The Protect Our Games Act, a US bill designed to stop paid video games made unplayable after they are shut down, has reached a major milestone after having passed its initial vote.
Originally proposed by California Assemblyman Chris Ward, the bill won a vote of 43-16 after being put to a vote at the California State Assembly. As a result, it will now be passed to the State Senate to be debated and voted once more. If successful in passing this next vote, the final version of the bill will then be worked on by House and Senate members before it is submitted for final approval. Once it’s published, the President will have 10 days to sign or voto it.
The bill would see publishers legally required to give at least 60 days notice to users if it plans on shutting down a game’s severs and prevent its “ordinary use.” Furthermore, publishers will have to inform players the exact date servers will be shut down, which services won’t be provided going forward, and what game features will cease functioning. Players must also be informed how they can continue to use the game or get a refund.
Following this, publishers will be legally required to carry out one of three options below:
- Provide an alternate version of the game that “can be used by the purchaser independent of services controlled by the operator” (i.e. a version that no longer needs to connect to the server),
- Patch or update the existing game so it can continue to be playable “independent of services controlled by the operator” after the servers have been shut down, or
- Refund the player the full cost they originally paid for the game.
However, if the bill in its current form becomes law, it will only be applicable to titles released on or after January 1, 2027, and isn’t applicable to subscription games or those that are “offered to a person for no monetary consideration.”
A number of games have been shut down in recent years thus rendering them unplayable, including MultiVersus and The Crew. More recently, High Guard, the hero shooter developed by Wildlight Entertainment, was shut down just 45 days after its initial release after failing to sustain a solid player count.
[Source – VGC]