When you buy a game on Steam, you are not buying the game itself — you are buying a license to play it that Valve can take away. If Valve suspends or terminates your account, you lose access to all games and content you have paid for.
Consumers who have spent significant money on Steam games can lose access to their entire digital library if Valve terminates their account for any reason in Valve's sole discretion, with no requirement for refund of previously purchased content.
Cross-platform context
See how other platforms handle Revocable License — No Ownership of Digital Content and similar clauses.
Compare across platforms →This means that years of game purchases worth potentially thousands of dollars can be made inaccessible if Valve decides to terminate your account, with no obligation to compensate you for lost content.
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: This provision implicates EU Directive 2019/770 on digital content and digital services (Arts. 7, 14 on conformity and remedies); EU Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU Art. 16 (exceptions to withdrawal right once digital content delivery begins); FTC Act Section 5 (deceptive practices if purchase is marketed as buying a game when it is a revocable license); California Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) Civil Code §1750 et seq.; and Washington State Consumer Protection Act RCW 19.86. The FTC and EU consumer protection authorities are the primary enforcement bodies.
Compliance intelligence locked
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Watcher: regulatory citations. Professional: full compliance memo.