[customguy]

Here's an idea, though I wouldn't be surprised if it's not new: instead of forcing all game devs to ensure longevity, just make clear criteria for what constitutes that longevity, and developers that meet them (or promise to meet them when they shut down) can slap a nice bright logo onto their game. Something like the rating system, except it's a line that's only there for games that claim they are "yours forever". Steam would have a filter for it, and so on.

Then you can make the punishments/fines for breaking that promise draconian, since nobody has to opt in.

Most single-player games would have the logo out of the box, gamers would come to expect it for those, and take a good hard look at single player games that don't have it. With multiplayer games it would be more varied, but there would now be a very clear incentive to see if it might not be possible after all to do what is needed to get that label, especially if none of your competitors have it. And most importantly when planning new games, you'd double check every decision would disqualify the game for it.

[customguy]

Is it just because some gamers are very irate or is this actually a bad idea? If so, how?

[skotobaza]

I assume most people just want to keep playing games they paid for forever (I am among those people). Like with older titles where this wasn't an issue. So the solution to mark games that don't do that feels like a half measure, since it doesn't guarantee anything.

[customguy]

Sure, but it would cut off all the excuses about it being too hard or expensive etc. How would companies run PR against such a proposal without making it blatantly obvious even to casuals that they're evil?