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[ultrazilla]

Steam appears to have started posting a notice in its shopping cart that purchases on its storefront are only for a license and not a game, according to a notice spotted by Engadget. It looks like an attempt by the company to get ahead of a new California law coming next year that forces companies to admit that buyers don't actually own digital content.

When you open your shopping cart with items inside and before going to payment, a notice at the bottom right states: "A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam." This is the first time our editors have seen of a notice like this (and we use Steam a lot), so it appears to be relatively new.

Last month California governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2426 into law, forcing digital marketplaces to make it clear to customers when they only purchase a license to access media. It will not apply to permanent offline downloads, only digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows or ebooks from an online storefront. Companies that fail to comply could face fines for false advertising if they don't explain in clear language the limitations of a given digital purchase. The law followed situations like Ubisoft deleting The Crew from player's libraries after the game's servers shuttered.

Source

Random bitching points from a 52 year old life long gamer who's trying to get his coffee down and is a bit grumpy:

-Welcome to your digital future. Where you can spend thousands of dollars on "licenses" only to have them revoked at anytime for any reason because you don't "own them".

-"You won't own anything and be happy"-World Economic Forum(Terrorists)

-In most cases when "they" take something(big government or business), you'll never get it back.

-The only and I MEAN ONLY way this will get reversed is if gamers band together and stop buying digital "licenses" and force companies to concede that if we are buying a license,
we own the game. But I have zero faith this will happen. The brainwashing of current generations has produced "stop watch" and "I want it now" kiddies who have no patience and
bitch if they have to wait 10 seconds for a fucking level to load or want content NOW this instant. Try downloading a 1 gig game on a 28k modem and get back to me on patience.

-Now, do I own digital content? Of course. Mainly, it's INDIE games. From smaller developers or publishers who bust their ass to make their dream(s) come true to make/produce/sell a game.
Many of whom simply have no other way to distribute their games as the cost of physical is very costly I presume. Otherwise, I buy my consoles with disc/cartridge slots at all times. No digital
only systems. If I eventually get a PS5 Pro(probably never) I'll grab the physical disc drive add on.

-Anyways, This is beyond shitty and I'm sad to see this day come.

There's a reason the retro game market is booming and you're only going to see it sky rocket into the stratosphere now......

P.S.

Spoiler

get off my lawn!!

 

[Guilty_AI]

Random bitching points from a 52 year old life long gamer who's trying to get his coffee down and is a bit grumpy:

-Welcome to your digital future. Where you can spend thousands of dollars on "licenses" only to have them revoked at anytime for any reason because you don't "own them".

-"You won't own anything and be happy"-World Economic Forum(Terrorists)

-In most cases when "they" take something(big government or business), you'll never get it back.

-The only and I MEAN ONLY way this will get reversed is if gamers band together and stop buying digital "licenses" and force companies to concede that if we are buying a license,
we own the game. But I have zero faith this will happen. The brainwashing of current generations has produced "stop watch" and "I want it now" kiddies who have no patience and
bitch if they have to wait 10 seconds for a fucking level to load or want content NOW this instant. Try downloading a 1 gig game on a 28k modem and get back to me on patience.

-Now, do I own digital content? Of course. Mainly, it's INDIE games. From smaller developers or publishers who bust their ass to make their dream(s) come true to make/produce/sell a game.
Many of whom simply have no other way to distribute their games as the cost of physical is very costly I presume. Otherwise, I buy my consoles with disc/cartridge slots at all times. No digital
only systems. If I eventually get a PS5 Pro(probably never) I'll grab the physical disc drive add on.

-Anyways, This is beyond shitty and I'm sad to see this day come.

There's a reason the retro game market is booming and you're only going to see it sky rocket into the stratosphere now......

P.S.

Spoiler

get off my lawn!!

why bother with new games when you can just play doom for the rest of your life

 

[Sentenza]

So, GOG is our best bet

No, you don't seem to understand. GOG is in the same situation. Which is the same situation this whole thing was since the last 20 years.

They are just being forced to change the description of the service by a recent court ruling.
It's not like something actually changed compared to how it worked previously.

 

[hinch7]

This has been a thing since forever. They just have to show it now on their store front and not in just in their T&C's.

