U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has announced plans to introduce the Power To The Players Act, a federal bill that would direct the FTC to write rules making a game purchase actual ownership rather than a revocable license. Games that rely on online servers would also need to offer an offline mode before those servers are switched off, and players would keep the right to transfer the games they buy. The bill hasn't been formally introduced yet, so there's no bill text, and Torres hasn't confirmed any cosponsors.
Torres pointed to NBA 2K25 as the example. The game sold for $69.99, or $99.99 for the All-Star Edition, and it leaves digital storefronts on October 30, with online servers shutting down at the end of the year, roughly two years after launch. When you pay for a game, you should own it.
Consumers must have the right to own, the right to play, and the right to transfer the games they buy. A game that can be taken away the moment a company pulls the plug is not a purchase. It is a rental disguised as a sale.
Families in the Bronx and across the country save up to buy these games, and they deserve better than a license that can vanish at any time. The Power To The Players Act ensures consumers own what they buy and can keep playing long after a company moves on. The push follows the Stop Killing Games campaign, which gathered nearly 1.3 million verified signatures in the EU, only for the European Commission to decline a legal obligation in June and offer talks on a voluntary industry code instead.
California's Protect Our Games Act also stalled in a state Senate committee, with the ESA opposing it. A federal bill faces an even longer road, and the transfer right in particular would effectively mean digital resale that no major storefront allows today, so heavy industry pushback seems likely.
Source: TechPowerUp News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing