The founder of the Stop Killing Games movement, a well-known advocate for consumer rights in gaming, has slammed an anonymous complaint sent to the EU Commission targeting the Stop Destroying Video Games Initiative. The complaint, which the creator calls “clown accounting” and “nonsense,” makes the accusations that the initiative falsely claimed it had no funding and that it hid major contributions.
These claims are based on the creator’s volunteer work, which the complaint tries to assign fake monetary values to. The anonymous complaint argues that the creator’s unpaid efforts, including long hours spent on the campaign, should count as undisclosed professional contributions.
It claims that because media reports describe him as handling daily operations and making key decisions, this implies a paid role with significant financial worth. The complaint then makes up hourly rates and applies them to an inflated guess of his work hours, saying this adds up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of euros. It calls this an unreported “in-kind donation” that breaks EU rules.
But the Stop Killing Games creator strongly denies this. He says he has always been a volunteer and cannot hold an official role in the European Citizens’ Initiative. He has repeatedly stated this publicly and insists media descriptions of his involvement don’t reflect his actual authority in the initiative. He calls the complaint’s calculations “clown accounting,” pointing out that his hours were never tracked because the work was unpaid, and the supposed professional rates and values are completely made up.
Importantly, the creator notes that EU rules clearly say volunteers providing non-financial support don’t count as sponsors and don’t need to be reported. The initiative’s organizers even checked with EU officials in Spring 2024 to confirm that their help was allowed, and they were told everything was fully compliant.
The timing of the complaint is suspicious. It comes right after Video Games Europe, an industry lobby group, criticized the Stop Killing Games movement, often using arguments the creator says are misleading or false. This suggests the complaint might be part of a larger effort by the industry to damage the initiative, acting as a warning shot in a dirty political fight.
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The creator worries about more attacks ahead. If the industry can’t stop the initiative directly, he expects them to try discrediting it with more false claims and misinformation. He says these tactics are meant to create doubt and scare off political supporters. He stresses the campaign’s simple goal: gamers should own the games they buy, and publishers shouldn’t be able to shut them down.
Despite these shady tactics, Stop Killing Games keeps growing. It has already passed its signature goals for the European Citizens’ Initiative, with over 1.4 million signatures, well above the one million needed for EU review.
