Steam Subscriber Agreement

STEAM® SUBSCRIBER AGREEMENT


Table of contents:

  1. Registration as a subscriber; application of terms to you; your account; conclusion of agreements
  2. Licenses
  3. Billing, payment and other subscriptions
  4. Online conduct, cheating and automation
  5. Third-party content
  6. User generated content
  7. Disclaimers; limitation of liability; no guarantees; limited warranty & agreement
  8. Amendments to this agreement
  9. Term and termination
  10. Applicable law/jurisdiction
  11. Miscellaneous

This Steam Subscriber Agreement ("Agreement") is a legal document that explains your rights and obligations as a subscriber of Steam from Valve Corporation, a corporation under the laws of the State of Washington, with its registered office at 10400 NE 4th St., Bellevue, WA 98004, United States, registered with the Washington Secretary of State under number 60 22 90 773, VAT ID No. EU 8260 00671 ("Valve"). Please read it carefully.

1. REGISTRATION AS A SUBSCRIBER; APPLICATION OF TERMS TO YOU; YOUR ACCOUNT, ACCEPTANCE OF AGREEMENTS

Steam is an online service offered by Valve.

You become a subscriber of Steam ("Subscriber") by completing the registration of a Steam user account. This Agreement takes effect as soon as you indicate your acceptance of these terms. You may not become a Subscriber if you are under the age of 13. Steam is not intended for children under 13 and Valve will not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. Additional age restrictions may apply in your country.

A. Contracting Party

For any interaction with Steam your contractual relationship is with Valve. Except as otherwise indicated herein or at the time of the transaction (such as in the case of a transaction with another Subscriber in a Subscription Marketplace), any transactions for Subscriptions (as defined below) you make on Steam are being made from Valve.

B. Hardware, Subscriptions; Content and Services

As a Subscriber you may obtain access to certain services, software and content available to Subscribers or purchase certain Hardware (as defined below) on Steam. The Steam client software and any other software, content, and updates you download or access via Steam, including but not limited to Valve or third-party video games and in-game content, software associated with Hardware and any virtual items you may acquire in a Subscription Marketplace are referred to in this Agreement as "Content and Services;" the rights to access and/or use any Content and Services accessible through Steam are referred to in this Agreement as "Subscriptions."

Each Subscription allows you to access particular Content and Services. Some Subscriptions may impose additional terms specific to that Subscription ("Subscription Terms") (for example, an end user license agreement specific to a particular game, or terms of use specific to a particular product or feature of Steam). Also, additional terms (for example, payment and billing procedures) may be posted on http://www.steampowered.com or within the Steam service ("Rules of Use"). Rules of Use include the Steam Online Conduct Rules http://steampowered.com/index.php?area=online_conduct and the Steam Refund Policy http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds. The Subscription Terms, the Rules of Use, and the Valve Privacy Policy (which can be found at http://www.valvesoftware.com/privacy.htm) are binding on you once you indicate your acceptance of them or of this Agreement, or otherwise become bound by them as described in Section 8 (Amendments to this Agreement).

C. Your Account

When you complete Steam’s registration process, you create a Steam account ("Account"). Your Account may also include billing information you provide to Valve for transactions concerning Subscriptions, Content and Services and the purchase of any physical goods through Steam (“Hardware”). You may not reveal, share or otherwise allow others to use your password or Account except as otherwise specifically authorized by Valve. You are responsible for the confidentiality of your login and password and for the security of your computer system. Valve is not responsible for the use of your password and Account or for all of the communication and activity on Steam that results from use of your login name and password by you, or by any person to whom you may have intentionally or by negligence disclosed your login and/or password in violation of this confidentiality provision. Unless it results from Valve’s negligence or fault, Valve is not responsible for the use of your Account by a person who fraudulently used your login and password without your permission. If you believe that the confidentiality of your login and/or password may have been compromised, you must notify Valve via the support form (https://support.steampowered.com/newticket.php) without any delay.

Your Account, including any information pertaining to it (e.g.: contact information, billing information, Account history and Subscriptions, etc.), is strictly personal. You may therefore not sell or charge others for the right to use your Account, or otherwise transfer your Account, nor may you sell, charge others for the right to use, or transfer any Subscriptions other than if and as expressly permitted by this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use) or as otherwise specifically permitted by Valve. Furthermore, you must not use your Account to enable a violation of this Agreement by others, such as through their commercial use of Steam Content and Services.

D. Acceptance of Agreements

Your order through Steam is an offer to Valve to agree on the delivery of the ordered Subscriptions, Content and Services and/or Hardware (the “Product(s)”) in exchange for the listed price.

When you place an order on Steam, we will send you a message confirming receipt of your order and containing the details of your order (the “Order Confirmation”). The Order Confirmation is acknowledgement that we have received your order and does not confirm acceptance of your offer to enter into an agreement.

In the case of Content and Services, we accept your offer, and conclude the agreement with you, by confirming the transaction and making the Content and Services available to you or, in the case of pre-orders, only by confirming the transaction to you and deducting the applicable price from your payment method.

In the case of Hardware, we only accept your offer, and conclude the transaction for an item ordered by you, when we dispatch the Hardware to you and send e-mail confirming to you that we've dispatched the Hardware to you (the "Dispatch Confirmation"). If your order is dispatched in more than one package, you may receive a separate Dispatch Confirmation for each package, and each Dispatch Confirmation and corresponding dispatch will conclude a separate contract of sale between us for the Hardware specified in that Dispatch Confirmation. Any Hardware delivered to you remains property of Valve until payment has been fully made.

