US Rep Ritchie Torres Announces Power To The Players Act to Give Game Buyers

US Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has announced a bill that would give video game buyers ownership of their purchases instead of a licence to play, Ars Technica reported. It is called the Power To The Players Act.

Inven Global reported that Torres made the announcement on October 15 (local time). The bill has not yet been formally introduced. It would still need committee review and votes in Congress before it could take effect.

What the bill would require

The bill directs the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to write regulations protecting digital game consumers. Inven Global listed three core points.

• Buying a game would give the consumer ownership, not a licence.
• Games with online features would have to offer an offline mode before their servers are shut down.
• Buyers would keep the right to transfer or resell games they have purchased.

Ars Technica noted that the announcement does not require servers to stay online. Some earlier proposals did demand that, and drew criticism over the cost.

Ars Technica said the wording of Torres' press release might still meet pushback, because normally online-only games would need to support offline play.

NBA 2K25 as the test case

The announcement names NBA 2K25 as an example of the problem. The basketball game launched on September 6, 2024. Ars Technica said it is scheduled to become unplayable on December 31 because its servers are being shut down.

Inven Global added that digital storefronts and developers have long written into their terms of service that buyers receive only a licence. Games that need an online connection have been shutting down one after another, it said, leaving owners unable to launch them.

Calls for protection have grown louder among players as a result.

Torres on the pitch

Torres said consumers must have the right to own, play and transfer the games they buy. He described a game that can be taken away once a company pulls the plug as a rental sold as a purchase.

He also said families in the Bronx and across the country save up for these games. They deserve better than a licence that can disappear, he said.

Ars Technica reported that Torres has called the bill a return to the historical norm. He pointed to how most players experienced games in the 1990s.

Physical media and the wider fight

Ars Technica placed the bill alongside protests over Sony's plan to stop releasing PlayStation games on physical media.

Sony's latest earnings report put digital downloads at 82 percent of full-game unit sales across PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 for the covered fiscal year.

Discs do not settle the ownership question, Ars Technica said. Many disc games still need online servers. End-user licence agreements typically describe a revocable licence even when the files come on physical media.

Patches can also make the shipped version differ from the one players know.

The outlet also pointed to the Stop Killing Games campaign, one of the activist efforts pushing for change. It said bills proposed around the world have taken different approaches.

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