Stop Killing Games

The "Stop Killing Games" movement is making progress with the advancement of California AB 1921, a bill designed to stop developers from permanently bricking games when they shut down their servers. If you're a gamer who has watched a $70 purchase turn into a useless desktop icon overnight, you're entirely justified in your outrage. Having a software developer reach into your home and break your own software is a profound violation of trust. But as the movement gains momentum, it's becoming clear that they're aiming at the wrong target. Right now, advocates are treating game preservation purely as a consumer rights issue. They're lobbying for laws that force developers to build offline modes, issue final server patches, or offer refunds. This is fundamentally treating a symptom while ignoring the disease. The real problem isn't that developers are "killing games" - it's that they have the unquestioned, systemic power to do so in the first place. What gamers are actually experiencing…