US Rep Pushes for Bill to Protect People’s Game Ownership; “When You Pay for a Game, You Should Own It”
The hottest topic of the year when it comes to gaming has to be Sony’s announcement that they’re transitioning to an all-digital future in 2028. This has sparked a ton of discussion about game ownership in the digital era.
While it seems gamers are facing an uphill climb given hardware makers and even game publishers are all pushing for digital for a larger piece of the revenue pie, there is at least one person with juice that’s on the gamer’s side.
US Congressman Richie Torres is seeking to push a bill that empowers and protects game buyers from their purchases.
US Lawmaker Pushes “Power To The Players Act” to Protect Gamers
New York Congressman Richie Torres has announced the “Power To The Players Act” legislation that would direct the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to establish regulations that aim to protect consumers’ rights to own and play the games they purchase.
As one might expect, this bill targets digital games, which is overtaking physical game discs as the preferred medium of choice. With Sony’s move to only release games digitally, this prevents consumers from selling, renting or giving their games away — something they already paid for.
Not only that, but Torres is also looking at delisted games, which are being taken offline at a much faster pace than usual. A chief example of this is NBA 2K25, which will be removed from digital storefronts on October 31 and will have its servers sunset on December 31.
Representative Torres said, “When you pay for a game, you should own it..Consumers must have the right to own, the right to play, and the right to transfer the games they buy. 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. Families in the Bronx and across the country save up to buy these games, and they deserve better than a license that can vanish at any time. The Power To The Players Act ensures consumers own what they buy and can keep playing long after a company moves on.”
Under this bill, should it become a law, when someone buys a video game, they will be given ownership rather than just a license to play it. Titles with online functionality will also be required to provide an offline mode before the servers are permanently shut down.
Regardless of whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, this is something we, as gamers, should unite for. I mean, who wouldn’t want to actually own the game they bought with their own money, right?
Who knows? At the very least, perhaps this might push Sony to roll out something similar to Xbox’s disc-to-digital program? At least that way, people will still be able to trade and sell their games.
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