Legislation demanding that digital game buyers be granted true ownership rather than revocable licenses to play has been announced in the US Congress.
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Democratic US Representative Ritchie Torres officially announced on October 15 (local time) that he will introduce the "Power To The Players Act," legislation aimed at protecting consumers' right to own and continue playing the video games they purchase. Currently, the initiative is at the stage of an official legislative announcement and will need to undergo formal introduction, committee review, and voting procedures in Congress to take effect.
The outlined bill directs the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish regulations protecting digital game consumers' rights. There are three key points. First, purchasing a video game would grant consumers ownership of the game rather than a simple license to play. Second, games with online functionality must mandatorily provide an offline mode before supporting servers are shut down so users can continue playing. Additionally, it mandates preserving consumers' rights to transfer or resell games they have purchased.
Announcing the legislative push, Representative Torres directly criticized current digital game distribution practices. "When you pay for a game, you should own it," Torres said. "Consumers must have the right to own, the right to play, and the right to transfer the games they buy." He added, "A game that can be taken away the moment a company pulls the plug is not a purchase; it is a rental disguised as a sale," emphasizing that "games consumers save up to buy shouldn't be reduced to licenses that can vanish at any time, and players should be able to keep enjoying them long after a company moves on."
Digital game distribution platforms and game developers have long specified in their terms of service that consumers buy only a license to play, not ownership of the game. Recently, as games requiring online connections have shut down service one after another—leaving buyers unable to even launch the game—calls among players to protect consumer rights and guarantee playability after server shutdowns have grown increasingly vocal.