You consent to receiving sales invoices electronically.

E. Payment Processing

Payment processing related to Content and Services and/or Hardware purchased on Steam is performed by either Valve Corporation directly or by Valve’s fully owned subsidiary Valve GmbH i.L. on behalf of Valve Corporation depending on the type of payment method used. If your card was issued outside the United States, your payment may be processed via a European acquirer by Valve GmbH i.L. on behalf of Valve Corporation. For any other type of purchases, payment will be collected by Valve Corporation directly. In any case, delivery of Content and Services as well as Hardware is performed by Valve Corporation.

2. LICENSES

A. General Content and Services License

Steam and your Subscription(s) require the download and installation of Content and Services onto your computer. Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a non-exclusive license and right, to use the Content and Services for your personal, non-commercial use (except where commercial use is expressly allowed herein or in the applicable Subscription Terms). This license ends upon termination of (a) this Agreement or (b) a Subscription that includes the license. The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services. To make use of the Content and Services, you must have a Steam Account and you may be required to be running the Steam client and maintaining a connection to the Internet.

For reasons that include, without limitation, system security, stability, and multiplayer interoperability, Valve may need to automatically update, pre-load, create new versions of or otherwise enhance the Content and Services and accordingly, the system requirements to use the Content and Services may change over time.

You consent to such automatic updating. You understand that this Agreement (including applicable Subscription Terms) does not entitle you to future updates (unless to the extent required by applicable law), new versions or other enhancements of the Content and Services associated with a particular Subscription, although Valve may choose to provide such updates, etc. in its sole discretion.

B. Beta Software License

Valve may from time to time make software accessible to you via Steam prior to the general commercial release of such software ("Beta Software"). You are not required to use Beta Software, but if Valve offers it, you may elect to use it under the following terms. Beta Software will be deemed to consist of Content and Services, and each item of Beta Software provided will be deemed a Subscription for such Beta Software, with the following provisions specific to Beta Software:

  • Your right to use the Beta Software may be limited in time, and may be subject to additional Subscription Terms;
  • Valve or any Valve affiliate may request or require that you provide suggestions, feedback, or data regarding your use of the Beta Software, which will be deemed User Generated Content under Section 6 (User Generated Content) below; and
  • In addition to the waivers and limitations of liability for all Software under Section 7 (Disclaimers; Limitations on Liability; No Guarantees; Limited Warranty & Agreement) below as applicable, you specifically acknowledge that Beta Software is only released for testing and improvement purposes, in particular to provide Valve with feedback on the quality and usability of the Beta Software, and therefore contains errors and is not final. If you decide to install and/or use Beta Software, you shall only use it in compliance with its purposes, i.e. for testing and improvement purposes, in compliance with system requirements specifically intended for each Beta Software and in any case not on a system or for purposes where the malfunction of the Beta Software can cause any kind of damage. In particular, maintain full backups of any system that you choose to install Beta Software on.

C. License to Use Valve Developer Tools

Your Subscription(s) may include access to various Valve tools that can be used to create content ("Developer Tools"). Some examples include: the Valve software development kit (the "SDK") for a version of the computer game engine known as "Source" (the "Source Engine") and the associated Valve Hammer editor, The Source® Filmmaker Software, or in-game tools through which you can edit or create derivative works of a Valve game. Particular Developer Tools (for example, The Source® Filmmaker Software) may be distributed with separate Subscription Terms that are different from the rules set forth in this Section. Except as set forth in any separate Subscription Terms applicable to the use of a particular Developer Tool, you may use the Developer Tools, and you may use, reproduce, publish, perform, display and distribute any content you create using the Developer Tools, however you wish, but solely on a non-commercial basis.

If you would like to use the Source Engine SDK or other Valve Developer Tools for commercial use, please contact Valve at sourceengine@valvesoftware.com.

D. License to Use Valve Game Content in Fan Art.

Valve appreciates the community of Subscribers that creates fan art, fan fiction, and audio-visual works that reference Valve games ("Fan Art"). You may incorporate content from Valve games into your Fan Art. Except as otherwise set forth in this Section or in any Subscription Terms, you may use, reproduce, publish, perform, display and distribute Fan Art that incorporates content from Valve games however you wish, but solely on a non-commercial basis.

If you incorporate any third-party content in any Fan Art, you must be sure to obtain all necessary rights from the owner of that content.

Commercial use of some Valve game content is permitted via features such as Steam Workshop or a Steam Subscription Marketplace. Terms applicable to that use are set forth in Sections 3.D. and 6.B. below and in any Subscription Terms provided for those features.

To view the Valve video policy containing additional terms covering the use of audio-visual works incorporating Valve intellectual property or created with The Source® Filmmaker Software, please click here: http://www.valvesoftware.com/videopolicy.html

E. License to Use Valve Dedicated Server Software

Your Subscription(s) may contain access to the Valve Dedicated Server Software. If so, you may use the Valve Dedicated Server Software on an unlimited number of computers for the purpose of hosting online multiplayer games of Valve products. If you wish to operate the Valve Dedicated Server Software, you will be solely responsible for procuring any Internet access, bandwidth, or hardware for such activities and will bear all costs associated with your use.

F. Ownership of Content and Services