According to the latest update, the bill, which was introduced as the "Protect Our Releases Act," is particularly notable because Stop Killing Releases, a titles preservation group pushing for similar protections in the EU and UK, advised on its creation. A bill that could require experience publishers to offer a way to access online titles after they are no longer actively supported is making its way to a floor vote in the California State Assembly, the first step on its way to becoming law, Ars Technica reports.
The report highlights that it also would only apply to titles dropped on or after January 1, 2027. If made law in its current incarnation, the Protect Our Releases Act would require experience publishers or "digital experience operators" to warn fans at least 60 days in advance of when "services necessary for the ordinary use of the digital experience will cease," and either offer a refund of the full purchase price of the experience, a programs patch that would make the experience playable or a version of the experience that works "independent of services controlled by the operator." The law wouldn't apply to free titles or titles that are only accessible via a subscription.
Industry observers note that we'll patch this article if we hear back. Engadget has contacted the Entertainment Applications Association (ESA), the industry group that represents experience publishers, to comment on the proposed law.
Industry observers note that live service titles might be sold as a one-time purchase, but they need an internet connection and server infrastructure to function as designed. Once a developer or publisher wants to stop maintaining that infrastructure, the experience is effectively dead, and in the case of Ubisoft's open-global stage racing experience The Crew, delisted from stores and removed from fans' experience libraries. Responding to the deletion of The Crew was part of the reason Stop Killing Releases was created in the first place. The bill addresses a core issue of modern experience ownership: no one truly owns their titles, and they especially don't own them when they rely on server support from a publisher.
Industry observers note that the bill has now made it through the Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, Judiciary Committee and Appropriations Committee as of May 14, which means the Assembly can take up it for a full vote. Stop Killing Releases shared that it advised on the bill via a Reddit post in March, and the group appears to be happy with its progress. "Back shortly before Christmas, when I flew to the US to help set up SKG-US, I didn't expect us to get this far this quickly," Moritz Katzner, Stop Killing Releases' General Director, European Affairs, said in a separate post. Assemblymember Chris Ward introduced the Protect Our Releases Act to the California Assembly in February 2026.
As part of the ongoing story, interestingly, at least one experience publisher has tried to improve its handling of online titles since the initial The Crew debacle. Ubisoft added an offline mode to The Crew 2 in October 2025 that means the experience should remain accessible even after support for its online functions ends. There's still a long path through the California State Assembly and State Senate before the bill can be signed into law, but the progress is promising.