J. S. Robertson

A U.S. congressman wants to change how we legally “own” video games. Rep. Ritchie Torres has announced plans to introduce the Power To The Players Act, a bill that would direct the FTC to create rules protecting consumers who buy video games. The proposal would give players three basic rights: >The right to own the games they purchase, rather than simply receiving a revocable license >The right to keep playing games after online servers are shut down, through an offline mode >The right to transfer or resell games they own Torres argues that if a company can take a game away simply by shutting down its servers, then the consumer didn’t really buy the game in the first place. Torres also hopes the legislation could eventually establish a precedent for ownership rights across other parts of the digital economy: “If you pay for it, you own it.”

Xbox is launching XBOX LABS, a new team focused on exploring new ways to play and create games. >The team will experiment with new technology, including AI, game decompilation and ports that allow games to run on platforms they weren’t originally designed for. >Recent projects have shown PC games running on Apple Silicon and in web browsers, while other experiments have recreated games inside the code of other games. >Xbox wants to explore how these technologies could make games easier to access, bring older games back to life, and let more people create and modify games. >The team will share its work and tools with developers across the industry. Xbox says its existing priorities remain the same, including its games, hardware and protection of its intellectual property.