Power To The Players Act announced, but no bill text is available yet

U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres has announced that he will introduce the Power To The Players Act, a federal proposal addressing how video games are sold, accessed and preserved. For anyone wondering whether it changes an existing Steam, PlayStation or Xbox library, the immediate answer is no.

Torres’ office announced the proposal on October 15, 2026, saying it would direct the Federal Trade Commission to establish consumer-protection rules concerning players’ ability to own and play games they purchase. The announcement says Torres “will introduce” the proposal, rather than saying that legislation has already been filed.

As of October 17, research for this article had found no bill number, statutory text, cosponsor list, committee referral or official congressional filing. That distinction is essential: an announced proposal does not alter the terms governing a digital purchase or create a right that players can invoke today.

What is the Power To The Players Act’s current status?

The Power To The Players Act is currently an announced proposal. Without an official filing and full legislative text, its scope and practical effect cannot be assessed.

That means there is not yet a reliable answer to questions such as whether an account-bound game could be resold, whether the proposal would apply to games already purchased, or what would happen to an always-online title after its supporting servers close. Those details will depend on the wording of any legislation Torres files and, if it advances, the regulations and enforcement structure that follow.

What Torres says the proposal would do

According to the official announcement, the proposal would direct the FTC to establish regulations protecting consumers’ ability to own and play purchased video games. Torres’ office says buying a game would provide ownership rather than a licence, that consumers’ ability to resell games would be preserved, and that games with online functionality would have to provide an offline mode before their supporting servers are shut down.

“When you pay for a game, you should own it,” Torres said in the announcement.

Those are the proposal’s stated aims, not verifiable legal requirements. The announcement does not define ownership or explain the mechanism for reselling an account-bound digital game. It also does not say whether console storefronts, PC platforms, cloud games, mobile games, subscriptions, downloadable content or in-game currency would be covered.

Retroactivity is another open question. Nothing in the available announcement establishes that the proposal would apply to games players already own.

Why buying a digital game may still mean receiving a licence

The proposal responds to a gap between the language consumers encounter when buying a game and the contractual terms used by at least some digital platforms. Valve’s Steam Subscriber Agreement, for example, states: “The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services.” The agreement also generally restricts the transfer of subscriptions except where Valve expressly permits it.

That evidence concerns Steam and should not be treated as proof that every storefront uses identical terms. It does illustrate why paying for a digital game does not necessarily provide the transfer and resale rights that consumers may associate with owning a physical copy. The same distinction supplies context for why a digital game purchase can still be a licence on console storefronts.

The announcement alone does not explain how the proposed ownership model would interact with platform accounts, existing licence agreements, copyright restrictions or technical access controls. Those questions cannot be resolved until statutory text is available.

What the proposed offline-mode rule could cover

Torres’ office says games with online functionality would have to receive an offline mode before their supporting servers are shut down. That language signals a preservation safeguard, but it does not establish that every feature of every affected game would remain available indefinitely.

The announcement does not define a compliant offline mode or explain how the requirement would apply to multiplayer-only and live-service games. It also does not identify exemptions, transition periods or a technical standard for determining whether an offline mode adequately preserves a game.

NBA 2K25 illustrates the difference between preserving some functionality and retaining every online feature. 2K’s service-status page says the game’s online services are scheduled to remain available through December 31, 2026. The same page lists offline options including Play Now and MyNBA/MyLeague/MyGM. Those modes provide offline functionality, but they are not equivalent to preserving all online services.

A game’s storefront availability and the status of its online services must also be evaluated separately. Evidence that servers are operating does not, by itself, establish that a game remains on sale, just as a storefront listing does not establish that every online feature is available. That distinction also matters when reporting on server availability and a game’s sale status.

What to watch for if legislation is filed

The next meaningful development will be an official congressional filing. A bill number and full text should reveal which products and sellers are covered, how ownership and resale are defined, whether existing purchases are included, and what obligations would apply before servers close.

The text would also need to establish any exemptions, penalties, transition periods and FTC rulemaking deadlines. Until those provisions are available, it is not possible to determine how the proposal would affect Steam, PlayStation, Xbox or any particular game.

For now, the Power To The Players Act is a statement of intended federal policy rather than a new consumer right. It does not convert existing digital libraries into transferable property, require an offline patch for a particular game or change the licence terms currently attached to a purchase.