Ubisoft is not going to stop removing games even if players are outraged. The studio’s boss Yves Guillemot responded to the Stop Killing Games petition, which was signed by more than 1.4 million people.
His words are quite cautious but direct: yes, games will disappear. Here is the response to the petition Stop Killing Gameswhich calls for a ban on disabling purchased video games without the ability to play them offline. That is, publishers should support games even after the termination of online services. The petition managed to collect the required number of signatures just 10 days before the end of the campaign. The initiative now proceeds to the next stage of consideration in the EU structures.
The reaction of one of the largest European publishers, Ubisoft, was not long in coming. Back on July 10, the studio’s boss avoided a direct answer as to whether he supported the initiative, but now he has indicated that nothing lasts forever.
«You provide a service, but nothing is written in stone and at some point the service may be discontinued», — says Yves Guimot.
According to him, Ubisoft «does everything possible» to minimize such cases. But he admits that it is physically impossible to support all games indefinitely —. During that meeting on July 10, special attention was paid to The Crew, which Ubisoft completely shut down in early 2024. The scandal started with them, as people were outraged that with the closure of the services, access to the game disappeared. However, when purchasing, users do not expect a subscription, but rather ownership of a copy.
It is not yet known how the Stop Killing Games saga will end, but the case should be considered by «above». If players are lucky, the EU may change the rules for the entire gaming industry. Perhaps companies will be obliged to either leave access to games without servers or not remove them from sale. However, a decision in favor of gamers — is not a guarantee
At the same time, the EU recognizes that such reforms can have a global effect. A decision made within one market may affect the approaches of publishers in the US, Canada, or the UK, simply because of the desire to unify production.
In recent years, Ubisoft itself has often been under fire from critics. The company has been repeatedly accused of closing games without alternatives, a toxic corporate culture, and harassment scandals. In July 2025, three of its former managers were sentenced to suspended sentences for sexual and psychological abuse. And all of this against the background of a far from ideal share price Company, sale of a stake to Chinese Tencent and the situation with nepotism, which was nicknamed «family succession». Both statements were ambiguous: Ubisoft boss shifted the responsibility for poor sales of Star Wars Outlaws to «Star Wars»
Source: Games Industry / Si.com
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