 

[Bojji]

No, you don't seem to understand. GOG is in the same situation. Which is the same situation this whole thing was since the last 20 years.

They are just being forced to change the description of the service by a recent court ruling.
It's not like something actually changed compared to how it worked previously.

You actually own DRM free games (installers) from GOG, you can make copies of them on discs even.

 

[PatientGamer]

Surely it's always been like this since the dawn of digital storefronts?

 

[pudel]

No, you don't seem to understand. GOG is in the same situation. Which is the same situation this whole thing was since the last 20 years.

They are just being forced to change the description of the service by a recent court ruling.

No, i think GOG doesnt need to change anything. They can still sell their games as "purchases" according to this californian law which states that it doesnt apply to stores where games can be played "permanent offline".

 

[sainraja]

No, you don't seem to understand. GOG is in the same situation. Which is the same situation this whole thing was since the last 20 years.

They are just being forced to change the description of the service by a recent court ruling.
It's not like something actually changed compared to how it worked previously.

I understand that and I say that in that very post. I know it's not changing anything... it's just being transparent about how things have always been. What is different with GOG, unlike steam, is that there is no DRM, you can download the installers and you're good to go.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

I've actually been concerned about going all in with Steam lately. I was looking into using a VPN to get a game that is locked to another region (Japanese baseball game) and went down the rabbit hole to see that it is against TOS and Valve can ban your account. I have A LOT of games on Steam. Any risk of losing access to my game library is not acceptable, I don't care what the EULA says about licensing the games, etc. These were purchased games.

I also read that you cannot pass your Steam account (and, thus, games) to someone else, even on death. Even if you included it in a will to pass your Steam games to a son or relative, it's against TOS and not allowed. Absolutely crazy and should be a disturbing reminder to anyone buying on Steam, PSN, etc. that you are COMPLETELY at the mercy of the platform holder. How we've gotten this far along without any laws supporting transfer of digital ownership is shocking. Consumers are sheep to accept this with a fight.

 

[Midn1ght]

This changes nothing.

The law is basically forcing companies to be more upfront and clear about the terms and not hidden in T&C.

What need to happen is: If you sell a digital product, you grant full ownership to the buyer, guarantee availability of said product forever and grant a full refund if you ever decide to remove the product from their account.

Will never happen of course.

 

[Alebrije]

Doing official something has been a fact since digital era started.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

I was never under the illusion Valve that you single handedly destroyed the physically owned PC gaming market for me but thanks, I guess

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

physical when you can, img + chiptunes when you cant

 

[Guilty_AI]

I was never under the illusion Valve that you single handedly destroyed the physically owned PC gaming market for me but thanks, I guess

It sort of destroyed itself and valve just took off on the vacuum.

Also, people are under this impression everything would've been fine if digital games never became a thing, but i remember clearly how in the early 2010s some publishers were beginning to introduce ways to "control" our physical disks and stop resales. Even before that, the concept of discs on PC coming with DRM that required internet connection wasn't a new thing either, many popular publishers employed it.

 

[Kacho]

and grant a full refund if you ever decide to remove the product from their account.

Like you own it for 6 years, put 300 hours into it and get a full refund whenever you want?

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Also, people are under this impression everything would've been fine if digital games never became a thing, but i remember clearly how in the early 2010s some publishers were beginning to introduce ways to "control" our physical disks and stop resales.

Aye, the dirty days. I still see PC games in charity shops that garnered this heresy

Even before that, the concept of discs on PC coming with DRM that required internet connection wasn't a new thing either, many popular publishers employed it.

Aye, the disgusting bastards.

I just want my physical days back!

 

[pudel]

Like you own it for 6 years, put 300 hours into it and get a full refund whenever you want?

not whenever YOU want...only when THEY take it away from you.

 

[Kataploom]

I understand that and I say that in that very post. I know it's not changing anything... it's just being transparent about how things have always been. What is different with GOG, unlike steam, is that there is no DRM, you can download the installers and you're good to go.

Steam games CAN be DRM-Free tho, it's just that devs decide not to

 

[Z O N E]

It has been like that since forever.

Go look at your old game cases.

You've never owned your games. It's just now with games connecting online, it's more obvious.

This law just shines this obvious thing more thoroughly in stores.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

It has been like that since forever.

