GOG announces that 'your account and games can be inherited by your family,' but only if you get a court order

Valve, which operates the PC game sales platform 'Steam,' has stated that if a user dies, the games purchased on that account cannot be transferred to their relatives. Meanwhile, rival PC game sales platform GOG announced through IT news site Ars Technica that 'if a user dies, their account can be inherited by their relatives, but only if they obtain a court order.'

You can inherit a dead relative's GOG account—if you have a court order | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/06/gog-will-transfer-your-dead-relatives-game-account-but-only-with-a-court-order/

Valve responded to a user's question, 'Can I transfer ownership of my Steam account in my will if I die?' by saying, 'Unfortunately, you can't transfer your Steam account and games to someone else, provide access to your account to someone else, or merge your content with another account.'

Valve declares that games purchased on Steam cannot be transferred to someone else after death - GIGAZINE

Meanwhile, GOG spokesperson Susanna Laybacka said, 'Generally, GOG accounts and content are non-transferable. However, if we receive a copy of the court order showing your personal account, the digital content attached to it and the specific games within it, your GOG username and at least the email address used to create the account, we will do our best to make that happen.'

'Every game distributed on GOG is covered by a separate EULA (End User License Agreement), which specifies in detail what rights are given to users of the game,' said Laibach. According to Ars Technica, the key point is that GOG accounts and content are distributed under a license that states 'for personal use only' and 'not transferable to others.'

To actually transfer a GOG account after death, you must first prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the account belongs to a specific user.

However, GOG does not collect detailed personal information such as the user's name, family, or marital status when registering a user. Therefore, it is impossible for GOG to prove that the user has actually died or that the person applying to transfer the account is actually the person who has the right to inherit the user's estate. In order to transfer the account of a deceased user, GOG must provide legal evidence to show that the GOG account and associated content are part of the estate. This requires a court order issued in accordance with the formal procedure.

'The issue of posthumous accounts is a particularly sensitive one, and there is little to no legal guidance, so we want to proceed carefully,' said Laibach. However, there are already court precedents that allow accounts to be inherited, and Laibach said, 'It's possible that courts are trying to address the legal issue of posthumous accounts in line with the mission of game preservation.'

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