That means we don't own any of the games on our account, and they suddenly want to remind us of that.
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It's pretty much nice lawyer talk that you don't buy games on Steam, you are renting them from Valve.
With that wording, they are covered when they close your account for any reason or bankrupt - nobody will lose anything because nobody ever owned anything.
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technically, you don't buy games on PC, you only obtain a license to play the game
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Yeah, but let's face it, when someone says "buy games" they pretty much always means "buy license" (unless you're EA and buying new IP to ruin :) ).
But on Steam, most of the times you don't even buy license,
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Have a real Blueheart. That let you win a few more Games that you, not really, own :o)
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To answer the question in the title, they have since 2012 at least so if they ever changed it, its not a recent change.
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If you have your mails, look them up. They really do have this wording for over half a decade.
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I see it now!
Though "Steam lets you purchase full retail versions of games delivered straight to your desktop, complete with automatic updates and in-game community features." contradicts the subscription.
I think Valves legal dept aren't entirely with it.
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Aye, thats exactly what retail means within the context. Secondly, a subscription is a payment for a set period of time with recurring payments for more - usually paid up front.
eg a Netflix subscription.
Perhaps the terminology here is a forgotten hangover from earlier days when Valve was looking at working as a "games as a service" service? - or thought thats how they could operate (even though being registred as a retailer negates it).
Edit: As to owning, yes, you end up with a licence for end use. The terminology is specific so as not imply "ownership" in the copyright sense - that is, no transferral of ownership of the assets, code characters and so on.
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2008 is what I can confirm.
Your friend Ekaros has given you a gift subscription to the game Half-Life 2 on Steam, the leading digital distribution platform for PC games. Here’s how to redeem your gift:
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Have to admit I've never actually read this before, but it does seem to be included even from the very first gift I've received on steam.
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You're paying/receiving a licence to install and play the game; you're not buying software to be owned by you.
It does sound weird when you look at it suddenly, but it's been like this from the beginning. And I'm not talking just about steam. Even before digital distribution, every EULA said as much, you're getting a licence to play, you don't own it, can't decompile and analyze blah blah...
Buying video game software would be where you hire a team to build a game for you and you buy it, then it's yours and you can licence it to others to use through Steam/other and earn from it.
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You're paying/receiving a licence to install and play the game; you're not buying software to be owned by you.
That's the point, on Steam you're not getting licenses, on Steam you buy subscriptions (I guess DRM-free titles can be still considered llicenses I guess). .
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