The future of gaming has been looking rather bleak recently thanks to the industry's biggest players distancing themselves from physical games media. Sony led the charge with its July 1 announcement that it would cease the production of new physical PlayStation game discs as early as 2028.
This decision shook gamers worldwide, and now people are having to come to terms with the fact that at this point in time, buying a game doesn't guarantee you will be able to play it forever. But that's something that the US government is being asked to address through a new proposal called the Power to the Players Act, announced by Representative Ritchie Torres on October 15, 2026.
This proposal aims to strengthen consumer protections for people who purchase video games, particularly when publishers remove titles from sale or shut down the servers needed to play them. According to Torres's official announcement, the bill would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish stronger consumer protection rules addressing game ownership.
It also seeks to require offline functionality for games with online features before their supporting servers are shut down. So instead of leaving players high and dry and pulling the game they paid...
