The Stop Killing Games movement has notched a significant win in California. AB-1921, the Protect Our Games Act, has passed the California State Assembly and will now move on to the state senate, where it is expected to be debated in committee during June.
The bill was announced on the Stop Killing Games YouTube channel by California State Assembly Member Chris Ward, the legislation’s champion. Its core requirements are straightforward: game companies must give players 60 days’ notice before shutting down a server-dependent game. Upon doing so, they would be required to provide a method for keeping the game playable, whether through an offline mode or support for fan-hosted servers. If neither option is feasible, a refund to buyers would be mandatory.
The scope of the bill is deliberately focused. It covers online games that players paid for outright. Free-to-play titles, subscription-based games, and games that already function offline are all excluded.
The catalyst for Stop Killing Games pushing into the American legislative arena was Ubisoft’s decision to pull The Crew from its servers, rendering the game completely unplayable for everyone who had purchased it. That case became something of a rallying point, illustrating in concrete terms what it means to sell a game as a product and then revoke access to it entirely.
The bill still has a distance to travel. After the senate committee debate in June, it would need to pass the full senate before reaching the Governor of California, who can sign or reject it. A two-thirds majority in both chambers could override a veto if it came to that.
The movement is also making progress in Europe. In May 2026, a representative of the European Commission indicated that an official response to the European Stop Killing Games petition would arrive before summer, with backing from some members of the European Parliament. The European publishing group Video Games Europe has pushed back, arguing that requirements of this kind could make live-service game development prohibitively expensive.
Whether either effort ultimately becomes law remains an open question, but the California assembly vote is the clearest legislative progress the movement has seen anywhere in the world.
Source: Stop Killing Games
