this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Depends on what country you live in. Just because they call is that doesn't mean the law and courts will see it their way.

Relatedly, check out www.StopKillingGames.com. When you buy a game without an expiration date on the box it either is illegal or should be explicitly made illegal to destroy your copy of the game when the company shuts down their servers. Stop Killing Games is a campaign to stop this from happening, and it's actually getting some progress like being noticed and picked up by politicians. If you know Freeman's Mind, Civil Protection, or Ross's Game Dungeon, this campaign was started by Ross Scott (Accursed Farms) who made all of those.

Edit: quote from the FAQ in the website:

Q: Aren't games licensed, not sold to customers?

A: The short answer is this is a large legal grey area, depending on the country. In the United States, this is generally the case. In other countries, the law is not clear at all, since license agreements cannot override national laws. Those laws often consider videogames as goods, which have many consumer protections that apply to them. So despite what the license agreement may say, in some countries you are indeed sold your copy of the game license. Some terms still apply, however. For example, you are typically only sold your individual copy of the game license for personal use, not the intellectual property rights to the videogame itself.