Entertainment Software Association testimony on AB 1921: Difference between revisions
expanded the committee vote section into plain language: the six-of-eleven majority rule, what 'no vote recorded' means, that the four non-voters were present and declined to vote rather than absent, and what reconsideration is |
Added passing the Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies, and Consumer Protection Committee to Background |
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On June 29, 2026, the '''[[Entertainment Software Association]]''' (ESA) told a California Senate committee that community-hosted video game servers are ''illegal'' & that the trade group considers them ''piracy'', in testimony opposing the [[Protect Our Games Act]] (Assembly Bill 1921), a bill that would require game publishers to give buyers an end-of-life plan before they disable a purchased game.<ref name="hearing" /><ref name="billtext" /> The ESA's witness was Jennifer Gibbons, its vice president of state government affairs, who also told the committee that the United States Trade Representative's Notorious Markets report had named ''some of these big private servers as a notorious market''.<ref name="hearing" /><ref name="gibbonsbio" /> [[Microsoft]] distributes free Minecraft server software for self-hosting, & the 2025 USTR Notorious Markets report does not use the term private servers.<ref name="minecraft" /><ref name="ustr2025" /> The committee failed to pass AB 1921 on a 4 to 3 vote, with four of its eleven members not voting, & then granted reconsideration, leaving the bill alive.<ref name="billvotes" /><ref name="billhistory" /> | On June 29, 2026, the '''[[Entertainment Software Association]]''' (ESA) told a California Senate committee that community-hosted video game servers are ''illegal'' & that the trade group considers them ''piracy'', in testimony opposing the [[Protect Our Games Act]] (Assembly Bill 1921), a bill that would require game publishers to give buyers an end-of-life plan before they disable a purchased game.<ref name="hearing" /><ref name="billtext" /> The ESA's witness was Jennifer Gibbons, its vice president of state government affairs, who also told the committee that the United States Trade Representative's Notorious Markets report had named ''some of these big private servers as a notorious market''.<ref name="hearing" /><ref name="gibbonsbio" /> [[Microsoft]] distributes free Minecraft server software for self-hosting, & the 2025 USTR Notorious Markets report does not use the term private servers.<ref name="minecraft" /><ref name="ustr2025" /> The committee failed to pass AB 1921 on a 4 to 3 vote, with four of its eleven members not voting, & then granted reconsideration, leaving the bill alive.<ref name="billvotes" /><ref name="billhistory" /> | ||
== Background == | ==Background== | ||
{{Main|Protect Our Games Act}} | {{Main|Protect Our Games Act}} | ||
The Protect Our Games Act, [[Protect Our Games Act|Assembly Bill 1921]] by Assemblymember Chris Ward, would bar a publisher from selling a single-purchase digital game & later disabling the access that keeps it playable, unless it first gives buyers an end-of-life plan.<ref name="billtext" /> That plan is 60 days' notice plus at least one remedy: an offline version, a patch for independent use, the tools or software to run a community server, or a refund.<ref name="billtext" /> The Assembly passed the bill 43 to 16 on May 27, 2026; it reached the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee on June 29, 2026.<ref name="billvotes" /> | The Protect Our Games Act, [[Protect Our Games Act|Assembly Bill 1921]] by Assemblymember Chris Ward, would bar a publisher from selling a single-purchase digital game & later disabling the access that keeps it playable, unless it first gives buyers an end-of-life plan.<ref name="billtext" /> That plan is 60 days' notice plus at least one remedy: an offline version, a patch for independent use, the tools or software to run a community server, or a refund.<ref name="billtext" /> The Assembly passed the bill 43 to 16 on May 27, 2026; the Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies, and Consumer Protection Committee debated, amended, and passed the bill 6 to 2 on June 22, 2026; it reached the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee on June 29, 2026.<ref name="billvotes" /> | ||
The ESA, the trade association for the video game industry, opposed the bill.<ref name="hearing" /> Its lead opposition witness was Jennifer Gibbons, the ESA's vice president of state government affairs, who joined the group in 2024 after serving as senior vice president of government affairs at the Toy Association & earlier as a chief of staff & communications director in the California State Assembly.<ref name="gibbonsbio" /> | The ESA, the trade association for the video game industry, opposed the bill.<ref name="hearing" /> Its lead opposition witness was Jennifer Gibbons, the ESA's vice president of state government affairs, who joined the group in 2024 after serving as senior vice president of government affairs at the Toy Association & earlier as a chief of staff & communications director in the California State Assembly.<ref name="gibbonsbio" /> | ||
== Gibbons's testimony == | ==Gibbons's testimony== | ||
