Congress has a radical idea: Let people own the games they buy

U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (NY-15) is making headlines this month for proposing a bill of legislation that aims to give you ownership of the games you buy, rather than the current commonplace practice of selling you a license to play that game which can be revoked at any time.

Rep. Torres announced the bill (branded the “Power To The Players Act”) is intended to “direct the Federal Trade Commission to establish regulations protecting consumers’ ability to own and play the video games they purchase.” In addition to giving someone who buys a game full ownership of the game instead of just a license to play it, games with online modes would be required to provide an offline mode if the servers they rely on for functionality are ever shut down.