Overview
- Representative Ritchie Torres introduced the Power To The Players Act to force the FTC to write rules that make purchased digital games owned property rather than revocable licenses.
- The bill would require developers to provide an offline, playable mode before shutting down servers so buyers can continue to use games they paid for.
- Torres cited high-profile examples such as NBA 2K25's planned delisting and server shutdowns and industry moves toward digital-only releases as reasons for the proposal.
- As introduced the bill has no reported congressional co-sponsors and is expected to face strong lobbying from publishers and platform holders and a lengthy FTC rulemaking process.
- Advocates say the law would change storefronts, resale and transfer rules and preserve game libraries for players, while publishers warn of costs tied to DRM, licensed content and server conversion.