How to recover a steam account from a deceased family member?

[Screwloose]

I understand that, due to Steam being such a gigantic platform, support is funnelled into specific paths to reduce the spam of frequently asked questions in an open help channel...

However, I am trying to help a good friend to recover the steam account of a deceased family member and Steam doesn't exactly give you a step-by-step guide for how to recover an account to which you do not have the email address.

Can anyone give any advice as to how to get the attention of support, or how to put up a ticket where I can explain the situation in its entirety?

Thank you for reading!

[ReBoot]

Unless you can produce proof of ownership, no way.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

You don't really. If the account is not yours and you don't have the account info to log into it, you are pretty much SOL.

[gundy]

I would suggest not bothering

[Snapjak]

Ya if it wasn't bequeathed to them with the login info, then they won't get it.

[Spawn of Totoro]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126288560

If they have all the information needed, then they should be able to recover it.

If not, then it is gone.

[Brian9824]

Technically you can't. Steam account's aren't transferable and you can't technically leave your account to someone.

It's a bit of a grey area and i've heard mixed things on it, so its really up to steam support's discretion. There aren't really many laws dictating how account ownership works after death so the answer from support can very likely be you can't recover it.

[Snapjak]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Technically you can't. Steam account's aren't transferable and you can't technically leave your account to someone.

It's a bit of a grey area and i've heard mixed things on it, so its really up to steam support's discretion. There aren't really many laws dictating how account ownership works after death so the answer from support can very likely be you can't recover it.

This is from many years ago when the mods had much better access to Valve.

If it's changed since then we haven't been made aware but I highly doubt it.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/490123938441417365/#c490123938441692380

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Snapjak:

Originally posted by brian9824:

Technically you can't. Steam account's aren't transferable and you can't technically leave your account to someone.

It's a bit of a grey area and i've heard mixed things on it, so its really up to steam support's discretion. There aren't really many laws dictating how account ownership works after death so the answer from support can very likely be you can't recover it.

This is from many years ago when the mods had much better access to Valve.

If it's changed since then we haven't been made aware but I highly doubt it.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/490123938441417365/#c490123938441692380

That is a random user, not a mod. It has always been an extreme ymmv and that is not the official stance. The SSA specifically states that they cannot be transfered but depending on who you get they have done it in the past supposedly, and refused to do so in the past.

Here is a much better and accurate post on the subject - https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/7/617336568077133720/#c617336568077220427

Originally posted by Steam Support:

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

This type of situation is resolved on a case by case basis.

It is against the Steam Subscriber Agreement to buy, sell, or trade a Steam account; however we are happy to work with the respective legal parties if this unfortunate event occurs.

If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you.

[Falro the Great]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by Snapjak:

This is from many years ago when the mods had much better access to Valve.

If it's changed since then we haven't been made aware but I highly doubt it.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/490123938441417365/#c490123938441692380

That is a random user, not a mod. It has always been an extreme ymmv and that is not the official stance. The SSA specifically states that they cannot be transfered but depending on who you get they have done it in the past supposedly, and refused to do so in the past.

Here is a much better and accurate post on the subject - https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/7/617336568077133720/#c617336568077220427

Originally posted by Steam Support:

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

This type of situation is resolved on a case by case basis.

It is against the Steam Subscriber Agreement to buy, sell, or trade a Steam account; however we are happy to work with the respective legal parties if this unfortunate event occurs.

If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you.

Eram is a former mod, and he was a mod at that time.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Falro the Great:

Originally posted by brian9824:

That is a random user, not a mod. It has always been an extreme ymmv and that is not the official stance. The SSA specifically states that they cannot be transfered but depending on who you get they have done it in the past supposedly, and refused to do so in the past.

Here is a much better and accurate post on the subject - https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/7/617336568077133720/#c617336568077220427

Eram is a former mod, and he was a mod at that time.

Ah well, either way forum moderators are not steam support staff, so again there is a post straight from steam support confirming what i said.

It can go either way and its a case by case basis. There is no official policy for it.

[crunchyfrog]

Yeah, you're SOL basically unless you have sufficient details. If you do, obviously you can log in or recover the account.

However, outside of going through and trying a long drawn-out legal process in which you get to argue about inheritance rights - which still is nothing like a guarantee in this case (as the Steam Subsciber Agreement does not allow for this), you're basically done.

So it really boils to down two things - money and time investment.

If the account has a shedload of games and you feel it's worth spending likely thousands in legal bills just for the chance at maybe having a case (which as I said, is not remotely guaranteed), then that's up to you.

But personally, I'd say you just leave it as is because the risks FAR FAR outweigh any possible good result here.

[nullable]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Technically you can't. Steam account's aren't transferable and you can't technically leave your account to someone.

It's a bit of a grey area and i've heard mixed things on it, so its really up to steam support's discretion. There aren't really many laws dictating how account ownership works after death so the answer from support can very likely be you can't recover it.

And at the end of the day all that matters is being able to prove ownership. It's not Steam's job to determine if someone is dead or if someone with proof of ownership is otherwise ineligible to access the account technically.

If you can't prove ownership you don't get access, alive or dead. It's not like most users have prepared their Steam accounts for next of kin in case of death anyway. So for a lot of people they're going to find they can't prove ownership, so they won't get access.

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Snakub Plissken:

Originally posted by brian9824:

Technically you can't. Steam account's aren't transferable and you can't technically leave your account to someone.

It's a bit of a grey area and i've heard mixed things on it, so its really up to steam support's discretion. There aren't really many laws dictating how account ownership works after death so the answer from support can very likely be you can't recover it.

And at the end of the day all that matters is being able to prove ownership. It's not Steam's job to determine if someone is dead or if someone with proof of ownership is otherwise ineligible to access the account technically.

If you can't prove ownership you don't get access, alive or dead. It's not like most users have prepared their Steam accounts for next of kin in case of death anyway. So for a lot of people they're going to find they can't prove ownership, so they won't get access.

Precisely,

It's a burden of proof thing.

The onus is absolutely on the person CLAIMING to be the owner. They must provide sufficient proof to reassure Valve it is correct.

It ain't down to Valve to disprove even if they remotely could.