New California Law Requires Digital Stores To Admit You Don't Own The Content

Summary

• A new California law will effectively "ban" digital storefronts from using the words "Buy" or "Purchase" for digital goods that are essentially licenses.
• Those storefronts will now be required to explicitly inform consumers that they are purchasing a license that can be revoked at any time for any reason.
• The law comes as a result of companies like Ubisoft revoking access to purchased games, leaving consumers wondering what ownership means in this age.

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.

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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 to Ubisoft taking The Crew offline permanently, as well as 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 devices before a new licensing agreement came into effect.

Elsewhere, Steam users discovered via a forum response that an account and its library cannot be transferred to another person upon death. Giving your password to someone else to inherit your library is also against the Steam Subscriber Agreement.

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.

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