Steam now tells gamers up front that they're buying a license, not a game

Steam appears to have started posting a notice in its shopping cart that purchases on its storefront are only for a license and not a game, according to a notice spotted by Engadget. It looks like an attempt by the company to get ahead of a new California law coming next year that forces companies to admit that buyers don't actually own digital content.  When you open your shopping cart with items inside and before going to payment, a notice at the bottom right states: "A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam." This is the first time our editors have seen of a notice like this (and we use Steam a lot), so it appears to be relatively new.  Engadget Last month California governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2426 into law, forcing digital marketplaces to make it clear to customers when they only purchase a license to access media. It will not apply to permanent offline downloads, only digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows or ebooks from an online storefront. Companies that fail to comply could face fines for false advertising if they don't explain in clear language the limitations of a given digital purchase. The law followed situations like Ubisoft deleting The Crew from player's libraries after the game's servers shuttered. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/steam-now-tells-gamers-up-front-that-theyre-buying-a-license-not-a-game-085106522.html?src=rss Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2024-10-11 08:51:06 UTC ]
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PRH Employees Take Buy-out Offer; Dohle Joins More Boards

Nearly half of eligible employees have accepted a voluntary separation offer made by the company; to qualify, employees must be at least 60 years old and have been at the company for at least 15 years. Meanwhile, former CEO Markus Dohle has joined the board of Indigo Books & Music though he... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Licensing Hotline: June 29, 2023

Read on for news about Random House Children's Books' publishing plans for Afro Unicorn; Scholastic and Insight Editions' OMG POP! books; Really Big Coloring Books' range of products featuring PBS Kids properties; MerryMakers' launch of an InvestiGators licensing program; a new licensing effort... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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ALA 2023: Gorman and Robinson Tell Librarians, 'It's Okay to Be Sad'

ALA 2023 wrapped up Tuesday with an uplifting keynote featuring poet Amanda Gorman and children's book illustrator Christian Robinson, who discussed how people can harness their grief to effect change in the world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The biggest Steam update in years just arrived. Here’s what’s new

Steam is the world’s most popular platform for PC games and a bedrock of the industry. But if you compare the Steam of today with, say, the Steam of ten years ago, surprisingly little has changed. Or surprisingly little had changed, because Steam just released one of its biggest updates in... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2023-06-15 14:35:55 UTC ]
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Ubisoft's open-world Star Wars game is 'Outlaws' and it's coming in 2024

Ubisoft's long-awaited open world Star Wars game will arrive in 2024. The publisher announced Star Wars Outlaws on Sunday during Microsoft's Xbox and Starfield Direct showcase with a cinematic trailer that introduces fans to the game's Han Solo-like protagonist, Key Vess. Ubisoft is billing... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-06-11 17:27:38 UTC ]
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'Sand Land' is a new adventure game based on a manga by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama

In the middle of this year’s Summer Game Fest, Geoff Keighley teased a new game with characters from a storied manga artist – and he wasn’t kidding. Sand Land is a new adventure game from Bandai Namco, featuring character design from Akira Toriyama, the man who gave us Dragon Ball’s Goku, the... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-06-08 20:02:42 UTC ]
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Workman's Indestructibles Debuts Sesame Street as First-Ever License

Workman Kids' bestselling Indestructibles series has made its first foray into licensing, acquiring the rights to 'Sesame Street' from Sesame Workshop. Six books are set for publication this year and next. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-06 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Licensing Hotline: June 2023

Read on for news about collectible figures depicting Nancy Drew, Odd Dot securing publishing rights to the Build-A-Bear brand, Boom! Studios' new four-comic series tied to the Creed franchise, Printers Row Publishing Group's year-round success with Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-06 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury reports sales surge as people buy books as ‘affordable diversion’

Harry Potter publisher says in challenging economic times books are seen as cheap form of entertainmentBloomsbury Publishing, the home of Harry Potter, has revealed a rise in annual sales as it said people were turning to books as a cheap form of entertainment as finances were squeezed.Sales of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-31 13:38:54 UTC ]
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‘Damn, that fool can write’: how Martin Amis made everyone up their game

He exploded into the tweedy world of literature, a young, pouting and outrageously brash crusader for prose. Our writer remembers her encounters with the novelist, whose smarts and chutzpah confounded his peers‘You’ll be reading me every now and then at least until about 2080, weather... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 05:00:48 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House, Sourcebooks Buy Callisto Assets

The largest trade book publisher in the U.S., now the majority owner of Sourcebooks, has funded the publisher's acquisition of the publishing assets of the once high-flying Callisto Media. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Hogwarts Legacy’ adds arachnophobia mode for spider-free gaming

Arachnophobic Harry Potter fans, rejoice. Developer Avalanche Software has added a new accessibility feature to Hogwarts Legacy that removes spiders from the game. The update coincides with the title’s arrival on PS4 and Xbox One today.The Hogwarts Legacy update (build 1140773) launched Thursday... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-05-05 19:42:15 UTC ]
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B.J. Best, Andrew Ervin, and Brittney Morris on Video Games, Storytelling, and the Importance of Play

Writers B.J. Best, Andrew Ervin, and Brittney Morris join co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell live from the Unbound Book Festival in Columbia, Missouri to discuss the narrative realms of video games and the evolving space they inhabit. The group reminisces about their first... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-04 08:53:59 UTC ]
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On creating a board game that is also a work of literature.

Telling good stories in games is really hard. It’s hard in any medium, of course, but games provide a set of challenges over and above those faced by novelists and screenwriters. Take the question of agency—if the player is allowed to make the primary narrative decisions in the game, then the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-01 15:00:45 UTC ]
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Microsoft inks another cloud gaming deal after the UK blocked its Activision takeover

Despite suffering a significant blow this week in its attempt to take over Activision Blizzard, Microsoft still believes it can get the job done. The company has signed a 10-year agreement with Spain-based cloud gaming provider Nware to make PC games it builds in-house available to stream on... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-04-28 17:25:18 UTC ]
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The Morning After: Apple wins appeals court ruling against Epic Games

The long-running legal tussle between Apple and Epic Games picked up another ruling, in the former’s favor, although the three-judge panel also upheld a part of the original ruling in Epic's favor. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling, which rejected most of Epic's... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-04-25 11:16:04 UTC ]
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Girls to the Front: A Reading List of Provocative Feminist History

My particular variety of feminism has long been one devoted to the idea that women’s lives are not solely defined by their familial roles (wife, mother, sister, etc). Women’s lives are shaped by the communities they build, run from, collide within, and redefine. Communities of women, those whom... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-18 08:52:31 UTC ]
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Digital conglomerate buys right-wing app Parler

The digital media conglomerate Starboard said Friday it purchased the conservative social media site Parler and will temporarily take down the app as it undergoes a “strategic assessment.” Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2023-04-14 20:47:19 UTC ]
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Lucinda Williams Tells Her Secrets

The singer-songwriter reveals herself in a memoir that captures her adventures with charming rogues, puzzled music executives and her own demons. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-04-14 16:18:11 UTC ]
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WBD Rebrands HBO Max as ‘Max’ With Harry Potter and Game of Thrones Series Coming

Max is coming to market. Following months of streaming rumors and speculation, Warner Bros. Discovery is officially combining its streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+ under one brand: Max. Launching May 23 with a new tagline, color and mission, the upcoming service will drop the iconic HBO... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2023-04-12 19:25:11 UTC ]
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