Digital DRM Reckoning: 'Buying' Means Ownership or a Rental? New York's Power to the Players Act
By Arash Latifi — Founder, The DevArt
New York's Power to the Players Act wants digital purchases to be actual ownership. Why this isn't just about games — and what it signals for every digital seller.
TL;DR — NY Rep. Ritchie Torres introduced the Power To The Players Act: buying a digital game should convey ownership, not a revocable license, and online games must ship an offline mode before servers shut down. The ripple effect reaches far beyond games.
Where this came from
Per Tom's Hardware's report, the bill has two core pillars:
- Buying a digital game would give the consumer ownership of the game rather than a license to play it.
- Games with online functionality would be required to provide an offline mode before their servers shut down.
It isn't the first move: Pennsylvania senator John Kane recently introduced the Protect Our Games Act, requiring publishers to offer an offline mode, community servers, or a 25% minimum refund.
Why now? Because lawyers said the quiet part out loud. In an ongoing class action, Sony's defense argued that clicking "purchase" would not lead a consumer to believe they were acquiring a durable right to use the game — only a revocable license. Effectively, a one-time rental fee.
The burned examples
| Example | What happened | Result for buyers | | --- | --- | --- | | The Crew (Ubisoft, 2024) | Servers shut down; even single-player depended on Ubisoft's servers | Game unplayable for everyone | | NBA 2K25 | Pulled from storefronts, online servers shut two years after release | Core feature broken for existing buyers | | Overwatch 2 | Its release outright replaced the first game | The copy you owned effectively died |
The Crew shutdown sparked the Stop Killing Games movement — demanding offline modes, peer-to-peer patching, and community servers after support ends. Its slogan: "If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing."
Why sellers should care even if you don't sell games
The bigger signal: customers are learning to ask "what exactly did I buy, and who can take it away?" That expectation is spreading to every digital product:
- Downloadable products — does the customer own the file, or can you revoke it from your panel?
- Subscriptions — what happens to the customer's data (orders, addresses, content) after cancellation?
- Platforms — if you switch providers, do customer records come with you?
The seller who states clearly "this is yours, you can export it, it's backed up" wins trust without spending on ads.
Transparency checklist for digital sellers
- [ ] Define what "purchase" actually grants (file ownership? access? license?)
- [ ] Offer re-downloadable, backed-up files for digital products
- [ ] Write down what happens to customer data when a subscription is cancelled
- [ ] If you run the infrastructure, provide an offline path or data export
- [ ] Write license terms in plain sentences, not a link to ten PDF pages
- [ ] Keep an alternative route for past buyers if you discontinue a product or service
What happens next
Concrete definitions and details of the bill haven't been released yet — Tom's Hardware notes the bill must still strictly define what ownership means and what rights owners have. But the direction is clear: regulators want to police what you sold, not just how much. If you run a digital business, write your own answer before the law writes it for you.
Q: Do I need to comply with this law now?
No — this is a bill introduced in New York, with no final text or implementation details yet. But the market direction is clear; now is the best time to make your sales policies transparent before it becomes mandatory.
Q: What's the difference between a license and ownership?
A license is a revocable right to use — the platform can cut access at any time. Ownership means the purchased copy belongs to you and can't be taken back. This bill is about converting the former into the latter.
Q: Where do I start for my own store?
Simplest step: on each product page, state exactly what the customer gets, how they re-download it, and what happens to their purchase if the service shuts down. Those three sentences build more trust than most ads.
Sources
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/new-york-rep-announces-game-ownership-bill-that-would-require-consumer-ownership-rather-than-sale-of-licenses-would-also-require-publishers-to-keep-the-game-functional-after-support-ends
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50136536