TL:DW Steam has now changed its language from buy game to A purchase of a digital product grants a licence to the product on steam. This may also be non compliant with the new regulation as it still uses the word purchase. Also GOG used this opportunity to let you know their games come with an installer that they cannot take away from you.
It was always licenses on Steam, nothing changed in their ToS. Though there are some DRM-free games on Steam, even free from Steam-DRM.
It was technically always licenses for every video game ever commercialised. It’s just that a publisher has no practical way to control what happens to someone’s floppy/optical disc/cartridge/whatever physical media.