Alright, gamers — this one’s been making the rounds for a while now. If you’ve seen “Stop Killing Games” pop up on your timeline and wondered why Jason “Thor” Hall from Pirate Software is so firmly against it, even though he’s a die-hard developer and ex-Blizzard guy… yeah, you’re not alone.
Let’s break it all down.
So, first things first — what is the Stop Killing Games movement? It started as a petition led by Ross Scott (yep, the Freeman’s Mind guy), and it’s all about preventing game developers from pulling the plug on games people paid for. The goal? Push for new consumer protection laws in the EU that would stop devs from axing games at will — especially live-service titles.
Sounds fair enough, right? Who wants to pay for a game only to see it get nuked from orbit a year later?
But here’s where things get spicy: Pirate Software, aka Thor, has been very vocal against it — since day one. He’s gone on YouTube, Twitch, and social media to explain his stance, but it’s still causing a ton of confusion (and honestly, a pretty nasty wave of backlash, including threats and even a swatting incident — not cool, by the way).
So why’s he so against it? Thor’s core argument boils down to three main points:
- The petition’s demands just aren’t realistic for every game.
Think tiny dev teams, niche MMOs, or early access projects. Some just can’t afford to maintain servers forever or patch in offline modes. - It could scare devs away from making live-service games at all.
If the law forces everyone to future-proof their games, it might kill off creativity or small devs trying to do something experimental. - The wording is vague — maybe too vague.
The petition makes it sound like every game has to be preserved forever, and that, Thor says, opens up a legal can of worms. He even pointed to a blog post raising concerns about possible government overreach if this became law.
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But here’s the catch — a lot of gamers, and even big names like penguinz0 (Charles White Jr.), think Thor is misrepresenting what SKG is all about.
The real ask from SKG? It’s not “make all games playable forever” or “force live-service games into single-player mode.” According to Ross Scott, it’s about giving games a dignified end-of-life — letting players host them on private servers or spin up community patches once the devs are done. That way, people don’t lose access to what they bought, and cool games don’t just vanish.
After Thor’s comments resurfaced recently, a lot of players called him out for sounding anti-consumer — especially when he said things like:
“I think live-service games getting [shut down] is fine; I have no problem with the end of a game.”
Oof. Not great optics, especially in a time when folks are already frustrated about games getting bricked due to DRM or online-only nonsense.
That said, Thor’s not exactly backing down. He’s sticking to his guns, warning that if we rush into this without thinking through the legal and dev-side impacts, we could do more harm than good.
Meanwhile, Ross Scott came back swinging with a YouTube video of his own, basically saying:
“Thor got it wrong.”
Scott clarified that the movement is just asking for accountability — if you’re going to sell a game, you need to plan for what happens when the servers shut off. Makes sense, right?
This feud between Pirate Software and the SKG crew is still very much alive, and it’s got people on both sides digging in. Whether it helps or hurts the petition in the long run? That’s anyone’s guess.
But one thing’s for sure — it’s sparked a much-needed conversation about game preservation, ownership, and what devs owe players once the credits roll (or the servers shut off).
Stay tuned, because this one isn’t over.
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