Digital Game Ownership: US Bill Protects Gamers [Confirmed]

United States Representative Ritchie Torres has formally proposed the Power to the Players Act in Washington to prevent gaming corporations from unilaterally disabling, deleting, or revoking access to digitally purchased video game licenses without providing full consumer refunds or offline play options. According to verified reports from Game Rant, the Congressional initiative arrives amidst fierce consumer backlash over sunsetted live-service titles and physical disc obsolescence sparked by recent platform manufacturing pivots. The bill mandates clear statutory distinctions between purchasing a permanent software license and entering a temporary licensing lease. Under the draft legislation, storefronts like Steam, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Nintendo eShop must clearly disclose ownership terms at checkout while prohibiting publishers from shuttering functional single-player modes when central multiplayer servers go dark. Torres noted that consumer rights must evolve alongside software distribution models, drawing comparisons to labor and studio tensions seen when [Call of Duty MW4: Activision QA Votes to Strike [Confirmed]](/news/activision-testers-strike-vote-mw4) over corporate software management. The proposal seeks binding FTC enforcement to hold multi-billion-dollar publishers legally liable for library erasures.