AB 1921: Digital games: ordinary use.
- Session Year: 2025-2026
- House: Assembly
- Latest Version Date: 2026-04-06
Current Status:
In Progress
(2026-04-06: From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.)
Introduced
In Committee
First Chamber
In Committee
Second Chamber
Enacted
Existing law requires every videogame retailer to post a sign, within the retail establishment in a prominent area, providing information to consumers about a videogame rating system or notifying consumers that a rating system is available to aid in the selection of a game, and to make available to consumers, upon request, information that explains the videogame rating system.
Existing law, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits a seller of a digital good, including a digital application or game, from advertising or offering for sale a digital good to a purchaser with the terms buy, purchase, or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a time-limited rental, unless the seller receives at the time of each transaction an affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser, or the seller provides to the consumer before executing each transaction a clear and conspicuous statement, as specified. Existing law defines digital application or game to mean any application or game that a person accesses and manipulates using a specialized electronic gaming device, computer, mobile device, tablet, or other device with a display screen, including any add-ons or additional content for that application or game.
This bill would impose requirements on publishers and companies bill, with regard to server-connected digital games published for sale available for purchase on or after January 1, 2027, including, among other things, requiring a company to provide notification of the games end of life to the public and to users, as specified, and prohibiting a publisher and subject to certain exceptions, 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 ordinary use of the game, require the operator to provide the purchaser with an alternate version of, a patch or update to, or a refund for, the game, as provided, and prohibit the operator from selling, leasing, or otherwise distributing the game after the date that is 2 months before the end of life date for the game. The bill would define server-connected game to mean any game that a person accesses using their own device while connected to a server hosted by a game developer or game publisher, as specified, end of life to mean the point at which the company ceases providing necessary updates or support for a server-connected game, even if the game is still in use, and other terms for its purposes. a version of the game that cannot be used by a purchaser independent of services controlled by the operator. The bill would authorize the Attorney General or a district attorney to bring a civil action for a violation of these provisions.