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 ]
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PRH Releases ‘Game of Thrones’ Enhanced E-Book

To mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the first book in George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series, 'A Game of Thrones,' Penguin Random House has released an enhanced ebook edition of the title featuring additional content. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Game of Thrones' ebooks make it easier to keep up with the action

To properly celebrate the 20th anniversary of George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Game of Thrones, there's a new iBooks edition of the series that offers features to help you keep up with all of the action. The first installment is officially called... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2016-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Midsomer Murders' producers buy TV rights to Herring series

Television rights to L C Tyler’s comic crime series have been bought by the producers of ITV’s "Midsomer Murders". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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4 charts: The state of publisher referral traffic from LinkedIn

While LinkedIn is still far behind Facebook as the dominant referrer for traffic, it has been steadily growing since January. Publishers saw a spike in January -- in some cases, traffic jumping sixfold. Instead of a change in behavior, dark social traffic was attributed to LinkedIn. Since then,... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookouture is Britain's Hottest Digital Publisher

How a digital publishing company founded in 2012 has racked up a series of bestselling digital titles in the U.K. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Game Developer Ubisoft Launches Book Line

The creator of the wildly popular Assassin's Creed franchise is launching an in-house publishing line that will debut in November with two titles based on the action-adventure game. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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FutureBook Digital Census 2016 launches

The Bookseller has launched its annual tracker of the publishing industry's transformation, the FutureBook Digital Census. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cupcakes from Jamie T and a trip to Abbey Road: A day in the life of NME’s digital editor

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[ Digiday | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kensington Launches Digital Speculative Fiction Imprint

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sainsbury's to close its digital entertainment business

First it was Tesco, now it's Sainsbury's. The British supermarket will soon be closing its streaming and digital storefront services, called Entertainment on Demand collectively. These covered eBooks, music, movies and TV shows, and digital magazines... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Call for Nominations: FutureBook’s Digital Achiever of the Year

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US newspapers hit back as Huff Po and co run out of steam

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[ The Guardian | 2016-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print or Digital, It's Reading That Matters...

Print books are hanging on, but in a digital age where more books are being published than ever before, why is book reading in decline? Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Macmillan buys two Jennifer E Smith YA novels

Macmillan Children’s Books has bought the UK and Commonwealth rights to two novels by US YA writer Jennifer E Smith. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital Trends found a highly profitable niche among tech review sites without relying on Facebook

Digital Trends, which was reportedly in talks to sell to Condé Nast for $120 million, has mostly flown under the radar. But the 10-year-old tech review site has become profitable by honing its Google skills while other publishers chase Facebook and video numbers. “We’ve identified the cycles a... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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U.K.'s Informa Agrees to Buy Aviation Week Publisher Penton for $1.6 Billion

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[ Advertising Age | 2016-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bonnier Books CEO Jacob Dalborg: ‘Digitization Is Not Necessarily Evil’

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Corsair buys Roxane Gay short stories

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital Science awards catalyst grants

Holtzbrink's Digital Science division, a technology incubator, has chosen three early stage tech initiatives, Etalia, Simiary and Writefull, to receive its annual catalyst grants. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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At Frankfurt Book Fair: ‘A Book Is a Film Is a Game’

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