Support us on Patreon
PayPalThe Stop Killing Games group are celebrating an initial early win for the California Protect Our Games Act as it passed a key hurdle.
What is the Protect Our Games Act? In real simple terms - it's asking to amend the law in the US so that developers of digital games cannot just entirely take away the ability to play it. For games with online servers this would require developers to give proper notice on ceasing operations, and to provide either a way to play the game after their servers shut or to give refunds.
For certain games that contain all sorts of micro-transactions, DLC and big complicated connected servers (those bigger games designed around them), simply ripping out all the needed server infrastructure may not be simple to do. Even so, this writer is of the opinion that if you fork out your hard earned cash on a game - it shouldn't be taken entirely away from you.
The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) trade group tried lobbying against it, but it seems in this case it wasn't enough to stop it progressing - so no doubt they will now amp up their efforts against it.
As of May 14th the California State Assembly Appropriations Committee voted yes (11 for, 2 against) to move the bill forward to the assembly floor after amendments to target newer games (it specifically mentions "available for purchase on or after January 1, 2027"). It's nowhere near done yet though, it has a few more hurdles to go before it actually gets a pass or fail.
It will be very interesting to see what happens if this actually passes and if other US states and countries will then follow it.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
See more from me
You can also find comments for this article on social media: 
Quoting: LachuI think there should be only putting text: „We can block to ran this game at all without reasons at any time”. That's what should be enough. People would not buy right to play this kind of game if they read this text and do not agree.I doubt it'd work if they added they could also legally shoot you if you complain about it.
I agree this needs to be regulated. The industry has become firmly anti-consumer.
Kimyrielle 14 hours ago
Quoting: LachuI think there should be only putting text: „We can block to ran this game at all without reasons at any time”. That's what should be enough. People would not buy right to play this kind of game if they read this text and do not agree.I think most gamers have realized by now that devs can shut down a game for any or no reason at all, on any day they wish. They're still buying these games, among things because every single dev on the planet is doing it. I don't think the free market will fix this.
Quoting: LachuI think there should be only putting text: „We can block to ran this game at all without reasons at any time”. That's what should be enough. People would not buy right to play this kind of game if they read this text and do not agree.There is a review on steam currently for subnautica 2 where the reviewer outlines some over the top EULA stuff. There are 30+ pages of replies. 75% of said replies are people saying variations of "not reading all that, loser, just play the game".
As this kind of language becomes more normalized, people will become desensitized to it. I fear we are already there with most people. They not only don't want to read a EULA, but even if someone spoon feeds them the concerning parts, they simply don't care.
I know people hem and haw about "you don't own the game, you are granted a license", but I haven't seen anyone stop buying games (or any digital media) because of licensing. I think this kind of stuff will continue to become more "oppressive", but at the same time I suspect 99% of the time the end user will not have any reason to complain. Still, 1% of gamers is still a LOT of people. Will it be enough to roll back the dystopia? I'm hopeful, but pessemistic.
How to setup OpenMW for modern Morrowind on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck
How to install Hollow Knight: Silksong mods on Linux, SteamOS and Steam Deck