Bill to block publishers from killing online games advances in California

Post by account42 » Tue, May 19, 2026, 10:40 AM UTC

throwawayk7h wrote: post #153

whartung wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution here is for publishers to give away the client, and simply charge a subscription. Keypoint: > 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 bill explicitly doesn't apply to games that are free or are on a subscription system. (I assume free-to-play with microtransactions would be covered by this bill though, unless those microtransactions are subscription-based or time-limited.) I am indeed worried that this will push games to be subscription-based, so I would advocate making the bill apply even to subscription-based games. Though that would require…

Post by account42 » Tue, May 19, 2026, 10:44 AM UTC

rgoulter wrote: post #413

techteach00 wrote: post #129

I'm on the treadmill so this may appear jumbled. Bought PGA Tour 2k21 for $50. In October the servers shut down completely neutering the game. I think you're allowed to play a few courses still. But the career mode, which is why I originally bought the game, was completely turned off. Mind you that career mode had zero Internet needed features. It's like a sports franchise mode. So good on this bill. 2K should rot fo…

> I think you're allowed to play a few courses still. But the career mode, which is why I originally bought the game, was completely turned off. Mind you that career mode had zero Internet needed features. I suspect this is the same as IO Interactive's "Hitman: World of Assassination". 99% of the game is single player. The game allows you to unlock additional things in the game (different starting locations in a leve…

Post by account42 » Tue, May 19, 2026, 10:54 AM UTC

buzer wrote: post #254

jfengel wrote: post #5

Do they need to put some funds in escrow? Or will they just shut down the entire company and let the players sue for it. (I know that big publishers won't do that, but I'm sure the lawyers could create shell corporations to solve that problem.) Or they could just demonstrate that they have an offline play capability right from the moment they sell it.

One good option could be to make the distributor (like Steam or Play Store) liable as well. They would then have an interest on making sure that publisher/developer holds up on their side of the deal. For example they could require that they provided with those EOL patches/sources when game is released, require liability insurance in case of bankruptcy etc.

Post by account42 » Tue, May 19, 2026, 10:58 AM UTC

collingreen wrote: post #78

Ukv wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the bankruptcy process already involves identifying and administering the company's assets, I feel releasing the server software (as-is) to owners of the game could be part of that.

I don't think most game owners could take the server side software and assemble it into working servers their game could contact and use. This isn't realistic and needs something to change at the fundamental server design side and the game development side. A silly answer is regulations about how you can and can't make a game. Another silly answer is a cottage industry doing game server hosting that's required to be…

Post by account42 » Tue, May 19, 2026, 11:04 AM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #132

annoyingnoob wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm old enough to remember a time when you bought a copy of a game and played it locally. Most games were around $60 and we paid it. It is only more recently that someone decided that viewing ads was a better way to pay for games - you got what you wanted and no one values games anymore. Even back in the day, if I paid 60 bucks and spent less then 40 hours solving the game I was disappointed and felt like I paid too…

If you paid $60 bucks for a sega genesis game in 1990 you were paying about $156 adjusting for inflation. Different figures for different values of "back in the day" obviously.