The various groups in the European Parliament called on the European Commission to propose solutions in response to the European citizens’ initiative ‘Stop Destroying Videogames’, which denounces the fact that video games become unusable after servers are shut down or online support is discontinued by publishers.
This debate, held in plenary on Thursday 21 May, focused in particular on issues such as property rights and the extension of consumer rights in the digital sector. The EPP, the ECR and Renew Europe argued for proportionate and viable solutions, while the S&D, the Greens/EFA group, The Left and ESN stressed that technical solutions exist to prevent video games from being arbitrarily destroyed for commercial reasons.
“Forcing companies to keep games operational indefinitely or to hand over server code could be one solution”, but “in many cases, this is technically or financially impossible and raises legal problems; it would mainly affect small businesses and studios”, warned Jörgen Warborn (EPP, Swedish). “If we legislate, we must take account of all types of businesses”, he stressed, while his colleague Marion Walsmann (EPP, German) called for “a legislative proposal allowing people to use their digital products for as long as they want”. “This is a question of protecting citizens’ property and ensuring fairness in the digital world”, she insisted.
Piotr Müller (ECR, Polish) advocated a “cautious” and “pragmatic” approach so as not to “fall into overregulation”, while Nikola Minchev (Renew Europe, Bulgarian) also called for “balanced solutions for consumers, publishers and game developers”, as well as for this gap to be addressed in the Digital Fairness Act.
For her part, Sandra Gómez López (S&D, Spanish) criticised the “opaque and unbalanced licences” that make it possible to deactivate video games, calling on the Commission to revise EU copyright rules this year. “In our legislation, we must guarantee that public libraries play a role in the sharing of knowledge, and video games are part of this cultural heritage”, added Tiemo Wölken (S&D, German). Leïla Chaibi (The Left, French) also called for a “public library” intended for their preservation.
“Publishers block products that we have already bought. This is a violation of consumer rights. (…) We are not suggesting that servers should be funded forever, but rather that they should be able to be hosted privately”, added Marcin Sypniewski (ESN, Polish).
Markéta Gregorová (Greens/EFA, Czech) accused the Commission of “repeating almost word for word the arguments of a handful of publishers” during the April hearing on the initiative.
Commissioner Apóstolos Tzitzikóstas, meanwhile, described the issue as “extremely” complex. The Commission will examine “how existing rules apply and whether they require further clarification”, and will present a communication in response to the ECI “before the summer”. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)