A simple question sparks a huge debate: What will happen to our games if Steam goes bankrupt?

Even though there's no sign of Steam going down anytime soon, we keep wondering about the risk of losing access to our game collections. The topic popped up again thanks to a Reddit discussion, and players started wondering if they'd lose everything if Gabe Newell's platform ever went under. There are at least a few solutions to this grim scenario, but it's hard to call any of them convenient for either party.

1. In the discussion, there are voices suggesting that in such a situation, we would simply lose access to our games. The main argument remains unchanged – on Steam, we don't purchase specific products; we only pay for a license to use them. Following this line of reasoning, with the store's collapse, it would cease to provide its basic services. That could end up with a bunch of people suing or a sudden spike in illegal game downloads. The same would apply to other platforms such as the PlayStation and Microsoft stores.
2. As we might expect, Steam is prepared for such a scenario – its representatives declared years ago that access to games would be maintained even if the company were to close. One possible fix is to download the collection and use the Steam client in offline mode.
3. Most store users, however, have over 100 items in their library (and some even over 40,000!). Imagine if we had to save each one of them on a hard drive – it wouldn't just be about finding space for them, but it would also be a huge load on Steam's servers. Customers would likely choose only a few favorite games.
4. According to players, "something this big simply doesn't disappear," so there is a chance for the service to be taken over by another giant. On the other hand, if Steam were to go down, it would spell big trouble for the industry and lead to even worse issues, like a digital distribution crisis.
5. What's interesting, a user on GameStar named IchoTolot86 thinks that game developers and publishers should be the ones helping out players with the games they've bought.

The issue will certainly become a topic of discussion many more times, especially since Valve is not eager to make firm declarations. The company is also not very flexible, as evidenced by the lack of pro-consumer solutions in the event of the account owner's death.

• Steam
• gaming industry
• digital distribution