Stop Killing Games gains traction with EU parliament official - 'A game, once sold, belongs to the customer, not the company'

The Stop Killing Games movement has continued on its recent win streak — previously surpassing the 1-million-signature mark needed for the EU Citizen's Initiative petition to be considered by the EU parliament — with the EU Parliament Vice President and Greens/EFA group MEP for Romania, Nicolae Ștefănuță, voicing his support for the movement. In a recent post to the politician's Instagram account, he said: 

"I stand with the people who started this citizen initiative. I signed and will continue to help them. A game, once sold, belongs to the customer, not the company." – Nicolae Ștefănuță via Stop Killing Games Official on X (translated)

The politician went on to say that he had signed the petition and was encouraging other EU residents to do the same. The petition has thus far reached over 1,358,605 signatures, overshooting the 1 million signature goal by 35% ahead of the July 31 deadline. 

The main proponent and de facto leader of the Stop Killing Games movement, Ross Scott of the Accursed Farms YouTube channel, has previously mentioned that one of the reasons SKG is pushing so hard with politicians in the EU is because the EU has a long reputation of passing pro-consumer laws and that video games could be an "easy win" for politicians. The implication is that, compared to the usual matters discussed by politicians and lawmakers, Video Games are largely inconsequential, but supporting the initiative could earn politicians a lot of support from gamers. 

As previously discussed, the main goal of the Stop Killing Games Movement is to force game publishers and developers to leave games in a playable state when it eventually becomes unsustainable to support them. This would likely mean designing multiplayer games in a way that allows for privately hosted servers, for example.

Support from the Vice President of the EU parliament is merely the one of the first steps in the movement's foray into the EU parliament, but the official recognition by a prominent politician is a positive sign for the success of the movement and will likely help the movement gain more traction in the EU parliament once the petition is discussed by the rest of the European Union's politicians.