Thought you had your games on Steam? Think again, because Valve makes it clear that you have a license for them

Views on owning digital games are sure to change soon, as Steam clarifies that the games you pay for are actually just licenses to play them.

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the modern law which means that digital storefronts must clearly state that when you buy something digitally, whether it’s a movie, game, album, ebook, etc., you only own a license to it (assuming you don’t buy DRM protection -free digital item). The reason for this law is to ensure that “false and deceptive advertising by digital media sellers who falsely tell consumers that they own their purchases will become a thing of the past.”

For all gamers out there, this means that PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo will need to have a little warning that when you buy a game from their stores, you’re only buying a license for the game. Now Steam has already implemented this before the regulations come into force next year. If you go to Steam and add the game to your cart, you will see a message saying “Purchase of a digital product grants you a license to the product on Steam.” I doubt it will stop as many people from using Steam, it will create the sunk cost fallacy and so on, but it might get more users to at least start thinking more broadly about digital property.

Another PC game store, GOG, had some cheeky answer about the change on Steam, writing on Twitter: “Since checkout banners are so popular, we’re considering adding them ourselves. What do you think about this?” with a screenshot of a shopping cart on a page with the message “When you purchase a digital product on GOG, you receive offline installers that cannot be taken away from you.” For some context, all games on GOG are DRM-free, which means they are not checked to see if you have a license to play them – they are simply installed on your computer for as long as you want, with no way for you to leave them. it’s taken away.

In addition to sites like GOG offering DRM-free games, you’ll be seeing a lot more news like this on Steam next year. Maybe it would be nice if some regulations could be put in place to make more storefronts release stuff without DRM, but I guess in petite steps.