The Protect Our Games Act, introduced by Assemblymember Chris Ward in February 2026, has cleared three state Assembly committees and heads to a floor vote. The legislation requires publishers to notify players at least 60 days before shutting down online services, then offer either a full refund, an offline software patch, or a version playable without the publisher's servers.

The bill specifically targets games released on or after January 1, 2027, and won't cover free-to-play or subscription-only titles. It grew out of frustration over games like Ubisoft's The Crew, which was delisted and removed from players' libraries entirely. Stop Killing Games, the preservation group that helped draft the bill, was founded partly because of that incident.

Ubisoft added an offline mode to The Crew 2 in October 2025, a move that shows some publishers are already shifting practices. The ESA has yet to comment publicly. The bill still faces a full Assembly vote and Senate approval before it could become law.