What happens to a Riot Games account when someone dies
Riot Games publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; a written request goes in through Riot Games' support ticket system.
Under Riot Games' terms, a Riot Games account closes when the holder dies and nothing in it passes to anyone.
Riot Games publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; a written request goes in through Riot Games' support ticket system. The request takes 5 documents.
What to do
- •State that the account holder has died and the requester acts for the estate.
- •Processing takes 30 days, and the download link expires 30 days after issue.
- •Refunds go to the original payment method; app store and console purchases are refunded by that marketplace.
- •The Riot Client username and the Riot ID.
- •The server, the account creation date, and the city and country of registration.
- •The email address used to register the account.
- •The death certificate and letters testamentary or letters of administration, for any verification questions.
Required Documents
- Riot Client username and Riot ID: The username used to sign into the Riot Client, and the Riot ID, which is how the player is seen in game.
- The server the account plays on, and the account creation date
- The city and country of registration, and the registration email address: The city and country the account was registered from, and the email address used to originally register the account.
- Death certificate: for any verification questions. Riot states it verifies that it is dealing with the account's creator and may ask verification questions.
- Proof of authority over the estate: for any verification questions. Such as letters testamentary or letters of administration.
Timeline
A personal data request takes 30 days to process, and the download link expires 30 days after it is issued.
What Riot Games, Inc.'s terms say at death
- 1.5
“You can't sell, transfer or allow any other person to access your account or Login Credentials, or offer to do so.”1
What Riot Games, Inc. says happens10
- Who owns the asset
Under Section 4.4 the player has no ownership or other property interest in the account, all rights in which belong to Riot, and no title, ownership or other proprietary interest in any Virtual Content, whatever was paid for it.1
Section 4.3 states that Virtual Content has no monetary value and cannot be transferred, unless Riot allows it in the functionality of the Riot Services, or redeemed for real-world money.1
- Purchased content and licenses
Section 4.4 grants only a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicenseable, revocable, limited license to purchased champions, skins, agents and other Virtual Content.1
- Closing the account
Under Section 2.3, on termination the holder loses access to the account, including any of its associated data or Virtual Content, Game Currency included.1
Deactivation restricts access, leaves the account data untouched and is reversible at any time on request; deletion is permanent and releases the username, Riot ID, Summoner Name and email address for anyone else to claim.2
- Deletion and data retention
An account queued for deletion has a 30-day grace period during which a ticket can stop the process; after that, Riot states the account will not be recoverable.3
- Passwords and login
Riot's account-deletion ticket route, under the request type Account Management, Data Requests, or Deletion, does not require signing in as the account holder.3
- Inactive accounts and expiry
An account is queued for automatic deletion only when all four conditions are met: no login for over three years, no real money ever spent on it, under 20 combined hours played, and no limited edition content owned.4
Riot states it is fine to leave an account active without using it, and that an account is not deleted or otherwise harmed by remaining enabled.2
- Balances, payouts and refunds
Unused Game Currency bought with real money can be refunded to the original payment method if requested within 14 days of purchase, and League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics accounts carry three refund tokens for purchases made in the last 90 days.5
Purchases made through the Apple App Store, Google Play, Galaxy Store, PlayStation or Xbox are refunded by those marketplaces rather than by Riot, and Riot cannot issue a cash refund to a gift card or prepaid card.5
Under Section 2.3, a holder whose account is terminated for cause is not entitled to any refunds.1
- Subscriptions and billing
The Account Deactivation and Deletion FAQ recommends removing payment information from the account before a deactivation is processed.2
- Verifying the requester
Riot states that "for security and privacy reasons, we are only able to help the original owner of the account," and that anyone needing support for someone else should have that person reach out directly.6
If the requester cannot supply all of the identifying information, Riot says it may need to ask some questions to verify ownership.3
- Disclosure of account content
A Formal Personal Data Request, made by ticket, includes all store transactions and all monetary purchases for each game played, plus content inventory and currency for some titles.7
Riot frames the data request around confirming the original creator of the account, and its own guidance is to make a data request before any deletion.7
Not in Riot Games's published guidance6
- A process for a deceased account holder
- A form for estate requests
- A phone number for this
- A complete list of the documents to send
- Whether a certified death certificate is required
- Memorialization
A written request to Riot Games can ask it to provide purchase and transaction records for the estate inventory, refund an unspent balance, transfer the account to a named family member, preserve the account while the estate is opened and close the account.
Nothing in the account survives the holder, and Riot Games allows no lifetime transfer of it either.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter for Riot Games drafts that request from the estate's details.
Sources
Data sourced from Riot Games, Inc. primary sources (12 pages reviewed). How we research.
Riot Games estate claims
Riot Games Support
Mailing address
Website
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Forms for Settling an Estate
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Affidavit of Death
Put a joint owner's or a transfer on death deed owner's death on the land records with the affidavit your state's statute names, laid out for recording.
IRS Form 56
Notify the IRS that you are the fiduciary of an estate, a trust or a person, or end a notice filed before, on the official form.
Digital Assets Recovery Letter
Prepare a letter requesting a deceased person's online accounts, points, and balances from the program that holds them.
Petition for Probate and Letters
Open probate and ask the court to appoint you and issue Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Notice to Creditors
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