US bill against paid game server shutdowns fails as ESA declares private Minecraft servers "illegal"

US bill against paid game server shutdowns fails as ESA declares private Minecraft servers "illegal"

California's Protect Our Games Act, which would have required publishers to provide remedies when ending support for paid online games, stalled in the state Senate after falling just three votes short of a majority.

The bill's leading supporter, Stop Killing Games, quickly seized on an opposing lobbyist's claim that private Minecraft servers would be rendered "illegal" under the proposed law. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) argued that the bill's language was overly broad and could criminalize community-run servers for games like Minecraft.

Key points from the debate:

• The bill required publishers of paid online games to either maintain server functionality or provide a reasonable remedy (such as offline patches or refunds) when ending support.
• It applied only to games sold for money, not free-to-play titles.
• The ESA's opposition centered on the claim that private servers, including those run by fans for games like Minecraft, could be classified as "unauthorized" under the bill's definitions.

Stop Killing Games responded by pointing out that Minecraft's End User License Agreement (EULA) already permits private servers, and that the ESA's argument was a misrepresentation of the bill's scope.

The bill's failure means no such consumer protection exists in California, though similar legislation is being considered in other states.