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Doing the rounds across the net right now is a small update to the Steam checkout process when you're making a purchase, to make it clear you don't own what you buy.

Valve added a note (I don't entirely know when), to mention how "A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam" with a link to the Steam Subscriber Agreement. As you can see in my shot below taken today when testing a purchase:

Of course, there's already a lot of misinformation going around about this from people on social media. To remind everyone: this has always been the case. The Steam Subscriber Agreement says (if you bothered to read it, you all read agreements right?) "The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services".

So while this has always been the case, it is still somewhat buried because most people just quickly scroll through these things to get access to what they want. At least now, Valve has put it upfront every time you make a license purchase on Steam.

Why is all this happening now? You can likely thank a new California law on this (AB 2426) that is summarised as:

Existing law makes it unlawful for any person doing business in California and advertising to consumers in California to make any false or misleading advertising claim. Existing law makes a person who violates specified false advertising provisions liable for a civil penalty, as specified, and provides that a person who violates those false advertising provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This bill would, subject to specified exceptions, additionally prohibit a seller of a digital good from advertising or offering for sale a digital good, as defined, to a purchaser with the terms buy, purchase, or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a time-limited rental, unless the seller receives at the time of each transaction an affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser, or the seller provides to the consumer before executing each transaction a clear and conspicuous statement, as specified. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

GOG took the opportunity to jump into this as well on Twitter / X with a post suggesting they will be adding a note onto their checkout process too, to say that their offline installers they offer cannot be taken away from you:

The new law doesn't seem to actually affect GOG, since in the main bill text it does specifically note it does not apply if they have access to a permanent offline download. However, it should be noted GOG also sell you a license as per their own terms. So while the new bill may not apply to them, this little jibe only really properly works if people are backing up all of their GOG purchases. Since you only get a license, rights holders could still technically get GOG to entirely remove them.

I should also note that this situation is the same for most physical media too, it's not a digital distribution only issue for consumers. Much like GOG's offline installers, you have access to your physical media whenever you want, but you still only get a license for the media you have on disc - you do not own it.

Over to you in the comments, what are your thoughts?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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60 comments
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Desum Oct 13
Shame GOG's Linux support is rather... lacking. Wine not withstanding.
pb Oct 13
No matter how people want to cook it, it's still the same: all software you buy, download, use - you do it based on a licence, and that includes open source programs. GOG may rightfully boast offline installers, but on Steam you can also make a backup of the files and many (if not most) games can be played without Steam running.
What is ownership?
ShabbyX Oct 13
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualWhat is ownership?

You don't know? Please read the manual!
Mal Oct 13
  • Supporter
Yeah a lot of misinformation on this. Ofc one will always buy just a license. The actual consumer battle is on what this license enables you to do (play on whatever machine you want, mod the game, play off line, perpetual validity, etc). Legislators should just focus on this.
Brisse Oct 13
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualWhat is ownership?

A concept invented by the bourgeoisie to enforce class society and the domination over the oppressed peoples of the world by the ruling class.

Is that the answer you were looking for?
14 Oct 13
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Yeah, it's not new. We have accepted the way this is I suppose.

I want to add that there are many DRM-free games on Steam which you can back up similarly to GOG games. The difference is GOG lets you store the installer. With Steam games, you crudely compress one or two game folders (depending on whether it's using Proton). You would not want to rely on Steam's built-in backup tool.
1xok Oct 13
We all know that owning closed source doesn't mean much. Without projects like Proton and Pressure Vessel, many things will no longer work in the future without having to perform pull-ups.

For me, that's also the gap with GOG. At some point, people would be sitting on gigabytes of binary data. Most of it for on premise Windows.


Last edited by 1xok on 13 October 2024 at 3:33 pm UTC
Koopa Oct 13
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualWhat is ownership?

a word that cannot be translated literally into spanish?
sourpuz Oct 13
I demand we be able to print out the source code and preserve it in book form!
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