Video game ownership bill introduced in Congress

Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York’s 15th congressional district in the Bronx introduced the Power To The Players Act this week. If passed, the bill would direct the Federal Trade Commission to establish regulations that guarantee consumers ownership of a game when they pay for it, rather than a licensing agreement.

It’s increasingly common for games sold to require a connection to a server. Meaning that when a company decides to shut down those servers, the games often become unplayable. Rep. Torres singles out NBA 2K25 as a recent example. 2K will be delisting the game from storefronts at the end of the month and shutting down its servers on December 31st, limiting its playability.

Concerns around ownership, the ability to play, resell, or transfer games have drawn attention recently following Sony’s announcement that it planned to phase out physical game discs in 2028. In a statement announcing the bill, Rep. Torres said, “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.”

The bill would not only give players ownership of a game, “rather than a license to play it,” but also require developers to institute an offline mode before shutting down supporting servers. That is similar to the Protect Our Games Act introduced by State Sen. John Kane in Pennsylvania, which would require companies to provide an offline gaming mode, an online gaming mode independent of the company’s servers, or a minimum 25 percent refund when titles are being sunset.