There comes a point in most experienced Steam shoppers' lives where they wonder what would happen if their account was canceled or stolen, or perhaps they just stopped breathing. It's scary to think about how many games in your backlog will never get played;

Steam is now showing a new disclosure on its store checkout screen that clarifies you don’t actually own a game.

Steam appears to have started posting a notice in its shopping cart that purchases on its storefront are only for a license and not a game, according to a notice spotted by Engadget. It looks like an attempt by the company to get ahead of a new California law coming next year that forces companies to admit that buyers don't actually own digital content.

Gamers looking to add new titles to their Steam library are being met with a new message clarifying that purchasing a digital game grants them a digital license to the game, but ownership of the game itself. Valve implemented the warning ahead of a recently passed California law, which is set to go into effect in 2025.

You don't own the games in your Steam library. Going forward, you'll be reminded of this fact every time you buy a game from the Steam digital storefront. The Steam checkout page now features the following notice: "a purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam.

You don't own any of those games. Valve's PC gaming digital marketplace has started including a notice on the shopping cart screen letting users know that purchasing a game on Steam grants them a license for it,

Have you ever bought an app or game from a digital storefront, only for it to suddenly disappear and become inaccessible without warning? It’s both confusing and frustrating, which is why some governments are stepping in and hoping to make things clearer for consumers.