A petition started by a YouTube channel to prevent the shutdown and destruction of video games has reached its goal of one million signatures. Not everyone agrees with this petition, but the creator of one of the most successful games is now expressing his own opinion.
What is this petition about? It is the initiative “Stop Killing Games”, initiated by the YouTube channel Accursed Farms by Scott Ross. This initiative demands that games must remain in a functional state forever. This includes developers providing servers for players to play on indefinitely or allowing the use of private servers.
Even though Ross feared in early July that his project would be over due to a lack of signatures by the deadline of July 31, 2025, the situation changed. Various content creators like Jacksepticeye, Ludwig Ahgren, and penguinz0 spoke about the “Stop Killing Games” initiative, which increased its reach. The goal of the petition and the targeted one million signatures has now been reached. But besides these personalities, another well-known name in the industry is now also speaking out on the matter: Notch, the creator of Minecraft.
In this video, you can see how the graphics of Minecraft will improve:
“If the purchase of a game is not a purchase, then piracy is not theft.”
What is Notch reacting to? Notch commented on X about streamer Pirate Software, who publicly criticized the “Stop Killing Games” initiative. Pirate Software describes the petition in one of his YouTube videos as too vague and impractical. The initiative is too broad and would harm all live-service games.
The creator of Minecraft calls Pirate Software a Nepo Baby, a term for people who benefit from nepotism, enjoying advantages from a wealthy or influential family from birth.
How is the gaming community reacting? When another X user (@DanielTSumpton) celebrated Notch’s post with a repost, Notch responded again to emphasize his statement:
“I just want to confirm that I meant exactly that. If the purchase of a game is not a purchase, then piracy is not theft.”
In response to the inquiry of another X user (@ThePatriarchy83) about whether Notch had signed the “Stop Killing Games” petition, Notch replied with a no (via X):
“No, but I am biased. I don’t want to help AAA in any way and instead want to compete against them with better conditions for the end consumer.”
Now that the petition has actually reached its goal of one million signatures, the proposal could indeed become a law, as the EU must now discuss the proposal as a potential draft. However, how the “Stop Killing Games” initiative will proceed after this milestone remains exciting, as the first reaction from Video Games Europe does not support this legislation: “Would have a deterrent effect” – One million gamers unite to save their favorite games, now the Gaming Association of Europe responds
