Digital games: ordinary use.

Plain English Breakdown

The exact details of what happens when a game reaches its end of life might vary based on the company's policies, which is not fully specified in the official source material.

Digital Games: Rules for Server-Connected Games

This law sets rules for companies that make digital games needing internet access, requiring them to inform users about when support will end and what options are available if the game stops working properly.

What This Bill Does

• Requires companies to notify users at least two months before a server-connected game reaches its 'end of life'.
• Prohibits companies from selling or renting out digital games that won't work without support for at least two months before the end of life date.
• Allows players to get an alternate version, an update, or a refund if the game stops working properly after reaching its end of life.
• Defines 'server-connected game' and 'end of life'.
• Gives the Attorney General and district attorneys the power to take legal action against companies that break these rules.

Who It Names or Affects

• Companies that make digital games needing internet access.
• People who buy or play server-connected games.

Terms To Know

Server-Connected Game

A game you can only play by connecting your device to a special computer (server) run by the company making the game.

End of Life

The point when a company stops providing updates or support for a server-connected game, even if people are still playing it.

Limits and Unknowns

• It only applies to digital games that need internet access and are sold after January 1, 2027.
• Details of what happens when a game reaches its end of life might vary based on the company's policies.

Official Summary Text

AB 1921, as amended, Ward.
Server-connected
Digital
games:
updates and support period.
ordinary use.
Existing law requires every videogame retailer to post a sign, within the retail establishment in a prominent area, providing information to consumers about a videogame rating system or notifying consumers that a rating system is available to aid in the selection of a game, and to make available to consumers, upon request, information that explains the videogame rating system.
Existing law, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits a seller of a digital good, including a digital application or game, from advertising or offering for sale a digital good to a purchaser with the terms “buy,” “purchase,” or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a
time-limited rental, unless the seller receives at the time of each transaction an affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser, or the seller provides to the consumer before executing each transaction a clear and conspicuous statement, as specified. Existing law defines “digital application or game” to mean any application or game that a person accesses and manipulates using a specialized electronic gaming device, computer, mobile device, tablet, or other device with a display screen, including any add-ons or additional content for that application or game.
This
bill would impose requirements on publishers and companies
bill,
with regard to
server-connected
digital
games
published for sale
available for purchase
on or after January 1, 2027,
including, among other things, requiring a company to provide notification of the game’s end of life to the public and to users, as
specified, and prohibiting a publisher
and subject to certain exceptions, would require a digital game operator to communicate specified information to purchasers and prospective purchasers of a digital game 60 days before the operator ceases to provide services necessary for the ordinary use of the game, and, beginning on the date an operator ceases to provide services necessary for the ordinary use of the game, require the operator to provide the purchaser with an alternate version of, a patch or update to, or a refund for, the game, as provided, and prohibit the operator
from selling, leasing, or otherwise distributing
the game after the date that is 2 months before the end of life date for the game. The bill would define “server-connected game” to mean any game that a person accesses using their own device while connected to a server hosted by a game developer or game publisher, as specified, “end of life” to mean the point at which the company ceases providing necessary updates or support for a server-connected game, even if the game is still in use, and other terms for its purposes.
a version of the game that cannot be used by a purchaser independent of services controlled by the operator.
The bill would authorize the Attorney General or a district attorney to bring a civil action for a violation of these provisions.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF