US Representative Ritchie Torres Proposes Power to Your Players Act
US Representative Ritchie Torres announced a federal legislative proposal named the Power to Your Players Act to rewrite the legal framework governing digital and physical video game purchases, Der Standard reported. The measure aims to dismantle the prevailing industry practice where consumers acquire only a revocable or time-limited license instead of genuine ownership.
FTC Would Mandate Ownership Rights for Video Games
Under the proposed legislation, the Federal Trade Commission would receive a direct mandate to establish new consumer protection rules for the video game market. These regulations would require that money spent on digital and physical games results in actual ownership rights rather than conditional access. Torres criticized current distribution models in an official blog post on his website, stating that a game that can be taken away as soon as a company shuts down servers is not a purchase, but rather a rental disguised as a sale. ComputerBase noted that the proposal targets the widening gap between paying for software and retaining permanent access to it.
Offline Mandates for Server Closures
The legislative draft addresses the permanent loss of software functionality caused by corporate server shutdowns. Gamereactor Deutschland noted that while an offline mandate would preserve basic game access, it would not automatically restore shared multiplayer worlds, central leaderboards, or serverseitige progress tracking.
Sony Phases Out Discs Amid International Legal Friction
The political initiative coincides with broader commercial shifts across the entertainment industry, including Sony’s scheduled gradual phase-out of physical game discs by 2028. According to ComputerBase, the transition toward purely digital distribution has sparked friction globally. In July, the Dutch consumer association Stichting Massaschade & Consument filed a lawsuit against Sony seeking 400 million euros in compensation over alleged pricing imbalances and the exclusion of the secondhand retail market. Meanwhile, the grassroots campaign “Stop Destroying Videogames” has gathered approximately 1.3 million verified supporters demanding that publishers keep purchased software operational after official support ends.
Congress Has yet to Define Technical Preservation Requirements
While the legislative framework has been announced, formal introduction in the US Congress and subsequent committee deliberations remain pending. Specific technical requirements regarding how developers must implement offline preservation for different software architectures have not yet been defined. The proposal highlights an unresolved regulatory question for digital marketplaces worldwide: whether consumers retain long-term ownership rights to purchased software after corporate operators terminate support.