Online Gaming Accounts After Death: What Happens to Virtual Assets?

The digital gaming industry has created enormous value — some accounts hold thousands of pounds worth of games, collectables, and in-game currency. But the legal reality of who actually "owns" these assets is far more complicated than most people realise, and the answer matters enormously for executors trying to administer an estate that includes significant gaming assets.

The legal position: licensed, not owned

The fundamental issue with gaming accounts and digital assets is the legal distinction between ownership and a licence to use. When someone buys a game on Steam, PlayStation Store, or Xbox, they are not purchasing a product in the traditional sense — they are purchasing a non-transferable, non-exclusive licence to access that content under the platform's terms of service.

Almost every major gaming platform's terms of service contain clauses stating that accounts cannot be sold, transferred, or inherited. The account is personal to the registered user, and the licence terminates when the account is terminated — which, under most terms, occurs upon the death of the account holder.

This creates a significant gap between the perceived value of a gaming account (potentially thousands of pounds of purchased games and in-game items) and the legal reality (a licence that terminates on death and cannot be passed to another person). The legal position in England and Wales has not been definitively tested in the courts, but the contractual position is clear: gaming platforms do not recognise death-based transfers.

Steam accounts: the practical reality

Steam, operated by Valve Corporation, is the dominant PC gaming platform in the UK, and many accounts hold libraries of games worth hundreds or thousands of pounds. Valve's Steam Subscriber Agreement explicitly states that accounts are personal and non-transferable, and that all licences to games terminate upon account closure.

In practice, however, Valve does not actively police this. There is no mechanism by which Valve learns of a user's death unless a family member contacts them. Many families continue to use a deceased person's Steam account informally — playing the games they purchased, maintaining their game library — without any consequences. Valve does not proactively close accounts for inactivity.

The key practical consideration is account access: if the deceased had two-factor authentication enabled (Steam Guard), the family may need access to the deceased's phone or email to authenticate logins. If the phone is not accessible or the email account has been closed, access to the Steam account may be permanently lost.

Similarly, PlayStation Network and Xbox accounts are governed by Sony and Microsoft terms respectively, both of which prohibit transfer. Sony and Microsoft can close accounts upon being notified of a death. If the account has a positive credit balance, it may be worth enquiring with the platform about recovering this balance — though success is not guaranteed.

In-game currency and virtual items with real-money value

Many games feature in-game currencies and virtual items that were purchased with real money and have quantifiable monetary value:

• Roblox Robux: purchased with real money; the balance has a known sterling equivalent. Roblox's terms prohibit transfer but large balances may be worth enquiring about
• Fortnite V-Bucks: Epic Games' in-game currency; a significant balance has real value but Epic's terms do not permit transfer or estate claims
• FIFA/EA FC Ultimate Team coins and player cards: these have a vibrant secondary market and real monetary value, but EA's terms prohibit any form of transfer or inheritance
• Steam Wallet balance: real money held in the Steam account. This is not subject to the same licensing issues as games — it is a cash balance — and it may be worth contacting Valve about recovering it for the estate

The practical position for executors is frustrating: these assets have genuine value but are typically unrecoverable through formal legal channels. The most pragmatic approach for most estates is to access the account informally using the deceased's credentials and either spend down in-game currency within the game or simply note the account in the estate accounts as an asset whose recovery is not achievable.

NFT gaming assets: the genuine exception

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) used in gaming represent a fundamentally different situation from traditional in-game items. NFT game assets are actual tokens recorded on a blockchain — the player genuinely owns the token, not merely a licence to use it. This ownership is entirely separate from the game platform's terms of service.

Examples include NFT characters and items in blockchain games such as Axie Infinity, Gods Unchained, and various other play-to-earn games. The NFTs are held in the player's cryptocurrency wallet, not in the game platform's servers.

Because NFT gaming assets are held in a personal cryptocurrency wallet, the same rules apply as for cryptocurrency generally: the executor needs access to the private key or seed phrase to access the wallet. If the wallet can be accessed, the NFTs it contains are estate assets that can be valued, held, sold, or transferred to beneficiaries. For valuation, use the floor price of the relevant NFT collection on the date of death as a starting point, though specialist advice is recommended for significant holdings.

Digital inheritance planning for gamers

The gaming industry's approach to death and inheritance is increasingly being challenged by the growth of digital asset values. For anyone with significant gaming assets, pre-death planning is becoming increasingly important:

• Include gaming account credentials (username, password, and any recovery codes) in a secure letter of wishes kept with the will or with a solicitor — this gives family members practical access even if legal title is unclear
• For NFT assets, ensure seed phrases for cryptocurrency wallets are securely documented and accessible to the executor
• Consider listing gaming accounts and digital assets in a separate digital assets letter, noting where credentials can be found and what the family member wishes to happen to each account
• Keep note of approximate values of significant game libraries or in-game collections, particularly if they were purchased over time and the total value may not be immediately obvious to an executor

The Law Commission has noted the lack of clarity in UK law around digital assets and inheritance, and reform may come in future years. For now, practical documentation remains the most effective approach for families and executors navigating this relatively new area of estate administration.