Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader dev Owlcat comes out swinging in support of Stop Killing Games: 'Every player deserves lasting access to what they’ve paid for'

A white anthropomorphic fox wields a Stop Killing Games petition. — (Image credit: Owlcat)

Stop Killing Games' quest to get publishers to, get this, stop killing games trundles on. In fact, things are going quite well: the campaign's EU initiative recently hit the 1.4 million signatures milestone, which should be enough—fingers crossed—to get it over the hurdle and off to the European Commission, which will have six months to reply to it.

All that gathering momentum has attracted attention. On the one hand, you've got people like Ubi boss Yves Guillemot cautiously opining that "nothing lasts forever." Of course, he probably would be iffy on it—the inciting event for Stop Killing Games as a whole was Ubisoft's shutdown of The Crew.

"We're committed to great experiences—no matter how long it’s been since a game’s release," says the developer. "Every player deserves lasting access to what they’ve paid for." It then links to the official Stop Killing Games website with an invite to learn more.

We're committed to great experiences — no matter how long it’s been since a game’s release. Every player deserves lasting access to what they’ve paid for. Learn more about the Stop Killing Games initiative and share your thoughts. stopkillinggames.com
— @owlcatgames.bsky.social (@owlcatgames.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T15:14:43.585Z

And hey, I find myself in favour of what the SKG campaign is pushing for, which isn't about keeping publishers pouring money into underloved projects so much as it is about getting them to turn unmaintained games over to their communities, so I'm glad to see it too. Still, you gotta admit it is pretty easy for a studio whose speciality is meaty singleplayer CRPGs to come out in favour of live-service thingummies continuing in perpetuity. It's very much not Owlcat's problem.

Anyway, I think this is a good sign for the SKG campaign. Not necessarily that it has the support of this or that studio, but that it's become too big for so many studios to not have an opinion on. When it comes time for the European Commission to pore over the details, perhaps the campaign's obvious impact will tip the balance in its favour a little.

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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