Gibbons said the bill rested on two flawed premises. The first, in her words: | Gibbons said the bill rested on two flawed premises. The first, in her words: | ||
<blockquote>''that consumers who purchase a license for a video game should have access to it indefinitely. No other digital product is subject to that standard. Books, movies, music, software, and online services are not required to remain available forever, yet this bill would apply that obligation to video games.''</blockquote><ref name="hearing" /> | <blockquote>''that consumers who purchase a license for a video game should have access to it indefinitely. No other digital product is subject to that standard. Books, movies, music, software, and online services are not required to remain available forever, yet this bill would apply that obligation to video games.''</blockquote><ref name="hearing" /> | ||
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[[File:AB 1921 Senate committee hearing June 2026.png|thumb|center|upright=2.6|The Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee heard AB 1921 on June 29, 2026, the hearing where the Entertainment Software Association's witness called community-hosted game servers ''illegal'' and described them as ''piracy''.<ref name="hearing" />]] | [[File:AB 1921 Senate committee hearing June 2026.png|thumb|center|upright=2.6|The Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee heard AB 1921 on June 29, 2026, the hearing where the Entertainment Software Association's witness called community-hosted game servers ''illegal'' and described them as ''piracy''.<ref name="hearing" />]] | ||
== Community servers and the piracy characterization == | ==Community servers and the piracy characterization== | ||
One of the bill's compliance options would let a publisher satisfy the law by giving buyers the tools or software to run their own community servers.<ref name="billtext" /> During questioning about that option, Minecraft & Call of Duty community servers were named as existing examples.<ref name="hearing" /> Gibbons responded: | One of the bill's compliance options would let a publisher satisfy the law by giving buyers the tools or software to run their own community servers.<ref name="billtext" /> During questioning about that option, Minecraft & Call of Duty community servers were named as existing examples.<ref name="hearing" /> Gibbons responded: | ||
<blockquote>''They're illegal, and they are not in any way affiliated with Microsoft. Microsoft for Minecraft has gotten a lot of criticism because of those community servers not employing the same safety standards that Microsoft does on their Minecraft servers.''</blockquote><ref name="hearing" /> | <blockquote>''They're illegal, and they are not in any way affiliated with Microsoft. Microsoft for Minecraft has gotten a lot of criticism because of those community servers not employing the same safety standards that Microsoft does on their Minecraft servers.''</blockquote><ref name="hearing" /> | ||
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[[File:Minecraft Java Edition server download page.png|thumb|center|upright=2.4|Mojang's official Minecraft page, headed ''Download the Minecraft: Java Edition server'', invites players who ''want to set up a multiplayer server'' to download and run one.<ref name="minecraft" />]] | [[File:Minecraft Java Edition server download page.png|thumb|center|upright=2.4|Mojang's official Minecraft page, headed ''Download the Minecraft: Java Edition server'', invites players who ''want to set up a multiplayer server'' to download and run one.<ref name="minecraft" />]] | ||
== Notorious Markets reports == | ==Notorious Markets reports== | ||
In the same exchange, Gibbons cited the federal government's Notorious Markets report: | In the same exchange, Gibbons cited the federal government's Notorious Markets report: | ||
<blockquote>''[T]he United States Trade Representative in their notorious markets reports on counterfeiting [and] piracy has named some of these big private servers as a notorious market.''</blockquote><ref name="hearing" /> | <blockquote>''[T]he United States Trade Representative in their notorious markets reports on counterfeiting [and] piracy has named some of these big private servers as a notorious market.''</blockquote><ref name="hearing" /> | ||
The most recent such report, the USTR's 2025 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, does not use the terms ''private servers'', ''pirate servers'', or ''grey shards''.<ref name="ustr2025" /> Its game-related listings are NSW2U, a site distributing infringing copies of [[Nintendo]] Switch games that the FBI seized in July 2025; FitGirl-Repacks, a site offering compressed copies of pirated games; & UnknownCheats, a site for submitting & downloading video game cheat codes.<ref name="ustr2025" /> The phrase does appear in a footnote in the USTR's 2015 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets, which described molten-wow.com, a site that had provided unauthorized access to a multiplayer online role-playing game, reappearing under the successor name warmane.com, & referred to ''unauthorized private servers'', also called ''pirate servers'' or ''grey shards''.<ref name="ustr2015" /> That 2015 review listed molten-wow.com among positive developments because it had reportedly closed.