A new US bill could finally stop publishers from taking away games players paid for

Buying a video game should mean being able to play it, right? Apparently, that comes with an asterisk these days. In a relief to that, US Representative Ritchie Torres has announced the Power To The Players Act, a proposed bill that aims to give gamers stronger ownership rights over the games they buy. Essentially, it would target revocable game licenses and require offline modes before publishers shut down supporting servers. There’s a catch, though: the proposal still needs to be formally introduced and make its way through Congress. So, nobody needs to start celebrating just yet.

Congress wants gamers to own more than a license

The idea behind the Power To The Players Act is simple: if someone pays for a game, they should have a reasonable way to keep playing it. Torres wants consumers to have the right to own, play, and transfer their games. The proposal would also require publishers to provide an offline mode before shutting down a game’s supporting servers. Think of it this way: if a publisher pulls the plug on a game, the single-player campaign shouldn’t automatically go down with it. The exact rules remain unclear, however, because the final bill text hasn’t been made public.

Torres points to NBA 2K25 as an example of the problem. Now that NBA 2K27 is also here, the two-year-old game is scheduled to leave digital storefronts on October 30, 2026, while its online servers are due to shut down on December 31. Once that happens, certain features will become unavailable, potentially leaving players with a much more limited experience. Imagine paying full price for a game, only to discover that part of it comes with an expiration date. Torres argues that this makes modern game purchases feel more like rentals than ownership. And with digital libraries replacing physical shelves, that’s becoming a harder problem for gamers to ignore.

The Stop Killing Games movement has found an ally

The proposal also aligns with the Stop Killing Games movement, which campaigns against publishers making games unplayable after ending support. The concern goes beyond multiplayer matches disappearing. Some games rely on company servers for basic functionality, meaning a shutdown can leave even paying customers locked out. The Power To The Players Act seeks to address that problem while also challenging the broader licensing model behind digital purchases. But it’s still early days: the bill needs to be formally introduced, debated, and passed before any of these protections become law.

Of course, making old games playable isn’t always as simple as flipping an offline switch. Some rely on online infrastructure, licensed content, or systems that were never designed to work without a server. Publishers may argue that maintaining these games indefinitely is costly or technically impractical. The final legislation will need to account for those realities without leaving players empty-handed. And even if the bill passes, that doesn’t automatically mean digital games will become freely resellable like used discs.

Still, the proposal raises a question the gaming industry has spent years dodging: if players pay for a game, should a publisher get to decide when they can no longer play it? The Power To The Players Act isn’t law yet, and plenty could change before it gets anywhere close. But at least the debate is moving beyond refund policies and subscription cancellations to something more fundamental.

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