Stop Killing Games Is Launching Two Official NGOs in the EU and the US

Ross Scott and stop killing games.

The Stop Killing Games campaign is moving beyond petitions by launching two separate NGOs, one in the European Union and one in the United States.

Ross Scott, the YouTuber who started the movement back in 2024 after Ubisoft shut down The Crew, announced this development in a recent video.

What began as frustration over a single game being killed has grown into something much larger. The campaign collected 1.3 million verified signatures on its petition, which was enough to mandate consideration by the European Union. Now, it is moving into formal political territory with the launch of these NGOs.

An NGO, or non-governmental organization, is essentially an independent group that pursues specific goals outside of any government structure. Think Oxfam, Amnesty International, or Doctors Without Borders. Soon, Stop Killing Games will be part of that same category, focused on a very specific problem: publishers selling games to customers and then killing them without refunds or alternatives.

Scott was upfront about his mixed feelings regarding how impactful these NGOs might be, but he pointed out the clear advantages they bring. "The first is this will allow us to do long-term counter lobbying on this issue," he explained.

"We're hoping to get the Citizens Initiative passed or added to the Digital Fairness Act, but if those fail, there's still the possibility of being added to the Digital Content Directive revision. We're trying to find a way in any way we can."

The second advantage is persistence. One of the more underrated aspects of political lobbying is simply showing up repeatedly. An NGO creates a structure that guarantees continued presence, even if Scott himself eventually steps back. "I mean, I might [go away]. I've been at this for over a decade, but the movement isn't."

Heading up the EU-side NGO is Moritz Katzner, a German political operative who joined the movement in 2025. Scott spoke highly of him, saying that Katzner has done as much for the movement in the political sphere as Scott himself did in building the campaign from the ground up. Katzner is also advising the US NGO, and according to Scott, he has already flown to Washington D.C. to get the legislative process moving across multiple states.

Yes, the United States is apparently ahead of the EU in terms of drafting actual legislation on this issue. Scott admitted that surprised even him. He remains skeptical about the odds of major reform in the US, noting that the legal foundation that exists in the EU simply is not present in American consumer law. Still, he said he would love to be proven wrong.

On the EU front, the news is more encouraging, though complicated. According to Scott, the campaign has built majority support in the European Parliament, and the issue is in a solid position to be brought before parliament and passed. There are further steps beyond that, but reaching majority support is a meaningful milestone.

However, the meeting with the EU Commission is a different story. An earlier closed meeting in October felt, as Scott described it secondhand, like the commission had been briefed with talking points straight from the gaming industry. The commission expressed concerns about whether the initiative would burden small developers and indie creators, though Scott pushed back on that firmly.

He pointed to Nelson Sexton, who built the online game Unturned at just 16 years old with 24 million players, and who already had private server support in place. "A 16-year-old was able to figure out how to do this in 2014, but major publishers worth billions just keep struggling with this concept," Scott noted.

The upcoming meeting with the EU Commission is set for February 23, 2026.

The legal backing for the campaign continues to grow stronger as well. Law professor Alberto Hidalgo Cerezo from the University of San Pablo, who holds the Madrid Lawyers Bar Award in international and European Union law, has been working on a 500-page legal study on the issue. As per his assessment, the practice of selling a game with no stated time limit and then permanently disabling it constitutes a breach of objective conformity under EU Directive 2019/770. He also flagged potential violations of Articles 17 and 38 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Looking at the bigger picture, both NGOs are reportedly exploring the idea of building a global movement. According to Scott, talks are already underway about giving Stop Killing Games a presence in other regions, potentially including follow-ups on consumer actions in Australia and even revisiting legal avenues in Brazil that were attempted earlier.

Poland is already progressing with pro-consumer legislation on this issue, with strong support from both the government and the major opposition party.

As for Scott himself, his role will gradually shift to a more advisory one. He described his position going forward as handing off a baton in a relay race.