7d ago

For different game store, legally, what happens if they close?

Yes, I know DRM-free means you can still physically play the games. Thats not what I'm asking.

Sparked by a recent discussion about DRM, I'm wondering what happens legally when different game stores close. For example, if Steam shuts down, are licences presumed to presist or are they revoked? What about GOG, Itch.io or Epic? I couldn't find anything in the terms of service specifying.

16 comments

Legally speaking you lose the license to all the games because you don't own the games only a license to use those games.
And the game owners have only licensed the games to the gaming platform (steam, etc) with the license to re-license those to you. Ceasing to exist the middleman, also your end of the license is invalidated.
You would need to negotiate a license to use each game again with somebody else or you are effectively pirating the game.
This doesn't matter if there are DRM or no DRM. This not a technical aspect. Pirating means using without being legally allowed to, circumventing DRM or not is just the difference between breaking into your home or finding a non locked door to enter without damaging the house. Its still stealing.
Don't get mad, I do not condone DRM and I don't think piracy is stealing, it was just an example from a legal point of view
IANAL, but had to study the field for work related stuff.
- Thanks for your thorough answer. That was my understanding from the research I was doing as well, but I am probably even less of a lawer and was hoping someone with more experience could check my work.

Steam very specifically states that you buy a license for the game. Unless someone somehow takes over the license agreements with publishers, your game library disappears.
GOG very plainly states your ability to download game installers to have as a backup to prevent this ever being an issue. They could go under and say “you have 3 days to download your games before servers go offline” and you could.
- What happens if you simply disconnect from the internet, how does it know to "update"?
  
  Some programs monitor the system clock for purposes like this.
  But in the case of Steam games, many of your games would work just fine.
- You're buying a licence either way. Its not like you can resell your GOG games or anything. If that licence is revoked or invalidated, continuing to play the games is piracy. They say you will have three days to backup your installer, but what happens to the licenses in that case? If they end when GOG or Steam go under, legally, it doesn't matter what DRM is used.
  
  These two things are not the same.
  With GOG you're buying the license to freely download a reusable and unlocked installer - with steam your game state is managed by steam in a generally intricate manner that relies on steam being running to run the game. Some games do install stand alone executables but it is vanishingly rare to find a game with an installer included in the game files.
  In theory with steam games if there are no other dependencies (like dlls or registry entries) you can copy the game directory to a new computer wholesale but often times even that won't be worth much if the steam executable isn't running.
  Please note, a lot of this knowledge came from me tinkering with the overlay a few years back, it's possible steam changed things to make the overlay and client dll more optional but those are usually hard dependencies baked into the game executable files.

I figure maybe towards the end of my lifetime laws will catch up to allow some form of real digital ownership. Until then: you lose it when they go out.
- Laws serve the purpose of protecting ownership and owners, that defines what is lawful or not.
  So, it is working as intended.

In my experience you lose all your games unless the publisher is a bro and gives you a key for a different platform.

If no-one's putting in some kind of legally-binding contract for you, assume it poofs. Whatever games you "own", whatever platform they're on, make a list. You might just have to go hunting for them on the high seas one day.

It seems pretty evident to me that in the coming decade there is going to be massive world changes.. If you have any desire to actually OWN your games in the future, you really need to be burning off GOG Offline Installers of your games.
Imagine WW3 really kicks off, maybe your country gets Nuked, maybe Climate disaster fragments the internet and Steam (or the other "Leasers" of games) goes offline either way. In the grim darkness of the not-so-distant future, will you have your game library intact?
- Imagine WW3 really kicks off, maybe your country gets Nuked
  "omg can I still play Elden Ring??" would be my first thought for sure, for I am a Gamer.
- Haha, suckers.. I've got all the games in the world... and I've got about 5 hours of laptop of battery to play them in

you don't own anything, so you will have to pay for them again

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