I love collecting physical games but I realize digital games aren’t all bad. Swapping seamlessly between what’s in my PlayStation 5 library is a lot less of a pain than it would be if I had to get up and swap out discs each time. I also don’t have to worry about my console library creating actual physical clutter in my home, or a digital game getting lost or broken. But I also have zero control over what Sony decides to do with my digital purchases, whether they’re compatible with future hardware, or even whether they’re still playable in a world where PSN servers eventually shut down. So what’s the solution? We’d love to hear your ideas.
While my first choice would be for Sony to back off from its decision to end PlayStation discs entirely, it’s also worth thinking about how digital game ownership should be improved in an all-digital gaming ecosystem. Kotaku broke the news on what this could look like earlier this week. Rep. Ritchie Torres announced plans to bring legislation to Congress that would provide the first step toward codifying digital ownership rights. Here’s what he thinks the Federal Trade Commission should guarantee players:
Consumers must have the right to own, the right to play, and the right to transfer the games they buy. 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. Families in the Bronx and across the country save up to buy these games, and they deserve better than a license that can vanish at any time. The Power To The Players Act ensures consumers own what they buy and can keep playing long after a company moves on.
This is effectively a blueprint for the consumer digital rights Torres would like to see enshrined into law, but there are still a lot of details to iron out, especially for the companies who would need to change how they do business to accommodate the shift, or as Torres likes to call it, a “restoration to the norm” of game ownership for most of the medium’s history. One big question is whether exceptions would be allowed for certain online multiplayer-only releases, or whether those game would all have to accommodate some sort of P2P connection to allow third-parties to continue hosting matches long after the company that shipped the game has moved on.
Another would be how to facilitate the trading of digital games. Some have suggested using blockchain technology to maintain a database of unique digital copies that can be resold on private marketplaces. Sony would probably sooner keep giving players the options to buy discs than give up that level of control over its digital ecosystem. But we’ve also seen that things like Xbox’s disc-to-digital initiative can offer people more flexibility with their game purchases. A few things seem pretty obvious though: platforms shouldn’t be allowed to unilaterally destroy, render useless, or lock you out of digital collections you’ve invested hundreds of hours and dollars into building. I should, at the very least, be able to gift my Steam account to my kids, something that’s not currently allowed.
Kotaku would love to hear what you think should be done. Tell us your thoughts on digital game ownership and how it should be improved and we’ll potentially feature your response in a roundup to be published next week. Consider this the return of the site’s long dormant Tell Us/Kotaku Asks open thread series.