Steam clarifies to players that they are acquiring a license and not a game.

Steam has begun to include a notice in its shopping cart that clarifies that purchases made on its platform correspond only to a license and not to the ownership of the game, as has been recently detected. This move appears to be a proactive response to new legislation in California that will take effect next year, which requires companies to inform buyers that they do not actually own digital content.

When a user accesses their shopping cart, a message appears in the bottom right corner stating, "Purchasing a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam." This type of notification seems to be new, as frequent users of the platform had not seen it before.

The legislation, signed last month by California Governor Gavin Newsom, is known as AB 2426. This law requires digital marketplaces to be clear with their customers about the nature of purchases, specifying that only a license for access to digital media is acquired. This regulation will not affect permanent offline downloads, but rather digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows, or ebooks purchased through an online store. Companies that do not comply with these provisions could face penalties for false advertising if they do not clearly explain the limitations of a digital purchase. The law arises as a reaction to previous incidents, such as the case of Ubisoft removing The Crew from players' libraries once the game's servers were shut down.