May 28, 2024 11:05:00

Valve declares that games purchased on Steam cannot be transferred after death

Some heavy users who buy a lot of games on Steam may have wondered, 'What will happen to the games left in this library when I die?' A conversation with Valve support, which operates Steam, where someone asked if they could leave their Steam account to their family in a will, only to be told that they couldn't, became a hot topic in the gaming community.

To anyone who is curious, no, you cannot transfer your Steam account via a will. You can only take your games to your graves. | ResetEra

https://www.resetera.com/threads/to-anyone-who-is-curious-no-you-cannot-transfer-your-steam-account-via-a-will-you-can-only-take-your-games-to-your-graves.875634/

After you die, your Steam games will be stuck in legal limbo | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/05/after-you-die-your-steam-games-will-be-stuck-in-legal-limbo/

Valve confirms your Steam account cannot be transferred to anyone after you die | TechSpot
https://www.techspot.com/news/103150-valve-confirms-steam-account-cannot-transferred-anyone-after.html

ResetEra user delete12345 asked Steam, 'I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, but if I do, is it possible to transfer ownership of my Steam account in my will?'

As a result, Steam responded by saying, 'Unfortunately, you cannot transfer your Steam account and games to someone else, provide access to your account to others, or merge your content with another account.'

According to gaming media TechSpot, some in the gaming community have expressed dissatisfaction with Steam's response, asking if there is a way for loved ones to access their games even after they have passed away.

On the other hand, some users are calm in their response, saying that it is not a problem because they can easily circumvent the restrictions of the terms of use by writing down their ID and password.

Steam's

terms of use state that accounts cannot be transferred, and other support information on the official website also states that 'ownership of a Steam account cannot be transferred.' However, in reality, there is almost no way for Steam to find out when the account owner has changed, points out IT news site Ars Technica.

However, some people point out that if there are accounts with ages that far exceed the average life expectancy of a person, Steam may investigate their usage.

Some people are also exploring the possibility of transferring accounts without violating the terms of service. As the terms of service state, 'if Valve specifically permits otherwise,' you can transfer your account to someone else if you get special permission from Valve. According to a

post on the Steam message board in 2015, Steam once stated that 'accounts whose ownership has been transferred by bequest will not be blocked.' However, it should be noted that this was posted by a Steam user about nine years ago, and Valve did not directly say so.

In addition, there is an article (PDF file) that states that under US law, 'digital content can be transferred to the heirs of a deceased user if there is a legal copy of the content on a physical device, such as an iPod or Kindle e-reader ,' so some people tried to download as many games as they could buy for their Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and donate them to the Video Game History Foundation. However, since only physical devices can be bequeathed, the heirs cannot copy or reinstall the content on another device.

'There's no reasonable, legal way to preserve games that originated digitally,' Kelsey Lewin, former co-director of the Video Game History Foundation, told Ars Technica in 2023. 'Limiting access to physical consoles might have worked 20 years ago, but we're no longer in a world where games are sold on a physical medium.'