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Stop Killing Games

(www.stopkillinggames.com)
253 points MYEUHD | 2 comments | 02 Jul 25 16:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.514s | source
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butlike ◴[02 Jul 25 17:07 UTC] No.44446179[source]▶
I wholeheartedly agree with this. Add an expiration date on the "box" (I dunno what you call it in modern times):

"Online-only: This game will be playable until 2028-06-30"

This forces the publisher to put their money where their mouth is. If the game is successful, like WoW, by all means extend the time it's playable for. If it 'flops', you're on the hook to support it for 3 years, since you shouldn't be putting out made-to-fail slop.

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omoikane ◴[02 Jul 25 17:25 UTC] No.44446396[source]▶
I think having expiration dates is very reasonable and I wish their FAQ would cover this. Current FAQ entries seem to suggest companies must make the games playable forever, and suggest this is somehow possible without ongoing support or divulging intellectual property. I am not sure this is always possible to satisfy in the most general sense.

https://www.stopkillinggames.com/faq

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1. s1gsegv ◴[02 Jul 25 17:57 UTC] No.44446830[source]▶
Yes, I suggest they divulge the intellectual property. Games are an art form similar to paintings or music, and we as a society should be able to experience previous art.

Keep the IP while you run the servers and sell the game, when you are no longer interested in running the servers, drop a tarball of code. It doesn’t need to be simple, it just needs to be possible and complete. The community can take care of it. If the IP is valuable, then you have your incentive to keep the game playable until it isn’t valuable to you.

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2. butlike ◴[03 Jul 25 15:55 UTC] No.44456323[source]▶
There can be a lot of interwoven licensing with games. fmod, speedtree, SDK terms, music... you can't just open source it in most cases and call it good.