What do people mean when they say you don’t actually own the games you buy digitally?

Question

I guess this comes under both technology and economics.

But yeah I don’t get it. You pay money for a game, you now own that game. That’s how a transaction works. If I don’t own it what on earth did I pay all that money for? How can companies get away with this?

In: Technology

Answer 1

You have a license to play the game, you don’t own a copy of said game.

This is how almost any software is distributed these days.

Ita buried in the terms of service for the game and digital store front you use.

You are allowed to play the game, but not duplicate, alter or otherwise do anything other than what the developers allow.

If you owned the game, you are free to do whatever the hell you want with your own copy.