If you buy something, that will be yours, you can use it as long as you want, you can sold it or it can be inherited from you. (In copyright terms that's a perpetual, irrevocable license.)
If there is only a limited duration you can use something, that's called renting and the duration must be known before you enter into a contract.
No it isn't. People buy movie tickets, annual passes, and other things all the time that are not "rented". These are things you buy, and you may lose access to them if something happens to the business.
The terms of the purchase of an online game that might shut down are quite clear and known ahead of time. It's just not a fixed amount of time.
In that case you buy a ticket and not a movie / game. People buy movies on DVD / BR and they will be able to play them forever. This should be the same if you buy the same movie (with a one time payment) on a website, too.
There is a different valid business model, where you subscribe for eg. a monthly / yearly fee and can watch movies form a catalog or play games from a catalog as long as you keep paying and the service is working.
> The terms of the purchase of an online game that might shut down are quite clear and known ahead of time.
On a ticket or a pass there is a clear date or deadline printed on them. Do the same for games (buy thins game 10 EUR for 1 year) and that would be fine, too, (it is the same subscription model just with yearly duration).
If you're buying a time limited license then the guaranteed time should be part of the license and considered part of the budget.
You are buying a license for 2 weeks sounds a lot less appealing than just "buying", but that would have been the reality for Concord had they not issued refunds. Is a year that much better? Maybe, but have it in writing.
These "we sell you a license we may terminate at any point for any reason" terms are absolute bullshit.
>But you’re not renting or subscribing to it so that is inaccurate
If the game can be taken away from you st any time then "buying" is definitely inaccurate too then. "Licensing for a limited time" might be the most accurate, but something like "Lease for X years" might be more concise and accurate enough.
If that's the plan, then you should attach an expiration date to it. Tell the consumers how long you plan to keep things running, and commit to it. Don't just shrug and go "I dunno".
I think bankruptcy is clearly its own category here. This is targeted at companies who release something then shutter it because they didn't sell enough copies.
