Power To The Players Act Aims To Ban Digital Game Licenses Disguised As Sales

Sony’s decision to no longer support physical game disc releases on its consoles after 2027 has kicked up a hornet’s nest in the gaming community and shined a spotlight to the realities of digital game purchases. It has led to a new bill designed to bring actual ownership of digital games, instead of the current system of licenses that are ultimately under the control of publishers.

Representative Ritchie Torres of New York’s 15th Congressional District will be introducing the Power to the Players Act to Congress. This piece of legislation would instruct the Federal Trade Commission to draft rules and regulations that are designed to protect a customer’s ability to own and play the games that they purchase from digital storefronts.

Torres says that “consumers must have the right to own, the right to play, and the right to transfer the games they buy. A game that can be taken away the moment a company pulls the plug is not a purchase. It is a rental disguised as a sale.”


This bill isn’t just meant tackle matters of game ownership, either. It also mandates that when a publisher decides it can no longer support online game modes then it must provide players will the ability to continue to play the game in an offline mode. Players who invest a lot of time and money into games that lean heavily on their online component, such as The Crew, would be big beneficiaries if this bill becomes law.

Of course, the Power to the Players act will face an uphill battle before it becomes law. Video game publishers will likely be lobbying hard against this bill ever getting out of the House of Representatives because the current landscape is to their benefit. However, just having this bill introduced is a big win for players and could potentially pressure publishers to make changes without the law itself passing.