Dead Games News: Response from UK Government

News on what the UK government response means on the issue of game destruction by publishers! It's not all awful, just most of it! Also, some news on how the campaign to end game destruction is going internationally. Relevant links below:

Australian Petition:

UK Petition:

Canadian Petition:

[Phase]

Submit this story to the BBC news technology department! If enough people makes a ruckus that way, the BBC themselves will reach out to relevant 3rd parties for a response. Those governmental departments may not answer to us, but they WILL answer to the BBC or any other major UK newspapers

[Nauta]

Found out Japan has a very intresting law requiring game companies to refund in game purchases when the game is taken offline. Would be nice to see that global.

[alphawolf]

The government is conflating SUPPORT with NOT KILLING THE GAME. These needs to be a clear distinction. Support includes customer service, ongoing updates, fixes, maintenance. NOT KILLING THE GAME includes designing it in a way that it can be abandoned peacefully.

[asher_chs]

I'm from the UK and have signed the petition, this morning I received this e-mail:

"The Petitions Committee (the group of MPs who oversee the petitions system) has considered the Government’s response to this petition. They felt the response did not respond directly to the request of the petition. They have therefore asked the Government to provide a revised response.

When the Committee receives a revised response from the Government, we will publish this and share it with you."

Keep the fight going <3.

[VeritasSeek]

Now things are starting to make sense- more on this later.

[PyroX]

"Self check-out law enforcement" was by design. Company's have spent trillions over the last 30 years to make the system like this in the UK and the USA. I'm thinking of two key figures in UK and American politics that opened the floodgates to this kind of crap.

[kyleshockley]

That expiration date really hits home that studios are doing everything they can to avoid telling the truth. It's not even a "Tastes great!" or "New improved formula" sort of sales pitch. It's like if food producers did everything they could to avoid printing "Best by" dates on products where the packaging keeps you from telling if it's gone bad or how long you have before it turns.

[daveasher]

New mini update came through just now:
Petitions Committee requests a revised response from the Government

The Petitions Committee (the group of MPs who oversee the petitions system) has considered the Government’s response to this petition. They felt the response did not respond directly to the request of the petition. They have therefore asked the Government to provide a revised response.

[cheater]

Hey Ross, it might be worth pinning this as relevant: the UK govt has started mandating that digital products (in this case, IoT such as smart home products, surveillance cameras, etc) NEED to have a term of expiry, a "best before" date. I think this is absolutely relevant here because the reasons for this are very similar.

[astral-p]

Just got an email from the UK Parliament website (I signed the petition) saying that the guys who QC these things have basically told the government "yeah, not good enough, chief" and told them to rewrite their response; they were basically answering the question indirectly like absolutely every politician ever. So hopefully now we'll get an ACTUAL response.

[DrCranium]

"Sue Ubisoft in UK for not providing _'The Crew'_ with an expiration date of the game on the retail box" is not something I've thought of, unsure of how it'll turn out if it'll become a precedent, and how I'll feel about it in the long run - but at least it sounds absurdly funny in the moment: a publisher gets fined for not following regulations on informing the customer like a food company which didn't print a "best before" bit on the carton of milk made and sold by it.

Hopefully, it's possible to make the fine even bigger by throwing in the charges of "planned obsolescence".

[LittleWeevil]

“But first things first: the Australian petition”
*cuts to Mad Max*

[inceant]

"SUP FOOL" is a 10/10 videogame licence plate

also i done my democromancing for the week by signing

[mc_zittrer]

It's almost like the government said 'Oh hey, this sounds an awful lot like fraud.' I'm ready to see Ross Scott's real-life Phoenix Wright spinoff.

[Solereaper]

Canada petition has already surpassed the requirement to be addressed by the government. It always looks better the more signatures there are though.

[Stevo_]

11:49 "The CRA has a time limit of up to six years _after a breach of contract_ during which a consumer can take legal action."

It is as it's said: Up to 6 years _after breaching the contract_ - not from the date you sign/agree to the contract, but the date in which the contract itself is breached.
So if you can find something in the EULA to use in a legal case, you have up to 6 years after 31/03/2024 (potentially up to 2030) for a case to be made.

[hamyman]

You are doing the world a favor Ross. Lets go!

[abigaillilac]

I'm a UK citizen and I'm glad I had the opportunity to sign your petition. Companies really do need to STOP KILLING GAMES!

[bearVshark]

As an American I’m holding up my hands to give my energy to all you foreign guys who can actually do something about this. Best of luck.

[Gulag_Edits]

If Ross appears on BBC news for a interview, I'm totally gonna watch it.