<ref name="ustr2015" /> | The most recent such report, the USTR's 2025 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, does not use the terms ''private servers'', ''pirate servers'', or ''grey shards''.<ref name="ustr2025" /> Its game-related listings are NSW2U, a site distributing infringing copies of [[Nintendo]] Switch games that the FBI seized in July 2025; FitGirl-Repacks, a site offering compressed copies of pirated games; & UnknownCheats, a site for submitting & downloading video game cheat codes.<ref name="ustr2025" /> The phrase does appear in a footnote in the USTR's 2015 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets, which described molten-wow.com, a site that had provided unauthorized access to a multiplayer online role-playing game, reappearing under the successor name warmane.com, & referred to ''unauthorized private servers'', also called ''pirate servers'' or ''grey shards''.<ref name="ustr2015" /> That 2015 review listed molten-wow.com among positive developments because it had reportedly closed.<ref name="ustr2015" /> | ||
== Refunds and the bill's remedies == | ==Refunds and the bill's remedies== | ||
On the bill's refund remedy, Gibbons told the committee: | On the bill's refund remedy, Gibbons told the committee: | ||
<blockquote>''Where compliance is impossible, this bill is going to require refunds that bear no relationship to the years of entertainment that the consumer may have received.''</blockquote><ref name="hearing" /> | <blockquote>''Where compliance is impossible, this bill is going to require refunds that bear no relationship to the years of entertainment that the consumer may have received.''</blockquote><ref name="hearing" /> | ||
Under the bill's text, a refund is one of several remedies a publisher may choose, alongside an offline version, a patch for independent use, or server tools, & the refund equals the highest price the publisher charged for the game in the 12 months before it stops providing those services.<ref name="billtext" /> Those requirements would apply only to games first sold or rereleased on or after January 1, 2028.<ref name="billtext" /> In a June 9, 2026 op-ed, ESA president & CEO Stan Pierre-Louis characterized the bill as suggesting ''online video games should last forever''.<ref name="esaoped" /> | Under the bill's text, a refund is one of several remedies a publisher may choose, alongside an offline version, a patch for independent use, or server tools, & the refund equals the highest price the publisher charged for the game in the 12 months before it stops providing those services.<ref name="billtext" /> Those requirements would apply only to games first sold or rereleased on or after January 1, 2028.<ref name="billtext" /> In a June 9, 2026 op-ed, ESA president & CEO Stan Pierre-Louis characterized the bill as suggesting ''online video games should last forever''.<ref name="esaoped" /> | ||
== Committee vote == | ==Committee vote== | ||
The committee voted on AB 1921 on June 29, 2026. The motion was to pass the bill & re-refer it to the Appropriations Committee; it drew 4 ayes & 3 noes, with four of the committee's eleven members not voting, & failed.<ref name="billvotes" /> | The committee voted on AB 1921 on June 29, 2026. The motion was to pass the bill & re-refer it to the Appropriations Committee; it drew 4 ayes & 3 noes, with four of the committee's eleven members not voting, & failed.<ref name="billvotes" /> | ||
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[[File:AB 1921 Senate committee vote June 2026.png|thumb|center|upright=2.8|The Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee record shows AB 1921 failing on June 29, 2026 by 4 ayes to 3 noes, with four members not voting.<ref name="billvotes" />]] | [[File:AB 1921 Senate committee vote June 2026.png|thumb|center|upright=2.8|The Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee record shows AB 1921 failing on June 29, 2026 by 4 ayes to 3 noes, with four members not voting.<ref name="billvotes" />]] | ||
== See also == | ==See also== | ||
* [[Stop Killing Games]] | *[[Stop Killing Games]] | ||
* [[Video game preservation]] | *[[Video game preservation]] | ||
* [[Planned obsolescence]] | *[[Planned obsolescence]] | ||
== References == | ==References== | ||
<references> | <references> | ||
<ref name="hearing">{{Cite web |title=Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, hearing on AB 1921 |publisher=California State Senate |date=2026-06-29 |url=https://www.senate.ca.gov/media/senate-business-professions-and-economic-development-committee-20260629 |access-date=2026-06-30}} Official recording: https://vod.senate.ca.gov/videos/2026/20260629_Business_Prof_Econ_Development.mp4 (Gibbons testimony at approximately 0:06:39 to 0:08:43 and 0:16:01 to 0:17:08; committee vote and reconsideration at approximately 2:33:58 to 2:34:39).</ref> | <ref name="hearing">{{Cite web |title=Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, hearing on AB 1921 |publisher=California State Senate |date=2026-06-29 |url=https://www.senate.ca.gov/media/senate-business-professions-and-economic-development-committee-20260629 |access-date=2026-06-30}} Official recording: https://vod.senate.ca.gov/videos/2026/20260629_Business_Prof_Econ_Development.mp4 (Gibbons testimony at approximately 0:06:39 to 0:08:43 and 0:16:01 to 0:17:08; committee vote and reconsideration at approximately 2:33:58 to 2:34:39).</ref> | ||