from the stop-killing-games dept

The Stop Killing Games movement appears to still be alive and well. The grassroots campaign to legislate out the practice of gaming companies selling games that they neuter or render unplayable in whole or part later when shutting down backend server support has had its ups and downs, to be sure. An effort to pass legislation in the EU, one which gained 1 million signatures for its petition, ultimately failed to progress into law. Allies in California are attempting similar state legislation, despite heavy and disingenuous lobbying from the likes of the ESA. This is all a lesson in the old saying that progress isn’t linear, as the public becomes more and more aware of the issue even as old and monied interests keep laws from being passed for now.

But this isn’t going away. And now we’re bypassing the state level in attempt to craft federal American legislation for digital games ownership, with Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York introducing a bill that would grant ownership rights to the public when it comes to the purchase of digital video games.

The bill, known as The Power to the Players Act, would direct the Fedral Trade Commission (FTC) to establish regulations that would protect gamers and their digital libraries. In short, Torres wants to ensure that when you buy a digital game, you actually own it, as opposed to getting a license that can be revoked. Additionally, the bill would require online games to have offline functionality, so that when servers are shut down, the content can still be played by those who own the game.

“Consumers must have the right to own, the right to play, and the right to transfer the games they buy,” Torres said in a press release. “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.”

The power in a bill like this is chiefly how it entirely bypasses the question of indecipherable language buried in EULAs and TOS notices that come with digital games. It’s not saying the public needs to be better informed. It’s not a law about disclaimers, or the language that comes with documents for a digital game. It’s far more simple than that: this temporary license bullshit ends and it ends now.

Were it to be passed, this would have huge ramifications on the industry and where it’s currently trending. More and more games aren’t bothering with physical releases. Sony is nixing physical media for the next PlayStation console entirely. The industry has, in large part, decided that digital games will be the future of its business, which puts enormous emphasis on what a buyer’s rights are when it comes to those games.

Conferring what is essentially right of first sale rights for digital purchases is perhaps a step even further than the Stop Killing Games movement went. But it’s also one that makes a ton of sense. If these games bought are truly bought, then of course the public has a right to resell their own property. That has implications for storefronts like Steam as well, which will need to work with publishers to figure out how to manage such transfers. Making it so games remain playable after the publisher decides a game’s lifespan has ended has become table stakes to those larger ownership questions.

The lobbying against this bill will be furious. I very much doubt that this first attempt will result in codified law. But this version of the Overton window appears to be shifting, or at least widening. The public and lawmakers are becoming more and more aware of the questions about, and problems with, the digital games economy. With enough momentum, it’s hard to imagine that some version of legislation doesn’t pass eventually.

Filed Under: ftc, ownership, power to the players act, ritchie torres, stop killing games, video games