LogInTransparency is always good.
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It seems it's time for players to finally come to terms with the fact they don't own video games, as more and more companies show disclaimers more clearly and obviously now.
Reddit users have recently noticed that Steam displays a warning in your cart saying purchasing a digital product grants you a license for the product on Steam. Full disclosure: I usually don't pay attention to such things, so I can't say for sure, but it seems like it's a new addition, which leads you to full terms and conditions.
"Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a non-exclusive license and right, to use the Content and Services for your personal, non-commercial use (except where commercial use is expressly allowed herein or in the applicable Subscription Terms). This license ends upon termination of (a) this Agreement or (b) a Subscription that includes the license. The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services."
It seems like California's law encouraging transparency is already working: recently, SEGA has also explicitly mentioned a lack of ownership rights for those purchasing its Metaphor: ReFantazio.
To be clear: nobody says licensing games is something new, but at least knowing beforehand that developers can shut down their games and leave you with nothing but memories is an important step in this inevitable situation.
But players have all the right to be unhappy about it. One of them, YouTuber Ross Scott, started an initiative against companies canceling games after Ubisoft shut down The Crew servers. I'm not sure where it will lead, but if you agree with him, support this movement.
Steam is not the only place to buy PC games. There is also GOG, which reacted to the story by offering to add its own disclaimer saying, "A purchase of a digital product on GOG grants you its offline installers, which cannot be taken away from you."
This, of course, doesn't mean GOG operates any differently from Steam in terms of licenses, so don't get too excited.
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