There comes a point in the lives of most seasoned Steam buyers when they wonder what would happen if their account was canceled or stolen, or maybe they just stopped breathing. It's scary to think about how many games in your portfolio will never be played; Even scarier is the thought that, in the truest sense of the word, you don't own any of them.
Now Valve, apparently working to comply with a new California law that targets “false advertising” of “digital goods,” has added language to its checkout page to confirm that idea. “Purchasing a digital product grants you a license to the product on Steam,” Steam's cart now tells its customers, with a link to the Steam Subscriber Agreement below.
California's AB2426, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 26, excludes subscription-only services, free-to-play games, and digital products that offer “permanent offline downloading to an external storage source for offline use.” to the Internet”. Otherwise, sellers of digital goods cannot use the terms “buy, acquire” or related terms that “confer an unlimited ownership interest in the digital good.” And they must explain, conspicuously, in plain language, that “the digital good is a license” and link it to the terms and conditions.