Go look at your old game cases.

You've never owned your games. It's just now with games connecting online, it's more obvious.

This law just shines this obvious thing more thoroughly in stores.

Sure, except with physical you have legal precedent to sell your games. How can you legally sell something you don't own? So, yes, you do own them.

Not only that, the publisher can't take the game back or limit your access for older physical games, reinforcing the fact that these games are under YOUR control (i.e. something in your possession that you own).

 

[Sushi_Combo]

Console gaming is best gaming.

 

[chakadave]

This was true of all media....

This changes nothing.

The law is basically forcing companies to be more upfront and clear about the terms and not hidden in T&C.

What need to happen is: If you sell a digital product, you grant full ownership to the buyer, guarantee availability of said product forever and grant a full refund if you ever decide to remove the product from their account.

Will never happen of course.

No it is just making California the arbiter of how digital commerce works. Th ey do not have good intentions and are only trying to protect their antiquated business practices eg the music and movie industry.

You have never owned anything unless you can play it on non propriety hardware and can do what you want with it.

This will just empower pirates.

Console gaming is best gaming.

you don't even own the console.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

So, GOG is our best bet then but I am sure we don't technically own what we buy there either and to an extent it makes sense, we are buying the product to use it, not to do anything we want with it, which buying would imply... although the disclosure is only making it clear that that's how it has always been.

Pirating a game you own a licence for should be rather simple to defend in court. TOS are not law.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Exactly my point. Physical copies of games are really the only true games one can "own".

Go pop in a The Crew 1 disc or an Overwatch 1 disc. Physical games are still subject to corporate nonsense in the modern era.

 

[Kacho]

not whenever YOU want...only when THEY take it away from you.

Wut

The guy I quoted was saying you should be able to refund whenever you want. I asked him to clarify what he means.

 

[Topher]

Go pop in a The Crew 1 disc or an Overwatch 1 disc. Physical games are still subject to corporate nonsense in the modern era.

Valid point, but at the same time a huge number cartridges, CDs, DVDs and blurays from years past will still work fine today. Games tied to online servers are certainly an exception to that.

 

[poppabk]

Sure, except with physical you have legal precedent to sell your games. How can you legally sell something you don't own? So, yes, you do own them.

Not only that, the publisher can't take the game back or limit your access for older physical games, reinforcing the fact that these games are under YOUR control (i.e. something in your possession that you own).

You own the disc and have a license to the game that comes with that disc. Anything else is just wishful thinking.
The difference is that you have a physical copy of your 'license' which can't be removed from your possesion as easily, and can be transferred to someone else easily.

 

[Laptop1991]

Yes it has always been like that, but it does change the perception and what people think they are paying for and will put some people off when it comes to the actual buying or purchase button especially at high prices, i have never thought when i bought a game off Steam i didn't own it, it does have an effect even though it hasn't changed.

 

[Jesb]

Does it matter what they call it. I still have games in my library I bought 10+ years ago and they’ll still be there when I’m dead.

 

[sainraja]

Steam games CAN be DRM-Free tho, it's just that devs decide not to

Got it, but most of the games are going to be DRM based so GOG is always going to be the better option for those that care about that sort of thing.

 

[sainraja]

I didn't know we could do that.

You can't, if you are talking about doing it at the account level. You surely can delete the installers you download to your computer. You can "hide" a game from showing up in your library but it is not truly gone from it.

 

[RoboFu]

you have only ever licensed games. Just with a CART or DISK the cart/disk or the proof of the license and you can sell that license. One day you will also be able to sell your digital license as well. but that's not as easy when you have mix of physical and digital.

 

[Schmendrick]

That's why I haven't bought a full price game on PC since physical copies went extinct. For anything I'm not allowed to actually own 40 bucks is my max.
I still regularly buy full price physical games on console.

 

[YCoCg]

Nothing's really changed, just the new law states stores have to more clear and up front about this instead of just hiding them in the TOS.

 

[Mithos]

you have only ever licensed games. Just with a CART or DISK the cart/disk or the proof of the license and you can sell that license. One day you will also be able to sell your digital license as well. but that's not as easy when you have mix of physical and digital.

