Media companies are going to start warning you that you might not actually own the things you buy from them.
What happened: Online video game marketplace Steam now informs customers that they are buying a license for a game, not the game itself. It’s the first platform to respond to a California law coming into effect next year that forces companies to inform customers they could lose access to the media they “buy,” or risk getting fined for false advertising.
- Though the law only applies in California, Steam appears to have put the notice up for users across markets, including Canada.
Catch-up: The California law came in response to media companies cutting off access to products customers thought they owned, a practice the video game industry has been particularly guilty of.
- Examples cited by lawmakers include Ubisoft removing its game The Crew from peoples’ libraries when the company shut down the servers the game ran on, or Sony pulling episodes of Discovery shows from the Playstation Store.
Zoom out: The law covers all digital media, including music, movies, TV shows, and ebooks. Platforms in those sectors tend to be more clear when something is rented, and the concept of streaming implies that you’re paying for the service — not the media itself — but companies will have to be clear if they adopt the practice of revoking access more widely.
Why it matters: Streaming has already shaken the concept of “owning” digital content, since your favourite music or movie could suddenly be unavailable at the whim of a company. Forcing companies to be more clear about that won’t change their business practices, but it might get people to think about how they spend their money — and perhaps contribute to the trend of growing physical media sales.