The business looks to be getting ahead of a law that will go into effect in the state of California the following year.
According to a notification that was discovered by Engadget, Steam appears to have begun showing a notice in its shopping cart that states that transactions made on its marketplace are just for a license and not a game. It seems as though the corporation is making an effort to stay ahead of a new regulation that will be implemented in California the following year. This law will require businesses to acknowledge that customers do not genuinely own digital property.
A notification appears in the bottom right corner of the screen when you open your shopping cart with items already inside. The notification reads, “A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam.” Since this is the first time that our editors have come across a notice of this nature (and considering how frequently we use Steam), it will look to be rather recent.
AB 2426 was passed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom of California last month. This law mandates that digital marketplaces must make it apparent to customers when they merely acquire a license to access media. It is only going to apply to digital copies of video games, music, movies, television series, or ebooks that are purchased from an online outlet. It will not apply to permanent offline downloads. If they fail to provide a clear explanation of the restrictions of a particular digital purchase, businesses that do not comply with the regulations may be subject to fines for engaging in deceptive advertising. The regulation was enacted in response to incidents such as Ubisoft removing The Crew from the libraries of players after the servers for the game were shut down.