You don’t own the games in your Steam library. Going forward, you’ll be reminded of this fact every time you buy a game from the Steam digital storefront.
The Steam checkout page now features the following notice: “a purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam.” Valve has not provided an explanation for the notice, though it appears to be in compliance with California Assembly Bill 2426. Good ol’ AB2426 was signed into law last month and forces digital storefronts to disclose when a purchase does not constitute legal ownership. Items bought on Steam are licensed, not owned, so they should be accompanied by such a disclosure.
AB2426 won’t be enforced until next year. Steam is one of the only (and possibly the first) major digital storefronts to proactively comply with the new law. And, notably, Steam has chosen to show its digital licensing notice to all customers, not just those in the state of California. We could spend all day weighing the pros and cons of Steam’s policy, but in any case, it’s good to see some honesty.
It’s also good to know that AB2426 will benefit consumers around the world. Some companies will refuse to comply with this law outside of California, but Valve has shown that a global approach may be more convenient or cost-effective. Other tech-related legislation, like Oregon’s Right-to-Repair law, may enjoy a similar global reach.
However, I should point out that AB2426 cannot alleviate the negative effects of digital content licensing. It simply curbs false advertising. Companies like Sony, Ubisoft, or Amazon are still allowed to rip digital purchases away from customers, shut down game servers, and so on. If anything, AB2426 may aid these companies in lawsuits related to digital licensing. A customer who encounters a clearly-worded digital licensing notice when purchasing a movie, game, or ebook can’t argue that they were duped by false advertising.
Source: Steam via Engadget
