The Stop Killing Games campaign’s organisers are currently awaiting a chat with European Union politicians about server shutdowns rendering online-only games impossible to play. Said chat’s been set up by a petition which racked up just under 1.3 million verified signatures at its final count, with that being one of the alleys the group have gone down in pursuit of action against publishers being able to abandon games without leaving a way for them to be kept running.

Rather than simply adjusting their ties and googling nice places to visit on a trip to Brussels while they wait for their meeting, the group have announced some more action they’ll be taking to get their message out in the ling term. Two Stop Killing Games non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are going to be set up to cover Europe and the US.

There are definite advantages [to launching these NGOs],” YouTuber Ross Scott said in the campaign’s latest update video. “The first is this will allow us to do long-term counter lobbying on this issue. I mean, we’re hoping to get the [European] Citizens Initiative passed or added to the Digital Fairness Act, but if those fail, there’s still the possibility of being added to the Digital Content Directive revision. We’re trying to find a way in any way we can. This will also signal that we’re not just going away on this issue.” He added that it’ll “also allow for more watchdog action”, such as the setting up of sites where players can report the situations of specific games to consumer protection agencies who may then take action.

As a social studies refresher, non-governmental organisations are typically groups which campaign about or take action to address specific issues – Oxfam fight inequality, Doctors without Borders tackle medical emergencies, the WWF promote wildlife conservation. As you might have gleaned from that list, many NGOs are non-profit charities funded by donations, but they can also draw funding from governments or run like for-profit businesses in some cases.

Ross cited Stop Killing Games campaigner Moritz Katzner as having spearheaded the push for these NGOs, with the German political activist also having led the charge on the campaign’s EU petition. As for what’ll come out of the meeting with EU lawmakers that petition’s set up, Ross said the campaigners have “actually have no idea what to expect”.