European Parliament Schedules Stop Destroying Videogames Hearing for 16-04-2026 11:00

Hearing details

The European Parliament has scheduled the Stop Destroying Videogames public hearing for 16-04-2026 11:00. The event page lists three participating committees - IMCO, JURI, and PETI - and says the hearing will take place in SPAAK (3C050).

According to the European Parliament and European Citizens' Initiative pages, the hearing follows the initiative's submission on 26 January 2026. Organisers will present their proposal directly to Members of Parliament, and lawmakers will question the European Commission about what response or follow-up action it may take.

What the initiative wants

The central request is simple but consequential: stop publishers from making videogames unplayable after they have been sold or licensed to users in the EU. The initiative calls for rules that keep games functional even when official support ends, which puts long-term access, shutdown policy, and licensing obligations into the same debate.

• Committee lineup: IMCO, JURI, PETI
• Scheduled time: 16-04-2026 11:00
• Hearing room: SPAAK (3C050)
• Process milestone: initiative submitted on 26 January 2026

The Parliament's own description frames the topic as a mix of consumer rights, ownership, licensing, and intellectual property. That is important because the hearing is not only about game preservation in the cultural sense. It is also about what a customer has actually bought when a product depends on publisher-run infrastructure, account systems, or post-sale permissions to keep working.

The practical takeaway is that this is now beyond petition-stage visibility. A formal hearing means the organisers have moved from community campaigning into a procedural setting where MEPs and the Commission have to address the issue on record. It does not create a law on its own, but it does force the EU institutions to discuss whether current rules leave buyers too exposed when support is withdrawn.

The Reddit thread in r/pcgaming treated the hearing as a milestone rather than a final win, which is the correct reading. On 16-04-2026 11:00, the key question is no longer whether the initiative can draw attention. It is whether that attention turns into enforceable obligations for publishers selling games in the EU.