Summary
A new law in California will help redefine what it means to “own” digital content after being signed into law by the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
When the law goes into effect in 2025, it will effectively ban digital storefronts from using words like “Buy” or “Purchase” when it comes to digital items, including games and accompanying DLC, among other items. That is unless those storefronts explicitly inform a customer that they are purchasing a license that is not permanent and can be revoked.
The law,which was spearheaded by assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, comes as consumers have increasingly lost access to digital goods that they thought they “owned.” Particularly, the bill is in response toUbisoft taking The Crew offline permanently, as wellas Sony’s threats to dismantle Discovery.
“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,“Irwin said. “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.”
Do We Own Anything Anymore?
As mentioned above, The Crew’s delisting was a major topic among gamers. The servers originally went offline in late March, and with the game being an online-only title, copies of the game were rendered unplayable.
Not only were those copies unplayable, but gamers began seeing their “owned” copies revoked from their Ubisoft accounts. In the wake of the backlash,Ubisoft announced plans to create offline modes for The Crew 2, as well as The Crew Motorfest “to ensure long term access to both titles.”
Late last year,Sony announced that Discovery shows that customers purchased would be deleted from their devicesbefore anew licensing agreement came into effect.
All of this is to say that digital ownership is an increasingly important topic. California is taking steps to help better define that and inform consumers ahead of purchase, and hopefully, more states and countries can follow.
