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Stop Killing Games

(www.stopkillinggames.com)
253 points MYEUHD | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.198s | source
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hombre_fatal ◴[] No.44446623[source]
The obvious case where this makes sense are single-player games that require internet access before they even launch, like when you need to link a Microsoft account to play Forza.

But it's less obvious to me how the legislation should work for a multiplayer-only game that goes out of business. I suppose it should require a refund at some point. But at what point?

Steam only lets you refund a game that you played for less than two hours.

And if you think that's not long enough, there's surely some time period where you can agree that you've got your money's worth. Kind of like how you lose the ability to say "I didn't like it" after you ate your whole dinner at a restaurant.

Yet in the comments here someone gives an example of three years of online support which is insane. Why is multiplayer special? Should Steam also let you refund any game until three years elapse?

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1. ffsm8 ◴[] No.44446987[source]
The points you're raising would be valid if they weren't complete straw men.

Publishers aren't required to keep servers up, nor do they need to release the server binaries/code. It just demands that the publisher thinks about the end of life for their game. A great way to do that for online games would be to publish the server, definitely... But it's not required.

These kinds of gotchas and knowitall armchair analysis is way too premature. This isn't an actual legal document, it's a draft that would then become a legal document.