OWNED.

A movement for digital ownership

You bought it. You should own it.

On a disc, you could lend a game, swap it, sell it. Bought digitally, you mostly can't. OWNED is a movement to bring those rights back, starting with the right to resell.

Join OWNED Read the idea

Be one of the first 100 members.

01 / Where this started

A game on a CD. A friend down the street.

When I was a kid I had a game on a CD. I could lend it to a friend and borrow his. When I was done with it, I could sell it and buy a used one from someone else. Nobody asked a platform for permission. Nobody could close an account and take every game I had paid for.

Then games went digital. Delivery got easier. Our rights quietly got smaller.

OWNED is built on one simple idea: whatever you could do with that CD, you should be able to do with a digital copy you paid for.

02 / The gap

The right exists on paper. Nobody made it practical.

  • What a court said. In 2012 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that a rightholder cannot prevent the resale of a used software licence bought by download, as long as the seller stops using their own copy. Read the ruling (Case C-128/11)
  • What stores say. To our knowledge, no major game store lets you resell what you bought. Their terms say you can't.
  • The open question. Whether those terms can override European law for a particular game on a particular platform is contested. We won't guess. We will document it, in public, with sources.

03 / What we're doing

No platform yet. Evidence first.

We're early: two founders, a website and a plan. Before we build anything, we want to prove the problem and find out what the law already allows.

Building

Evidence library

Documented cases of lost access, shutdowns and refused transfers. Every case links to primary sources, and facts are kept apart from opinion.

Next

Know your rights kit

A plain-language guide and template letters you can send to a platform to ask for what the law may already give you. A qualified lawyer will review it before we publish.

Next

Public answer log

When a platform answers, or refuses, it goes on the record. Refusals become evidence for consumer organisations that have the standing to act.

04 / What we stand for

Six rights worth fighting for.

  1. Keep. A game you paid for shouldn't vanish because a store closes or an account is locked.
  2. Use. Play it without needing anyone's ongoing permission, wherever that is technically reasonable.
  3. Transfer. Give it, lend it, or leave it to someone else.
  4. Resell. Recover some of what you paid, like you could with a disc.
  5. Know before you buy. Clear disclosure of what you are really getting and what it depends on.
  6. Preserve. When a game's servers close, there should be a plan so it isn't lost for good.

We don't claim you own a game's code or characters. We claim rights over the copy you paid for.

05 / What OWNED is not

Four things we are not.

Not a store.We're not here to sell you games.
Not selling anything.No ads, no data sales, no premium tier.
Not a crypto project.No tokens, no NFTs. Technology only matters if it delivers the rights.
Not against developers.Developers deserve to be paid. We want fair rules, not a free-for-all.

06 / Join

Are you in?

Add your name to the list. We'll email you occasionally: new evidence, the rights kit when it's ready, and ways to help. Nothing else.