UK government says there’s no legal requirement for games to remain playable

The UK government has said that games companies have “no legal requirement in UK law compelling [them] to support older products.”

This comes in response to the Stop Killing Games campaign, which saw a petition calling for provisions in UK law to protect older games, reach 10,000 signatures.

A statement from the Department of Culture, Media & Sport reads:

“Consumers should be aware that there is no requirement in UK law compelling software companies and providers to support older versions of their operating systems, software or connected products.

“There may be occasions where companies make commercial decisions based on the high running costs of maintaining older servers for video games that have declining user bases.”

The DCMS did state however that all companies operating in the UK are still beholden to consumer law.

“If consumers are led to believe that a game will remain playable indefinitely for certain systems, despite the end of physical support, the [Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008] may require that the game remains technically feasible (for example, available offline) to play under those circumstances.”

In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, a representative from the Stop Killing Games group said that it will be contacting a lawyer to investigate the legality of this practice in territories around the world.

The petition is still ongoing. It currently has 23,001 signatures at the time of writing. Should it reach 100,000, it will be considered for parliamentary debate.