Steam notice clarifies: Purchased games do not belong to you
A Californian law forces providers of digitally distributed software and music to state whether ownership or a right of use is being sold.
(Image: Rokas Tenys/Shutterstock.com)
A notice has recently appeared in the shopping cart in the online store of the gaming platform Steam stating that when purchasing a digital product, i.e. software, only a license is acquired and not ownership. This is presumably the platform's response to the consumer protection law AB 2426, which recently came into force in the US state of California and prohibits providers of digital goods (software, games, eBooks, music titles, etc.) from using the terms "buy", "purchase", etc. if potential buyers are not clearly informed of the conditions and usage restrictions of the license. For example, that the seller can unilaterally revoke access to the purchased goods if he no longer holds the rights to them.
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The change does not only affect US customers. This notice now also appears in the German version of the Steam client (see screenshot). In the lengthy small print, Steam has long pointed out that, in principle, only a license to use is acquired when purchasing a game: "The license granted to you does not confer any ownership rights to and in relation to the contractual content and services." The notice in the shopping cart now explicitly points this out with every purchase.
(Image:Â c't / Christian Hirsch)
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