Can you pass on your Steam account when you die?
Valve's terms forfeit a Steam account at death. While alive, the account holder can use family pooling.
Protecting Steam accounts while the account is active
No beneficiary designation, lifetime transfer options for accounts, and 6-step plan.
How to protect your Steam account while you are alive →Someone died. Handling Steam accounts after a death
Accounts are forfeited under the official terms, 5-step process, and 1 required documents.
What happens to a Steam account when someone dies →Steam is the largest PC gaming platform, operated by Valve Corporation. An account can hold a game library, Steam Wallet funds, Community Market items, Steam Workshop content, Steam Points and profile customizations, Steam Cloud save data, and membership in a Steam Family.
Under Valve's terms, a Steam account closes when the holder dies and nothing in it passes to anyone. While the account holder is alive, Valve allows family pooling.
What happens to Steam at death
Naming who acts after a death
- Designation
Steam has no way to name a beneficiary or successor for an account; the Subscriber Agreement makes the account strictly personal and bars transferring it.1
Sources2
- 1.Steam Subscriber Agreement, last updated on September 10, 2026
- 2.Contested Steam account ownership
Valve publishes no process specific to a deceased person's account; a written request goes in through Valve's support ticket system. There is no way to name a beneficiary or successor on a Steam account.
Sources
Data sourced from Valve Corporation primary sources (8 pages reviewed). How we research.
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