Brazilian lawmaker Jandira Feghali has filed a bill that would force publishers to keep purchased games playable even after they pull the plug on official servers, arriving days after similar efforts in Europe and California hit roadblocks.
A New Front for the Movement
Feghali introduced Bill PL 3612/2026 on July 9, working with co-sponsor Marcio Filho. Rather than a standalone measure, the proposal would fold new protections directly into Brazil's existing Consumer Defense Code and the legal framework that governs the country's games industry, giving it teeth within a system already familiar to Brazilian courts and regulators.
What the Bill Targets
At its core, the legislation goes after a specific practice: publishers selling a game outright, then later shutting down the servers that game needs to function, leaving paying customers with nothing playable. The bill frames this as a consumer-rights issue as much as a cultural one, citing the need to preserve access to digital games as part of Brazil's broader cultural heritage and spelling out obligations for suppliers when they discontinue services essential to gameplay. Feghali described the effort as protecting people's ability to keep playing what they already paid for, saying it's about "the right to continue playing the games" they bought and "keeping digital games accessible."
Europe and California Just Struck Out
The timing isn't coincidental. Brazil's bill lands weeks after two higher-profile pushes for the same cause fell short. In June, the European Commission declined to pursue legal requirements that would obligate publishers to keep games functional once sales stop — a decision that came despite a petition backing the cause gathering 1.3 million signatures. Days later, on June 29, California's own version, the Protect Our Games Act (AB 1921), was voted down in a state Senate committee after pushback from the Entertainment Software Association, the trade group representing major publishers. That bill isn't dead yet, though — lawmakers granted reconsideration, leaving a door open for it to come back.
Where the Fight Started
The broader push traces back to Ubisoft's decision to shut down
The Crew
, an always-online racing game that became entirely unplayable for everyone who'd bought it once the servers went dark. That episode galvanized the Stop Killing Games campaign, which has since pressed lawmakers across multiple regions to make game preservation a legal requirement rather than a publisher courtesy. With the European and Californian attempts stalled, Brazil's bill becomes the movement's newest test case — and a sign that, even after setbacks, the push to stop publishers from shutting off games people already own isn't losing momentum.
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