California lawmakers are working on a bill to preserve access to online games - Engadget

"If made law in its current incarnation, the Protect Our Games Act would require game publishers or "digital game operators" to warn players at least 60 days in advance of when "services necessary for the ordinary use of the digital game will cease," and either offer a refund of the full purchase price of the game, a software patch that would make the game playable or a version of the game that works "independent of services controlled by the operator.""

"The law wouldn't apply to free games or games that are only accessible via a subscription. It also would only apply to titles released on or after January 1, 2027. The bill addresses a core issue of modern game ownership: no one truly owns their games, and they especially don't own them when they rely on server support from a publisher."

"Live service games might be sold as a one-time purchase, but they need an internet connection and server infrastructure to function as designed. Once a developer or publisher wants to stop maintaining that infrastructure, the game is effectively dead, and in the case of Ubisoft's open-world racing game , delisted from stores and removed from players' game libraries."

"Responding to the deletion of The Crew was part of the reason Stop Killing Games was created in the first place. The bill, which was introduced as the "Protect Our Games Act," is particularly notable because Stop Killing Games, a games preservation group pushing for similar protections in the EU and UK, advised on its creation."

The Protect Our Games Act would move through the California State Assembly toward becoming law. The bill would require game publishers or “digital game operators” to give players at least 60 days’ notice before services needed for ordinary use of a digital game cease. Operators would then have to provide one of several remedies: a full refund, a software patch that keeps the game playable, or a version that works independently of services controlled by the operator. The requirements would not apply to free games or games accessible only through subscriptions. Coverage would begin for titles released on or after January 1, 2027. The bill targets the problem that modern games often depend on publisher-controlled servers, making them effectively unusable when support ends.

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