Buying a video game digitally should mean you can keep playing it for years, but that isn’t always guaranteed. Now, Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY) wants to change that with proposed legislation that could give gamers more control over the games they purchase.
The proposed Power To The Players Act would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish rules protecting consumers’ ability to own and play the video games they purchase. The proposal comes as the industry shifts toward digital downloads, subscriptions and cloud gaming, raising questions about what happens when publishers pull games from stores or shut down their servers.
What Is the Power To The Players Act?
According to Torres’ announcement, the legislation would establish new protections for people who purchase video games, with a focus on ownership and long-term access.
The proposal centers on three key changes:
- Digital game ownership: Buying a game would give consumers ownership rather than merely a license to play it.
- The right to transfer or resell games: Players would have greater ability to transfer games they purchase, potentially creating a path for a secondhand market for digital games.
- Offline access after server shutdowns: Games with online functionality would be required to provide an offline mode before their supporting servers are shut down.
The goal is to give consumers more control over purchases they expect to keep using, even after a publisher stops supporting a game.
“When you pay for a game, you should own it,” Torres said in the announcement. He also argued that a game that disappears when a company shuts down its services is “a rental disguised as a sale.”
The proposed legislation would address a growing concern among gamers who have spent money on digital libraries but have limited control over how long they can access certain titles.
NBA 2K25 Highlights a Growing Problem
In the announcement, Torres pointed to NBA 2K25 as an example of why digital ownership matters. The game originally sold for $69.99 for the standard edition and $99.99 for the All-Star Edition. According to his office, it will be removed from digital storefronts on October 30, 2026, with its online servers scheduled to shut down on December 31.
Although delisting a game doesn’t automatically mean existing buyers lose access, shutting down servers leaves players completely unable to use online features.
Furthermore, the issue extends beyond one game. Cord Cutters News previously explored how gaming increasingly resembles the streaming TV market, where subscriptions and cloud services offer access to libraries without requiring players to own titles outright.
Still, physical ownership remains crucial to many players. A July 2026 YouGov survey cited in that report found that 51% of U.S. console gamers preferred discs over digital games, with 81% of those players citing permanent ownership as the primary reason.
However, this preference is facing a looming shift, as Sony plans to stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation games beginning in January 2028. While digital downloads offer convenience, they raise critical questions about long-term access and account restrictions.
Physical copies traditionally offer more flexibility because owners can lend or resell a disc. However, even physical media no longer guarantees a permanent experience, as many modern disc-based games still require internet downloads and functioning external servers to work.
Meanwhile, these anxieties aren’t limited to gaming. A recent proposed class-action lawsuit against Amazon challenges how the e-commerce giant markets digital movies and TV shows as “purchases” when long-term access remains dependent on underlying licensing agreements. While the allegations have not been proven in court, the dispute highlights a compounding legal question: what do consumers actually receive when they pay to “own” digital content?
The Power To The Players Act would bring that debate directly to video games, where digital purchases, account-based libraries and online services are increasingly common.
What Happens Next and What Could the Bill Mean for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and PC Gamers?
The Power To The Players Act could change how digital purchases work across PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and PC gaming platforms. Publishers and storefronts could face new requirements for game ownership, transfers and plans for shutting down online services.
However, the proposal is not law. Torres’ office has announced plans to introduce the legislation, but its announcement does not include a bill number or full legislative text. Congress would still need to pass it before the proposed protections could take effect, followed by the FTC’s rulemaking process.
For now, gamers shouldn’t expect immediate changes to their digital libraries. But as more games move online, the proposal raises a question that will only become more important: when you pay for a game, should you own it, or are you only paying for access that could eventually disappear?
