Europe – the Havana of gaming?

The petition “Stop Killing Games”, which has gathered over one million signatures, aims high. But could it unintentionally trap Europe in a kind of digital open-air museum? Could protecting gamers’ rights end up sidelining the EU’s gaming market altogether?

What started with the shutdown of one racing game’s servers might reshape the entire continent’s digital landscape. In 2024, when Ubisoft pulled the plug on The Crew — a popular 2014 title with 12 million players at its peak — it sparked outrage among fans. Feeling ignored by the publisher, gamers launched the Stop Killing Games campaign, demanding that developers shouldn’t be allowed to simply delete their products from existence.

The campaign grew into a formal EU citizens’ initiative. Once it passed the one million signatures threshold, the European Commission and the European Parliament were required to address its demands within the upcoming Digital Fairness Act. But is the EU’s response going to cost more than the problem itself?

Regulatory overkill: more bureaucracy, fewer games

If publishers were forced to ensure games never die, it would trigger an avalanche of EU-level bureaucracy. Every new title would need regulatory assessments, legal reviews, and “digital immortality” compliance checks.

For big publishers like Ubisoft, with annual revenues over €2 billion, this is just another line in the budget. But for thousands of small and mid-sized developers — the real creative heart of the industry — this could be a warning sign: Europe is becoming a high-risk zone.

Europe on the digital sidelines

Supporters of strict rules argue that Europe’s market is too big to ignore. But is that really true today?

Only three EU countries rank among the world’s top ten gaming markets. Overall, Europe is third globally — behind the US and China. Meanwhile, Asia is booming, with faster growth, more gamers, and heavier investment.

In that context, overregulation could turn Europe into a secondary market — a place that looks charmingly nostalgic, but no longer sets the tone. A kind of Havana of gaming: pretty, but stuck in the past.

The so-called “Brussels effect” — where EU rules shape global standards — may not apply here. In gaming and tech, the real rule-makers are in the US and China.

Between utopia and reality

The Stop Killing Games petition highlights a real tension: consumer rights versus intellectual property in the digital world.

But if the EU’s answer is to force developers into unlimited obligations, the outcome could backfire. European gamers might find themselves cut off from global titles, watching from the sidelines.

Instead of building a digital Eldorado, Europe could end up with a digital ruin — romantic, nostalgic, and beautifully outdated. Like the classic cars in Havana: photogenic, but no longer practical.