[wentwood]

You Think You Own Your Digital Games? California Law Says Otherwise
New legislation requires digital storefronts to clarify licensing terms to customers.

By David Wolinsky on September 26, 2024 at 11:44AM PDT

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law, AB 2426, to address concerns over "disappearing" purchases of digital media, including games, movies, music, and ebooks. The law mandates that digital storefronts inform customers they are acquiring a license to use these products rather than indicating actual ownership, as reported by The Verge.

Effective next year, the legislation prohibits digital retailers from using terms like "buy" or "purchase" unless they clearly state that customers do not receive unrestricted access. Retailers must disclose that these licenses can be revoked and provide a list of associated restrictions. Companies that fail to comply may face fines for false advertising.

This law emerges as digital game sales surge and subscription models dominate the industry, prompting questions about ownership. The gaming community is increasingly aware that titles may not be accessible in the future. An episode of GameSpot's Spot On earlier this year discussed a hypothetical scenario in which, wanting to revisit a game like Alan Wake 2 in 2045, players could find it unavailable due to the shift away from physical sales.

The legislation responds to practices by major companies like PlayStation and Ubisoft. Earlier this year, Ubisoft removed The Crew from player accounts after shutting down its servers, while last year, Sony indicated it would remove purchased content from users' libraries before reversing that decision.

"As retailers continue to pivot away from selling physical media, the need for consumer protections on the purchase of digital media has become increasingly more important," said California Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin in a press release. "AB 2426 will ensure the false and deceptive advertising from sellers of digital media incorrectly telling consumers they own their purchases becomes a thing of the past."

While the law raises awareness about the limitations of digital licenses, it does not prevent storefronts from revoking access to purchased content. This legislation reflects ongoing efforts to clarify the nature of digital acquisitions and the evolving landscape of media ownership.

[DH21965]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wentwood

You Think You Own Your Digital Games? California Law Says Otherwise
New legislation requires digital storefronts to clarify licensing terms to customers.

By David Wolinsky on September 26, 2024 at 11:44AM PDT

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law, AB 2426, to address concerns over "disappearing" purchases of digital media, including games, movies, music, and ebooks. The law mandates that digital storefronts inform customers they are acquiring a license to use these products rather than indicating actual ownership, as reported by The Verge.

Effective next year, the legislation prohibits digital retailers from using terms like "buy" or "purchase" unless they clearly state that customers do not receive unrestricted access. Retailers must disclose that these licenses can be revoked and provide a list of associated restrictions. Companies that fail to comply may face fines for false advertising.

This law emerges as digital game sales surge and subscription models dominate the industry, prompting questions about ownership. The gaming community is increasingly aware that titles may not be accessible in the future. An episode of GameSpot's Spot On earlier this year discussed a hypothetical scenario in which, wanting to revisit a game like Alan Wake 2 in 2045, players could find it unavailable due to the shift away from physical sales.

The legislation responds to practices by major companies like PlayStation and Ubisoft. Earlier this year, Ubisoft removed The Crew from player accounts after shutting down its servers, while last year, Sony indicated it would remove purchased content from users' libraries before reversing that decision.

"As retailers continue to pivot away from selling physical media, the need for consumer protections on the purchase of digital media has become increasingly more important," said California Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin in a press release. "AB 2426 will ensure the false and deceptive advertising from sellers of digital media incorrectly telling consumers they own their purchases becomes a thing of the past."

While the law raises awareness about the limitations of digital licenses, it does not prevent storefronts from revoking access to purchased content. This legislation reflects ongoing efforts to clarify the nature of digital acquisitions and the evolving landscape of media ownership.

Easy solution: Don?t buy digital games/products you do not actually own, which is pretarded AF.
Gamers have become increasingly dumber over the years.

[gashatfreak]

As a visual novel player, I am frustrated that most VNs outside the more popular ones do not have physical copies and forces me to use digital.

I'm not anti-digital, but the lack of physical for some I play does not amuse me.

[wentwood]

I own most games I want to play on game disks for PS2 and PS3.

My issue would be with PS4 - PS11 and any X Box games for digital when I want to play the remaining chapters of a game series.

Now as we're in 2025 the outstanding issue would be PS 1 - PS 3 games and having to pay for a monthly rate for access to those games and those are the ones I own on PS 2 game disks.

At some point these games wouldn't be on the PS server due to lisencing issues mostly.

Most game lines will finish on PS 4 - 6.

[EpsilonX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DH21965

Easy solution: Don?t buy digital games/products you do not actually own, which is pretarded AF.
Gamers have become increasingly dumber over the years.

That attitude is entirely unnecessary. But I'm going to ignore the rude insults and just say that there's plenty of understandable and justifiable reasons to buy digital.

I buy mostly digital. Why? I don't have space in my apartment for tons of games on my shelf and it's way more convenient to just load it up vs having to swap discs. ESPECIALLY for Switch - I don't want to have to take a ton of carts with me wherever I go.

Not saying that their business practices are good, but if I eventually lose access to what I've purchased, I'm sure I'll have gotten my money's worth out of them by then. Heck, at least half of the Playstation games I play are through PS+ anyways.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EpsilonX

That attitude is entirely unnecessary. But I'm going to ignore the rude insults and just say that there's plenty of understandable and justifiable reasons to buy digital.

I buy mostly digital. Why? I don't have space in my apartment for tons of games on my shelf and it's way more convenient to just load it up vs having to swap discs. ESPECIALLY for Switch - I don't want to have to take a ton of carts with me wherever I go.

Not saying that their business practices are good, but if I eventually lose access to what I've purchased, I'm sure I'll have gotten my money's worth out of them by then. Heck, at least half of the Playstation games I play are through PS+ anyways.

I think that the call here is not so much for the purchase of physical media (which will still become outdated and will sooner or later disappear completely), but rather for free piracy of digital copies. Then, even if they stop working one day, it will be much less offensive.

[EpsilonX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

I think that the call here is not so much for the purchase of physical media (which will still become outdated and will sooner or later disappear completely), but rather for free piracy of digital copies. Then, even if they stop working one day, it will be much less offensive.

lol, I suppose that's another option too.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely get the distaste. But for me...I can't help but have a sense of "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." For now, I still feel like buying mostly digital is what makes the most sense for me.

[wentwood]

For me I have go to games like Tomb Raider , Final Fantasy and Street Fighter which I play pretty regularly.

the reason for physical disks and a memory card is to be able to finish the games I'm playing. When you cancel your subscription you lose access to those games which can take longer than a month to complete.

For RPGs I mainly use physical disks.

As for Digital it would make sense for the Tekken and Street Fighter lines.

My concern would be Tomb Raider which you would only have room for Tomb Raider XI and XII from the Survivor Trilogy (Allowing for DLC) before you would need a 2nd PS system so in the case of Tomb Raider I would use PC for size. Final Fantasy XV is a whale at 50 Gs of space.

I did get Mega Man Legacy 2 and Mega Man 11 however digitally as well as Double Dragon IV.

Played DD IV on my phone and managed an 8.

I have PS1 games digitally on blue flash drives for my PS 1 mini.