what happens to your account if you die?

[The Phantom Chicken of CS_Italy]

Can Valve be trusted to transfer an account to surviving family upon execution of a will? Is succession planning and inheritance a feature?

[Sazzouu]

You transfer it yourself or it lays there for ever. I actually have someone in my FL whose brother died in an accident (around 6 years ago). His brothers account still sits around offline and it will do so forever

[Kaldaien]

Where did you get the idea that your account is a tangible good that is transferable upon death? You subscribe to your account, and the account holds licenses. After the only person eligible to subscribe to the account dies, those licenses remain perfectly valid, but the account they are bound to has no subscribers and never will unless something changes.

[Ogami]

If the Steam account was part of a will that also included the login credentials then someone else can take it after the original owner died.
If he dies and there are no records of the login/password then that account is equally "dead".
Valve will not give out account logins to anyone but the original owner.

[Jimari]

The Terms of Service explicitly say they dont allow to transfer it no matter what, I think Gamespot made a video where they asked Valve about transferring to your relatives once you die etc.
And Valve said no.

But as they say "Its only a crime if you get caught" so if you give someone your account secretly steam wont tell, the most they can guess is that you moved countries.

[BOT Steven]

If the account was worth enough for someone to really care, Valve would probably look at it on a case by case basis (with proof of course).

[♥♥♥]

put it in ya will mate

[ReBoot]

My sister's 10 years younger than me (and women live longer than men anyway) so when I know I'm going to get out, I'll disable Steam guard & give her the login credentials. And should I die unexpectedly, then so what? I won't be able to worry about my Steam account (or genuinely important stuff) anyway.

[reg1s7]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

My sister's 10 years younger than me (and women live longer than men anyway) so when I know I'm going to get out, I'll disable Steam guard & give her the login credentials. And should I die unexpectedly, then so what? I won't be able to worry about my Steam account (or genuinely important stuff) anyway.

Won't you also handover your phone (therefore also the steam guard) to her?

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by 🍏EvanS_3826:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

My sister's 10 years younger than me (and women live longer than men anyway) so when I know I'm going to get out, I'll disable Steam guard & give her the login credentials. And should I die unexpectedly, then so what? I won't be able to worry about my Steam account (or genuinely important stuff) anyway.

Won't you also handover your phone (therefore also the steam guard) to her?

She doesn't need my phone, she's got an own.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

My sister's 10 years younger than me (and women live longer than men anyway) so when I know I'm going to get out, I'll disable Steam guard & give her the login credentials. And should I die unexpectedly, then so what? I won't be able to worry about my Steam account (or genuinely important stuff) anyway.

Also give the necessary proofs. you know, just in case.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Kelthorian:

Originally posted by Kaldaien:

and never will unless something changes.

Kinda like refunds changed after valve lost in the EU and Australian courts.

As that happened thankfully passing on account ownership will probably also happen eventually.

You should probably read those court details before you cite them.

[Dracon]

Originally posted by Ogami:

If the Steam account was part of a will that also included the login credentials then someone else can take it after the original owner died.
If he dies and there are no records of the login/password then that account is equally "dead".
Valve will not give out account logins to anyone but the original owner.

It's illegal.

[RecycledBeauty]

Well I guess if you die you'd have to give someone the account credentials but like some people have mentioned the account is "legally" bound to only you. If the account becomes compromised in some way then whoever has access to it might not be about to recover said account.This is definitely one of the stranger discussion topics I've seen lately. Besides I would think there wouldn't be a legal way to give an account to someone else once you agree to said terms of the account/subscription service. Its not like removing someone name from a utility bill or transferring service from one people to another upon death.

What exactly brought this up at this very moment I have to wonder.

[The Phantom Chicken of CS_Italy]

Accounts have primary and contingent beneficiaries in the event that the account holder passes away. Steam lacks it. For people with surviving dependents, partners, family, etc. it would be a comfort to know that the assets could be transferred and/or merged with a designated beneficiary's account. Certificates of death from the beneficiary would need to be involved.

After my sister passed away last year and calling dozens of banks, lenders, investment firms, online subscription accounts to submit certificates of death, it is apparent how startling and shortsighted it is that Steam lacks any succession plan or process for accounts that may have thousands of licenses for which their children and spouse lack access to within the platform.

[Frostbringer]

Originally posted by STAY HOME: The Phantom Chicken:

Accounts have primary and contingent beneficiaries in the event that the account holder passes away. Steam lacks it. For people with surviving dependents, partners, family, etc. it would be a comfort to know that the assets could be transferred and/or merged with a designated beneficiary's account. Certificates of death from the beneficiary would need to be involved.

After my sister passed away last year and calling dozens of banks, lenders, investment firms, online subscription accounts to submit certificates of death, it is apparent how startling and shortsighted it is that Steam lacks any succession plan or process for accounts that may have thousands of licenses for which their children and spouse lack access to within the platform.

So this was an unexpected death and your sister had nothing set-up before her passing?

No lawyer on retainer handling such a large portfolio , and you equate this to Steam not having something in place so you can access her video games...