There was some ruling about this in Europe a few years ago, just don't remember under what circumstances it was, but AFAIK it was so you could "sell" digital software secondhand.

 

[Deerock71]

Well, no shit.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Piracy is no longer stealing. They are simply "gaming without a license"!

 

[hemo memo]

Okay, hear me out. If Valve went bankrupt tomorrow and shut down Steam, our licenses would technically expire, right?

 

[rodrigolfp]

Console gaming is best gaming.

Because you can mod your games and play online without paying, right?

 

[rodrigolfp]

You can't, if you are talking about doing it at the account level. You surely can delete the installers you download to your computer. You can "hide" a game from showing up in your library but it is not truly gone from it.

Yeah. I don't remember seeing an option to delete the game from the library.

 

[Gamerfan81]

There needs to be US federal legislation on this about digital purchases. That state law from California is a first step, but there needs to be a comprehensive all encompassing federal law about ownership of digital products, but I have a feeling all the big corps will lobby their favorite politicians to ensure if there is a natioanl law on this it will favor the corps over the consumesr.

 

[Midn1ght]

Like you own it for 6 years, put 300 hours into it and get a full refund whenever you want?

Messed up my words, meant to say : grant a full refund if THEY ever decide to remove the product from YOUR account.

 

[DryvBy]

This has been a thing since forever. They just have to show it now on their store front and not in just in their T&C's.

It has been, but most people have no idea they don't own anything.

 

[hemo memo]

There needs to be US federal legislation on this about digital purchases. That state law from California is a first step, but there needs to be a comprehensive all encompassing federal law about ownership of digital products, but I have a feeling all the big corps will lobby their favorite politicians to ensure if there is a natioanl law on this it will favor the corps over the consumesr.

Exactly right. I mean, in the latest case with Sony and Concord, there's no obligation whatsoever from Sony to issue refunds.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

You own the disc and have a license to the game that comes with that disc. Anything else is just wishful thinking.
The difference is that you have a physical copy of your 'license' which can't be removed from your possesion as easily, and can be transferred to someone else easily.

More like the verbiage on those older game boxes is wishful thinking. Like I said, I can keep the game, I can sell the game, I can give the game away. Legally. Call it licensing or whatever you want, but how it plays out in real life is the same as ownership of any other owned physical item.

 

[Evil Calvin]

It's wild that people are just now catching onto the idea that when they "purchase a game" from most storefronts, they are just buying the license to be able to use it. If you want an actual copy of a game, you have two options: 1) use a storefront like GOG or 2) pirate it.

or physical (mostly)

 

[Sentenza]

You actually own DRM free games (installers) from GOG, you can make copies of them on discs even.

Just because they are convenient to copy it doesn't mean that you "own" them. They are still a license.
And you can easily (and I mean TRIVIALLY EASILY) copy/crack Steam games to work without Steam as well, if that was going to be a valid point.

Hell, half of Steam releases (especially indie/AA titles) can be already be played without client natively, if you want.
You just need to go the main folder and search for the "Steam-less" version of the executable often already included.

 

[hemo memo]

More like the verbiage on those older game boxes is wishful thinking. Like I said, I can keep the game, I can sell the game, I can give the game away. Legally. Call it licensing or whatever you want, but how it plays out in real life is the same as ownership of any other owned physical item.

For now. They could block physical games from running on different account/device (new user) and you need to buy the license.

 

[Sentenza]

What is different with GOG, unlike steam, is that there is no DRM, you can download the installers and you're good to go.

Keep in mind that
- this is often the case on Steam as well (see previous point)
- occasionally when it comes to the GOG version this is made possible by REMOVING features that conversely are available on other stores (i.e. "the GOG version of GAME XY comes without the multiplayer mode" etc).

People should also keep in mind that often "owning a physical copy" doesn't mean jack shit.
If your favorite multiplayer game gets its servers shut down you could own a whole freaking pallet filled with hundreds of physical copies and you would still be unable to do fuck anything with them.
And THESE are the games that can be "retired" from your online accounts. No one is taking away your Steam copy of STALKER 1 or Super Meat Boy.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

Because you can mod your games and play online without paying, right?

Don't need to mod my games to enjoy them.
Ps3 decommissioned servers for certain titles have begun to go back online, just need to adjust dns settings.