Despite the sour note left by the European Commission’s decision regarding the “Stop Killing Games” initiative, many gamers and consumers now see the EU as the only entity capable of halting Sony’s plan to phase out physical games by 2028. They fear this shift will give the PlayStation parent company absolute control over the digital licenses for the games, movies, and media it hosts – and we consume.
This is not just a video game issue. It is a consumer rights and cultural access issue. Volt Europa is fully aligned with these principles, alongside the defense of the right to cultural property, as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
No to techno-feudalism!
Software publishers must not have the right to unilaterally and permanently deactivate products for which consumers have already paid for. For Volt, when you buy a game, you are purchasing a product, not merely a license that can be revoked at any moment.
We are profoundly disappointed by the response from Michael McGrath, the EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law, and Consumer Protection. He stated that the EU cannot legally compel companies to keep servers active indefinitely or manufacture physical media – speaking as though his hands are tied and the Commission is entirely powerless to regulate these corporate practices.
The Commissioner’s answer is depressing, especially given that some of these corporate practices already challenge laws that are currently in place across our Union.
Let’s call this what it is: corporate deception. Right now, gaming giants are exploiting consumers through hostile market practices: subjecting players to sudden, unannounced digital rug-pulls, locking them out of fully paid-for games and wiping media libraries. This directly violates the EU’s Consumer Rights Directive, which mandates transparent terms.
Worse, they rely on blatantly misleading ownership claims, trapping buyers with dishonest “Buy” or “Own” buttons on digital storefronts for products they know they can revoke at any time. These companies routinely ignore legal warranty windows under the Digital Content Directive. Pocketing €70 for a new release only to shutter its servers months later is a bad-faith breach of contract that entitles players to full refunds.
This isn’t just poor customer service – it is a systematic, law-bending assault on consumer ownership. The EU created these laws, and the EU must enforce them and hold violators accountable. If lawmakers can regulate complex tech industries, surely they can address this simpler case: allowing consumers to download their games and providing a clear answer to the question, “How can I keep the game I paid for when the servers go dark?”
What can we do?
Volt will work to integrate video game preservation requirements into the upcoming Digital Fairness Act, alongside developing a comprehensive code of conduct for the “end-of-life” management of video games.
Defeating this Final Boss requires working together, and there are two ways you can join us.
First, let’s summon our allies. To secure consumer access to games and combat the arbitrary control of digital licensing, as citizens we can – and should – act collectively alongside our elected representatives and do the following:
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Support lobbying and advocacy in the European Parliament: As activists and allied MEPs target the European Parliament, citizens need to engage directly with their MEPs to urge them to amend the Digital Fairness Act, securing firm protections against arbitrary game shutdowns.
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Report abuses to consumer rights organizations: if you lose access to a purchased game without adequate prior warning or before the timeframe stipulated in your contract, report it immediately to your national consumer authority (such as DECO Proteste in Portugal) or to European networks like BEUC, The European Consumer Organization. This equips the respective legal teams with the evidence needed to demand refunds for transparency breaches.
Second, of course, is to join the one true European party and become a member of Volt Europa 💜 https://volt.team/simple-join/en
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