California signs a law that will make digital game stores fess up about your lack of ownership of what you're buying

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Both Ubisoft and Sony have fallen foul of this in recent times, but California is setting an example the rest of the world needs to follow.

Steam Library on desktop
How many of your games do you actually own? California is taking action to make that clearer. (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Governor of the State of California, Gavin Newsom, has signed in to a law legislation that will force digital stores to finally be up front and honest about exactly what it is you're buying. 
  • Digital content, including games, video content, music, and e-books, will have to be sold with a disclaimer that you're not buying the product, merely a digital license to use it. 
  • The law comes into effect next year, and will be applicable in every instance that doesn't offer a full offline download and keep option for the product. 

It's nice when the politicians of the world do something genuinely of benefit to the masses, and that's exactly the case in California right now. As reported by The Verge, the Governor, Gavin Newsom, has signed in to law new legislation that will force digital stores to be honest about exactly what it is that you're buying. 

Specifically, that you aren't buying the content and you don't own it. At least, not unless a permanent, offline-enabled copy of said content is made available. In that case, the new law won't apply. 

For everyone else, it will. Storefronts like Steam, Ubisoft, Epic Games, and yes, the Microsoft Store, will all be required to adhere to the new law lest they open themselves up to be fined. 

A summary of the bill reads as such: 

"This bill would, subject to specified exceptions, additionally prohibit a seller of a digital good from advertising or offering for sale a digital good, as defined, to a purchaser with the terms buy, purchase, or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a time-limited rental, unless the seller receives at the time of each transaction an affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser, or the seller provides to the consumer before executing each transaction a clear and conspicuous statement, as specified."

It's not just games that will be affected, any content without a permanently available offline version will be covered.  (Image credit: Future)

In simpler speak, it basically means that these stores will not be able to tell you that you're buying something, without explaining exactly what you're buying. If that's merely a digital license to play a game, then so be it. The point is that, finally, the average consumer should be more informed over what it is they're getting. 

The rest of the world should follow suit

Ubisoft has recently found itself in the headlines for killing all access to The Crew, a game people though they were 'buying.' Subsequent games in the series will now get an offline mode. 

The digitalization of content has brought with it convenience, but also a lack of ownership. Both Sony and Ubisoft have made headlines in recent times in this vein. The former had to reverse a decision to remove digital video content from its customer's libraries, content they had paid for 'ownership' of. Ubisoft, meanwhile, killed The Crew stone dead by turning off the servers and not providing an offline mode for people to keep playing. 

While California's new law won't stop things like this from happening, it should at least help the consumers be more informed over what they're actually getting from these companies. If it means fewer game sales because folks start to become more cautious over handing their hard-earned without a guarantee of how long they'll be able to enjoy it, so be it. I'd argue, as in the case of The Crew, it is completely unacceptable for any game with a single-player component to have no offline access at all. Ubisoft at least seems to have learned a lesson there and will be adding offline modes to the later games in the series. 

I want rules like this to be wider spread. Consumers deserve to be well-informed. When you subscribe to Netflix, or Xbox Game Pass, you're very aware you're just borrowing content. But when you hit a buy button, wouldn't it be nice to know whether you actually are buying it? 

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Richard Devine
Richard Devine
Managing Editor - Tech, Reviews

Richard Devine is a Managing Editor at Windows Central with over a decade of experience. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently, you'll find him steering the site's coverage of all manner of PC hardware and reviews. Find him on Mastodon at mstdn.social/@richdevine