So when did licensing of a game versus ‘ownership’ actually come into play?

A lot of talk about gaming licenses versus ownership at the minute and I find it quite confusing.

When you boot up a modern game, you accept a licensing agreement. That’s easy to understand (whatever my opinion is of the practice).

My question is when did this actually start? Is the the SNES cartridge I’ve owned for 30 years also something I just hold a license for? Or a PS2 disc from 2001 that still runs and is completely self contained, requiring no online support, etc.

I’ve seen some people say ALL software is licensed rather than sold as property, but I’m struggling to understand the practical difference when a publisher would have no way of revoking it short of sending goons round to my house to take the cartridge/disc off me.