About to complete 21 years of fruitful service to the industry videogame on PC, many of the users of Steam We inevitably grow old and enter that age in which you begin to wonder what will happen the day you are no longer among the living. Some of them have even begun to wonder what will happen to their Steam accounts after that moment.
The gamer died, the license ran out
The official support of Valve makes the matter crystal clear: all purchased games and their corresponding use licenses will be lost in a limbo difficult legal solution. The company argues that system accounts They are non-transferable and there is no way to merge them., nor to ensure that another person becomes the legal owner when the original user dies. In the most practical sense of the matter, Valve – owner of the platform – assures that there is no way to bequeath that magnificent collection with hundreds of games and thousands of euros invested to your heirs.
Sharing passwords is illegal
The Steam owner goes further and states that Not even a legally registered will guarantees the possibility of another person becoming the beneficiary of the account. and its elements. The response received by a user from the official support account is argued in these terms: “Steam Support cannot provide another person with access to the account or merge its content with another account. I regret to inform you that your Steam account is not can be transferred by will.”
In fact, the solution to This policy is as simple as sharing the account access keys with your heirs, but this can also carry some risks. According to Valve's terms of use, the company strictly prohibits sharing information about logins and passwords, except in cases expressly authorized by the platform itself. As the contract states, sharing or allowing another person to obtain account access data constitutes a violation of the agreement. Among the sanctions provided for these actions is the closure of the profile, something that, in fact, would end up taking all the games and the software associated with it.
The situation is repeated when it comes to legal licenses, since the subscriber agreement is also quite clear in its terms: “You may not disclose, share or allow others to use your password or account, unless specifically authorized by Valve,” describes the contract. “You may not sell or charge others for the right to use your Account, or otherwise transfer your Account, nor may you charge others for the right to use or transfer any subscription except and as expressly permitted by this agreement, as Valve specifically allows.”
Measures that are not being applied
Although the terms are quite clear, so far there is no sign that Steam is blocking accounts that are shared after the death of their original owner. Therefore, leaving the username and password recorded in some document so that they can be used by your heirs seems to be a relatively reliable resource; but don't count on Valve's help to maintain your library when you're no longer around.