Steam now warns: You do not own the games you are purchasing

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law that forces digital stores, such as Steam, Epic Games and many others, to tell customers that they are just obtaining a license to use the game/software in question — rather than suggesting that they actually own the product.

With the law in force since last month, now Steam is one of the platforms that warn players that they are only purchasing one license to play a game at checkout. During the transaction process, the following message appears: “Purchasing a digital product grants a license to the product on Steam.”

Popularization of digital media requires a new model of transparency

Although this warning has existed for some time, they were in small lines on the terms and conditions pages — but now they are in a prominent place where the player can read it without any major problems.

At the time of the election, the justification for these warnings to be clearer came due to the popularization of digital platforms — as physical media has been losing more and more space.

Transparency message warning that the player is only purchasing one license for the game.Fonte: VGC

“As retailers continue to move away from the sale of physical media, the need for consumer protection when purchasing digital media has become increasingly important,” said Jacqui Irwin, a member of the California Assembly, in a statement.]

“I thank the governor for signing AB 2426 [projeto de lei]ensuring that false and misleading advertising from digital media sellers, incorrectly telling consumers that they own their purchases, becomes a thing of the past,” concluded Irwin.

The Crew is a great case to illustrate the situation

With the new law, cases such as The Crewfrom Ubisoft, will be more transparent for customers. In March of this year, the French publisher simply shut down the game’s servers, which is currently inaccessible on any platform.

With the new law, cases like The Crew will be more transparent.Source: Ubisoft

“After nearly a decade of support, we will decommission The Crew on March 31, 2024,” Ubisoft said at the time. “We understand this may be disappointing for players who are still enjoying the game, but it is necessary due to upcoming server infrastructure and licensing restrictions.”

Certainly, the decision made the racing game inaccessible on all platforms and raised the debate: Do players actually own the games they buy?

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