California Senate stalls online game preservation bill

A California bill designed to preserve access to online video games after publishers shut down official servers has failed to advance in the state Senate, dealing a temporary setback to a growing consumer rights movement. The Protect Our Games Act, or Assembly Bill 1921, stalled in the Senate's Business, Professions and Economic Development committee on June 29, falling short of the votes needed to proceed.

The committee vote was three in favor and four against, with four members abstaining. While the bill was granted reconsideration, allowing for a potential future vote, it cannot pass in the current legislative session. The legislation had previously passed the California State Assembly in May by a vote of 43 to 16.

Introduced by Assemblymember Chris Ward in February, the bill would have required publishers of server-dependent games to provide at least 60 days' notice before terminating online services. Companies would then need to offer a path to continued access, such as releasing an offline version, providing a patch, enabling community hosting, or issuing refunds to players.

The bill was backed by the Stop Killing Games campaign, which argues that consumers lose access to...