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NY announces game ownership bill requiring ownership rather than licensing
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New York Rep. Ritchie Torres introduced the Power To The Players Act, directing the FTC to regulate video game ownership. The bill would make buying a game grant ownership rather than a license to play it. It would also require publishers to provide an offline mode before shutting down online servers.
The proposal responds to anger over games that become unplayable after publishers end support. In 2024, Ubisoft shut down The Crew, an online-only racer, leaving recent buyers unable to play even its single-player campaign. The shutdown helped spark Stop Killing Games, which demands offline modes, peer-to-peer patching, and community servers.
Torres cited NBA 2K25 as a key example. The basketball game is being pulled from digital storefronts, and its online servers close only two years after release. That leaves players unable to access a main feature and new players unable to buy it. Overwatch 2 similarly replaced the original Overwatch, making the first game unavailable.
Pennsylvania State Sen. John Kane recently introduced the Protect Our Games Act. That state bill would require publishers to offer an offline mode, community servers, or a minimum 25% refund. New York’s federal bill goes further by targeting ownership itself and directing the FTC to write binding rules.
The legislation faces likely industry opposition. Sony’s lawyers argued in an ongoing class action that clicking “purchase” does not give consumers a durable right to a game, only a revocable license. Publishers generally prefer license-based sales because they preserve control over access and monetization.
Concrete definitions and details of the Power To The Players Act have not been released. It remains unclear whether the right to transfer ownership would apply to digital purchases or mainly physical copies. The bill’s success will depend on how strictly it defines ownership and what rights owners hold over their copies.
