July 14 (UK) and July 3 (EU)
- Despite wide support, the EU Citizens’ Initiative remains short of its 1 million-signature target
- Scott plans to step away from campaigning after July, citing burnout and financial strain
Campaign to preserve games faces critical deadline
With less than a month remaining, the Stop Killing Games initiative launched by YouTuber and gaming advocate Ross Scott is approaching its final deadline. The campaign, which seeks to protect players’ access to games even after publishers shut down their servers, was sparked by Ubisoft’s decision to permanently disable The Crew in 2023.
Scott, known online as Accursed Farms, has spent the past year rallying public and political support. Despite media attention and significant effort, the campaign's key goal, a European Citizens’ Initiative reaching one million signatures, remains unmet.
Two major deadlines loom: 3 July for the EU initiative and 14 July for the UK parliamentary petition. With time running out, Scott has signalled he will step away from leading any further campaigns.
A fight against silent erasure
The heart of Scott’s campaign is simple: digital games should not disappear without a clear warning or alternative access. He argues current laws are inadequate, sometimes contradictory, and often ignore consumer expectations. “The law wasn't written for this situation,” he explains. “The industry's terms might possibly be illegal… traditional expectations are that games last indefinitely.”
Scott stresses that the campaign does not demand publishers support games forever, but rather that end-of-life plans and clear communication be required. He believes hitting the one million-signature mark would give regulators a clear mandate to act.
“If we had rolled up with 1 million signatures… that would've been the easy way out for regulators,” Scott said. But as of now, the petition sits at just under half a million.
Awareness vs action
Despite the initiative being one of the most popular active EU Citizens’ Initiatives for much of the past year, progress has slowed. “The problem isn’t getting gamers to care about games; it’s getting people to care about anything,” Scott remarked.
He has worked tirelessly—often 12 to 14 hours a day—on outreach, media appearances, and community engagement. But significant obstacles have stood in the way, including bans on political advertising on YouTube and Twitch in many EU countries, as well as the complexities of working across languages and legal systems.
“I kept hoping someone with more reach and better ad campaigning could just point people to the destination and get it done,” he said, noting that his limitations in marketing, fundraising, and legal planning made the role unsustainable.
Online criticism and internal conflict
In a recent video, Scott also addressed criticism from fellow content creator PirateSoftware (Thor), who he says misrepresented the initiative. Scott spent a significant portion of the video refuting claims that the campaign demanded indefinite game support or only applied to single-player titles.
“It was written on the website from day one,” he said in frustration. “I must’ve said this 100 times now.”
What happens after July?
Whether or not the EU petition succeeds, Scott is stepping back. “No way am I going to spearhead something like this again,” he said. “I took it to the best of my ability. That wasn’t good enough.” He added that the campaign had affected his income and that he now needed to focus on more sustainable work.
- YouTubeYouTube/ Accursed Farms
While he may still assist others behind the scenes, Scott has no plans to lead another full-scale initiative.
Still, he remains realistic about what success might mean. Even if the petition triggers action, it’s unlikely to be simple. He predicts that some games currently “on death row” could be shut down early, but new protections would prevent the same fate for future titles.
A broken system and a final appeal
Scott believes the industry has quietly normalised the removal of digital purchases without public consent. “Nobody voted on this. Companies just started taking away your purchases, nobody stopped them, and it slowly got normalised,” he said. “It felt like a coup.”
He concluded his video with a blunt reflection on the process: “It’s stupid that we didn’t have clear laws on this to begin with… that me, a chump YouTuber, was the one spearheading this.”
Still, despite his exhaustion and the uphill battle, Scott is encouraging those who support the cause to take action before the final deadline.
To learn more or sign the petition before it closes, visit Stop Killing Games. EU residents can sign the European Citizens’ Initiative until 3 July, and UK residents can support the parliamentary petition until 14 July.
