Steam now explicitly states you don’t own the digital games you’re buying

Have you ever bought an app or game from a digital storefront, only for it to suddenly disappear and become inaccessible without warning? It’s both confusing and frustrating, which is why some governments are stepping in and hoping to make things clearer for consumers. Gavin Newsom, governor of California, recently signed a new law (AB 2426) that involves the purchasing of digital goods and services. Under the new law, online storefronts that sell digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows, and ebooks must be explicit as to whether customers actually own what they’re purchasing. Some digital services are already adapting to the new regulations, which aren’t set to be enforced until next year. Steam is one such company, having already implemented a change in the Steam storefront that explicitly notifies customers that they’re purchasing “a license for the product on Steam” and don’t actually own the game outright. What does that mean for you? Well, a license is just permission for you to access content that’s provided by the service (i.e., the game). If the content is made unavailable for whatever reason, you aren’t entitled to access in perpetuity. (As opposed to buying a digital download, in which case you’re buying permission to download and keep said files.) According to Engadget, this new wording in Steam is used in all countries and territories, not just the United States. Further reading: Why digital games can vanish in a heartbeat Continue reading at 'PC World'

[ PC World | 2024-10-11 19:19:30 UTC ]
News tagged with: #game outright #digital services #digital download #explicitly states #digital games #digital storefront #suddenly disappear #gavin newsom #recently signed #digital goods #online storefronts #video games #tv shows #made unavailable #ebooks

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Facebook buys land in New Mexico but doesn’t say what it’s for

Facebook has more than doubled its New Mexico footprint with the purchase of more than 400 acres near its new data center. The Albuquerque Journal reports the social media giant confirmed this week that it purchased the land in March, adding to the 300 acres in Los Lunas, N.M., it already... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-05-16 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #mexico footprint #data center #los lunas


Facebook buys land in New Mexico but doesn’t say what it’s for

Facebook has more than doubled its New Mexico footprint with the purchase of more than 400 acres near its new data center. The Albuquerque Journal reports the social media giant confirmed this week that it purchased the land in March, adding to the 300 acres in Los Lunas, N.M., it already... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-05-16 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #mexico footprint #data center #los lunas


George R R Martin dismisses claims he's finished writing Game of Thrones

George R R Martin has dismissed claims that he has secretly finished the final two books in his Song of Ice and Fire series. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Coronet buys 'dark and funny' debut from Fielding

Coronet has landed the “compassionate, dark and funny” debut novel from Kit Fielding, an author of gypsy descent, telling the stories of six marginalised women. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google unveils new digital ad formats, and Facebook issues a warning

Google is giving advertisers a ton of extra digital real estate, adding new promotional formats to online search, YouTube and its increasingly popular Discover service. Meanwhile, Facebook Inc. is close to rolling out a long-awaited privacy feature, but it issued a warning to advertisers... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-05-14 18:20:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #google unveils #facebook issues #giving advertisers #promotional formats #online search


Google unveils new digital ad formats, and Facebook issues a warning

Google is giving advertisers a ton of extra digital real estate, adding new promotional formats to online search, YouTube and its increasingly popular Discover service. Meanwhile, Facebook Inc. is close to rolling out a long-awaited privacy feature, but it issued a warning to advertisers... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-05-14 18:20:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #google unveils #facebook issues #giving advertisers #promotional formats #online search


CJK Buys Thomson-Shore's Assets

The CJK Group has moved ahead with the purchase of the assets of Dexter, Mich.-based printer Thomson-Shore. The asset acquisition follows the March 25 bankruptcy filing of Thomson-Shore. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-05-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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S&S UK buys Adam Silvera fantasy

Simon & Schuster Children’s UK has acquired two books in the Infinity Cycle series by Adam Silvera. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Spain’s Readmagine and Digital Distributors Meeting Announce Programming

The Readmagine event in Madrid this June includes the International Digital Distributors Meeting and discussions on ebooks, AI, and other tech topics. The post Spain’s Readmagine and Digital Distributors Meeting Announce Programming appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NewFronts or TV upfronts? Lines blur as digital publishers mature

The themes of the 2019 Digital Content NewFronts all felt very familiar: Digital publishers spoke profusely about brand safety, original programming and scale. They are the same themes that will likely dominate the upfronts later this month, when TV networks pitch their new programming and ad... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PRH buys Barcelona indie Ediciones Salamandra

Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial has acquired Ediciones Salamandra to "ensure the continuity" of the Barcelona-based independent publisher. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Are Performance-Based Marketplaces the Solution to Digital Media’s Demise?

BuzzFeed. HuffPost. Vice. Those are just a few of the digital media darlings that have been forced to make significant cuts to their staffs since the start of the year. Many of these organizations were destined to hit a wall on their hyper-growth model as the profits simply couldn’t cover the... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2019-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why would Google want to buy Pearson?

While educational publishers sought to build bespoke platforms to engage educators, tech giants secured the channel. Jon White wonders—is a shift about to occur? Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US Authors Guild Praises Nora Roberts’ Legal Action on Digital Plagiarism

The leading author-advocacy trade organization in the United States announces that it's in talks with Amazon on issues of 'plagiarism and scams.' The post US Authors Guild Praises Nora Roberts’ Legal Action on Digital Plagiarism appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ game show for super fans is in the works

Calling all “SpongeBob SquarePants” super fans: It’s game time. Viacom Digital Studios is creating a game show based on the popular animated series, the company announced Monday. The “SpongeBob Smarty Pants Game Show” will debut later this year on Facebook and the SpongeBob-branded YouTube... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder lands book on digital threats by Microsoft president

Hodder & Stoughton has landed a book on the "real threats" of our digitised world by Microsoft president Brad Smith. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NewFronts day 1: 'Game of Thrones' jokes abound, NYT talks privacy

Welcome to Day 1 of the Digital Content NewFronts. Ad Age’s Jeanine Poggi, Ilyse Liffreing and Garett Sloane will be live-blogging the week-long dog-and-pony show where digital publishers, from YouTube and Twitter to Condé Nast and Meredith, are presenting buzzy new content and ad products to... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big-box retailers set their sights on digital NewFronts

The Digital Content NewFronts have always been a smorgasbord of little-known startups, mixed among the publishing stalwarts, searching for their big breaks the one time of year the whole industry is paying attention. But this year, it’s not the little guys with their internet-friendly names... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Elaine Kasket: ‘There is no digital rule book for grief’

The counselling psychologist and author of All the Ghosts in the Machine discusses one of the most contentious issues of our ageElaine Kasket is a counselling psychologist based in London. Her first book, All the Ghosts in the Machine: Illusions of Immortality in the Digital Age, examines the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rick Reilly wants the public to know the truth about President Trump's golf game

Rick Reilly’s course of action isn’t to cheat the audience. The former L.A. Times, Sports Illustrated and ESPN writer sized up the room of about 30 bunched into the center of an independent book store in Manhattan Beach the other night and declared: As a golfer, your president is all about... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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