[STEAM] Ross Scott drops tons of updates on Stop Killing Games, revealing EU Commission oddities and announcing EU Parliament majority support

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Ross Scott, one of the greatest advocates for gamers' consumer rights, as well as one of the main proponents of the Stop Killing Games initiative, has shared loads of new information about the movement ahead of the organizers' meeting with the EU Commission on Feb. 23.

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, Scott revealed information about the past half a year or so, commenting on all sorts of oddities, hiccups, and hitches he and the initiative's organizers have run into since starting to collect signatures. Scott said that the EU Commission seemed primed to run against the initiative in some older meetings because it believed that the initiative's push for more regulation did not overlap with its "deregulatory agenda."

On top of that, Scott says the Commission parroted talking points that could have originated from the industry itself, such as referring to games as "living, breathing things" that get constantly updated, which would explain why, without updates, they would cease to function. The organizers countered the point by saying that phones get updates also, but do not stop working once support has ended.

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Ross said that the EU Commission leaked an article before deleting it immediately last summer, while the initiative was still collecting signatures. In the article, the Commission appeared to voice support for positions adjacent to the initiative, but only as a non-binding statement, which would prompt the industry to self-regulate instead of new legislation being drafted to enforce these rules.

Naturally, Scott voiced concerns over how the meeting will go with the EU Commission on Feb. 23, but based on what he spoke of, he doesn't seem to be convinced it'll be great.

Despite that, however, Scott also revealed that the initiative allegedly has majority support in the EU Parliament, which would be a major win for the movement. Even if it were to pass there, a lot of extra steps would need to be taken, but it would certainly be a significant step forward. In Poland, the organization has strong support from both the government and the opposition, with some other governing bodies also nominally supporting the movement.

Scott believes that Stop Killing Games is on the path to victory, no matter what happens, but that one path would be less painful than the other. He hopes that a new law will be drafted in the EU to protect gamers specifically from one malpractice, i.e., that of shutting games down indiscriminately and basically robbing players of their property (copies).

A new NGO is going to be founded to help lobby for the initiative in Europe, and a new USA-based NGO is also going to be propped up, hopefully to bring the fight to America as well.

If new legislation cannot be passed or introduced to existing frameworks, then Scott says only one thing remains: enforcing existing laws. This would turn the gaming industry into a hellscape, with lawsuits flooding every single court in every single EU member state because, as he explains, everything would have to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in each individual country.

That would take an incredibly long time, but also potentially lead to harsher punishments and stricter rules than what the initiative's more lenient approach would require. If companies like Ubisoft or other EU-based gaming giants were found in violation of decades-old laws, then the consequences could be rather dire

Be it as it may, the initiative has a tremendous amount of support in the EU and among national governments. Whether the EU Commission itself becomes a hurdle remains to be seen, but it's almost certain that the initiative is only getting started on its path to reshaping global gamer rights.

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