Can Steam Revoke Your Games?

The videogame industry has been becoming a bit tumultuous as of late, with Sony recently announcing that, moving forward, there will be no more physical releases. It's a big loss for hardware, and the videogame industry as a whole, and it's had a lot of PlayStation fans wondering whether they should move on to other platforms. Even over on the Nintendo-owned Nintendo Switch 2, key cards are becoming the norm, which contain a download code and license instead of a physical edition of the game.

One of the issues regarding other, non-console platforms is the lack of physical editions for videogames, as support for optical disc drives on PC has become pretty much moot and doesn't give the opportunity for players to own their items. It's been a long time since PC has had drives incorporated, becoming a mere accessory in modern-day technology.

With everything being digital, and digital-ownership rights being abysmal (to put it lightly), we're taking a look at what you can expect regarding revoking from Steam. This information will come from personal information, having been using Steam for 14 years, and what's widely known — mixing facts with personal anecdotes.

Let's talk facts first: Steam can revoke the license from libraries. A disclaimer has existed for years in the final steps of finalising a purchase, and it reads as follows:

A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam.

This is part of the Steam Subscriber Agreement, which is a pretty long document talking about the rules and regulations for using Valve's platform (though it's worth noting that it's easier to understand in contrast to others, for those who want to learn the rules themselves). So, strictly speaking, Steam can revoke games from players' libraries, even after a purchase has been completed, but there's a bit of a nuance (and where we'll get into personal experiences)

There are two primary ways to get games on Steam: direct purchase on the storefront and authorised key sellers, on websites like Fanatical and Humble Bundle. Depending on the type of purchasing method players are using, there are different risks and realities involved.

Talking first about a direct purchase, it's extremely rare — something I've never seen, having used Steam for 14 years alongside my wife — for Steam to revoke a license. In the case of a game being delisted from the storefront, where publishers remove the game from purchase, and no new players can acquire it, a playable version remains in the owner's library (as long as it's not an online-only game). Take OVERKILL's The Walking Dead, which is a title that still sits in my library, despite it being delisted in February of 2019.

Purchasing things directly from the Steam storefront is a very safe bet, and despite owning thousands of games and dozens of delisted titles, none have ever been revoked from my library whenever I purchased them with Steam. Given Valve's exceptional customer service, I wouldn't be surprised if compensation were given should unique cases exist where they must revoke access from the library.

This is a vastly different story with authorised key sellers (and even worse so for the unauthorised key resellers). Websites that are allowed to sell official Steam codes do so officially and legally, as publishers acquire keys from Steam in bulk and pass them over to the sellers, giving them a chance to offer unique discounts.

Historically, there have been various problems regarding the acquisition of keys whenever purchasing from these storefronts. Pre-orders can arrive late if Valve does not provide keys early enough or sufficient keys to make up for the demand in storefronts. It goes without saying, then, that in cases of buying games from third-party storefronts, players are pre-ordering a spot (much like in the ages of yore with physical editions) for a key, without ensuring that there will be a key for them.

This isn't to say that these websites are insecure or scamming — while getting games at a higher discount on these can be enticing, issues can arise, as they are operated entirely outside of Valve's area, which can lead to several problems when sending codes. It falls on publishers to be able to acquire keys from Valve, and for Valve to send sufficient ones (which can sometimes not be the case).

The same can be said, then, regarding the revoking of keys. Codes from third-party sellers have a higher history of being revoked, as publishers can have a myriad of reasons to remove a license from a Steam library, and a big chunk of the risk (and revokes) comes because of the existence of unauthorised resellers.

Essentially, a big chunk of licensing revocations occurs because of illegally acquired codes, which transit through the unauthorised resellers. These "grey key sites" steal codes from developers or publishers by posing as content creators or purchasing in bulk with stolen credit cards.

Once a code (or several) has been identified, the person who requested the code can get it revoked from whichever Steam account attained the license. These codes can have several in official bulks sent to authorised third-party sellers, and it can cause the issue that leads to a Steam license revocation.

The websites themselves aren't to blame, but rather individual sellers using them to sell codes attained through fraudulent means. Codes can accidentally circulate through authorised third-party resellers, and bulk codes can be revoked from players who purchased them legally.

In some cases, depending on the website, affected players can ask for a replacement code from the third-party seller and get another one to claim on their Steam account. Still, this doesn't come without risks, as third-party sellers no longer have to answer for the revoked license, and it adds an extra layer of work for the purchaser.

Having bought several bundles from the website, Fanatical (I've avoided Humble Bundle for a long time), I've purchased hundreds of codes, and very few of them — a negligible number — have been revoked. While my experience has been great, it's not been a spotless experience in the way Valve has offered directly, and license revocations can — and have — happened with third-party sellers.

It's worth noting, for those who are here for videogame preservation, that the best storefront to purchase from in that regard is GOG. Having a strict no-DRM rule, players who purchase from GOG receive an installer that they can use to download the game, regardless of the game's state.

Licenses in GOG cannot be revoked or removed once the installer has been downloaded, and keeping a physical version of that — even on discs, for die-hard hardware collectors — will mean owning it forever. So, for purists looking to fully own their items, GOG will be the best route to follow.