Thanks for coverage of Stop Killing Games! This isn't the first time I've talked about PirateSoftware actually, but this is the first time it got more attention. I'll try to give a quick rundown:
1. We launched the European Citizens' Initiative and PirateSoftware soon looked at it and TRASHED it, cussing us out. He misunderstood a lot about it, but I think it almost didn't matter, because his chat tried to correct him on it and he hated the correction even more. He later deleted that stream, but someone backed it up here (timestamp in the title)
2. I reached out to him, despite the insults, wanting to at least clarify what he got wrong. He then deleted that video AND the response, but thankfully someone backed that up also:
3. He THEN went onto make 2 more videos on SKG where he misrepresented it for a 3rd time. He made the following claims about it:
-it was about single player games only and not multiplayer games
-we were asking to convert single player into multiplayer games
-we were asking for endless support
All of that was objectively false. He then went onto say it would kill live service games (I highly doubt this, but at least that part was an opinion), and criticized me for not talking to devs (which we have), which is ironic considering how he refused to talk to us.
We were having momentum with signatures at that time, as soon as he released that video, the signatures started drying up. Now it's possible it was a coincidence, but there was a major streamer that refused to talk about this afterwards due to the Pirate drama surrounding it that could have helped make or break the initiative. So it's speculation as to whether he single-handedly killed our chance at getting consumer law passed on this, but it sure didn't help. I wouldn't describe the campaign as doing "really well", more like it's in a very precarious place!
The initiative is still active, by the way, it ends on July 31st! If you or anyone you know is an EU citizen, please consider signing it at stopkillinggames.com. I honestly believe we could largely bring an end to the practice of publishers effectively destroying games.
