GOG video games might be inherited upon demise, however you will want a court docket order

A scorching potato: Previously often called “Good Outdated Video games,” GOG.com is a digital retailer providing each basic and fashionable(ish) video games that may be simply put in with out an web connection. Regardless of its deal with digital preservation, the CD Projekt enterprise nonetheless lacks a cushty approach to switch possession if a gamer passes away.

Valve lately said {that a} Steam account and its complete library of digital video games can’t be transferred to a 3rd get together, even when the unique proprietor has died. Now, GOG is addressing the difficulty, confirming that the possession of digital content material is a really complicated subject. The digital retailer is prepared to assist prospects interested by passing on their gaming legacy, however they might want to contain a choose to take action.

In response to GOG spokesperson Zuzanna Rybacka, a GOG account and content material bought on the shop are typically non-transferable. Nevertheless, if a buyer can receive a court docket order stating that the account might be handed on to another person, GOG will help with the matter, contemplating the EULAs for every recreation cited within the court docket order.

Rybacka confirmed that GOG accounts operate equally to different on-line companies associated to digital merchandise, with restricted, private licenses which are non-transferable by default. Moreover, GOG does not accumulate sufficient info to establish a selected particular person behind an account, not to mention their relations or kin.

GOG is on a mission to make video games “final eternally,” however the firm can not really know when somebody has handed away. There should not sufficient established insurance policies across the switch of digital possession to totally different folks, and even together with one’s GOG recreation library in a handwritten will can not assist on this regard.

In response to GOG’s spokesperson, there are a couple of present court docket circumstances the place somebody was profitable in inheriting a web-based account. That is why the corporate considers a court docket order a viable different. GOG is “prepared” to deal with such conditions to try to protect a recreation library for the subsequent era, however they won’t proceed with out a court docket order.

Regardless of the complexities surrounding digital video games and on-line accounts, GOG operates in a means that makes recreation preservation a lot simpler in comparison with Steam. The shop supplies an choice to obtain absolutely offline recreation packages, which might then be put in, copied, and preserved on exterior storage media by the account’s unique proprietor or their kin.