California Governor Gavin Newsom has reportedly signed a law titled ‘AB 2426’ which will push back against the potential disappearance of purchases of digital games, movies, music, and ebooks. The law comes into effect next year. Under the new legislation, digital storefronts have to make it clear to customers that they’re simply getting a revocable license to use the digital media of the store – they don’t actually own it.
Digital storefronts will be banned from using terms like ‘buy’ or ‘purchase’ unless they clearly inform customers that they’re not getting unrestricted access to what they’re buying. Storefronts must also provide a list of all the restrictions that come along with purchasing the license, and companies that break the rule could be fined for false advertising. This new law won’t apply to stores that offer ‘permanent offline’ downloads (eg.
GOG.com) but will be felt keenly by storefronts offering digital purchases like Amazon, Apple, Steam, etc. The aim to increase consumer protections on the purchase of digital media comes as a response to events such as Ubisoft deleting player accounts for its shut down live service game “The Crew”.
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