Nicolae Ștefănuță, one of the sitting Vice Presidents of the European Parliament, posted a call to action on Instagram urging Europeans to sign the Stop Killing Games petition.
The topic of games being shut down permanently has been a hotly contested one, with Video Games Europe and creators like Pirate Software voicing potential issues with legislature against sunsetting games. However, talks online have been positive on SKG’s mission statement for the most part, and now politicians are getting involved directly.
Nicolae Ștefănuță, a Vice President of the European Parliament hailing from Romania, is actively advocating for the movement on social media. And, though that doesn’t mean that this petition is guaranteed to make it in front of the parliament, it does increase the chances of it happening.
Stop Killing Games picks up support from EU government
Due to the nature of European lawmaking, in order for a petition like Stop Killing Games to get the genuine attention of legislators and result in real change, it has to get over a million signatures from people who live in Europe. No amount of attention from people outside the union will affect it.
As a result, the petition hitting its goal amount of signatures doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed to be acknowledged by parliament, and those who support it are doing everything they can to get as many signatures on the petition as possible.
Now, in a major win for SKG, Nicolae Ștefănuță has voiced his support on Instagram. He put his money where his mouth is by signing the petition, and he’s given his direct commendation to those who started it.
“I stand with the people who started this citizen initiative. I signed and will continue to help them. A game, once sold, belongs to the customer, not the company,” he said.
And, despite concerns from lobbies formed by game companies that claim the process of preserving games could incur grave development costs, he believes that the consumer should come first and that the product they bought should be permanent.
However, it’s worth noting that his support doesn’t mean that any legislature is guaranteed. The road to regulation is a long one, but it’s a big step in the right direction for people who are hopeful this campaign will succeed.
