According to a notice spotted by Engadget, Steam has started posting a notice in shopping carts stating that purchases on the storefront are only for licenses, not games. This appears to be the company’s move ahead of a new California law that goes into effect next year that will force companies to acknowledge that buyers don’t actually own digital content.
When you open your shopping cart with items in it and before proceeding to checkout, you’ll see a notification in the bottom right corner that says, “Purchasing a digital product entitles you to the product on Steam.” This is the first time our editors have seen a notification like this (we use Steam a lot), so it seems to be relatively new.
Engadget
Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2426, requiring digital marketplaces to clearly tell customers when they are only purchasing a license to access media. This does not apply to permanent offline downloads, only to digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows, and e-books from online storefronts. Businesses that do not comply could be fined for false advertising if they do not explain certain digital purchase restrictions in clear language. The law comes in the wake of situations such as Ubisoft removing The Crew from players’ libraries after the game’s servers were shut down.
