EULA & ToS
7 articles
The eternal physical game: the great illusion
Does owning the disc guarantee you can play forever? No. Physical or digital, you buy the same licence, and since consoles went online (2005), a boxed game can technically be banned remotely. "They won’t come and take it from my home": they don’t need to. The real subject is rights, not the medium.
What Is a EULA? The Contract You Sign Without Ever Reading It
"Buying" a game means first accepting a contract. The EULA (End User License Agreement) is the same for every game from a given publisher, it can change after your "signature", and almost nobody reads it. Here's why.
Analysis of Ubisoft's CLUF in Light of The Crew Case
A clause-by-clause breakdown of Ubisoft's End User License Agreement (CLUF). Ubisoft attempts to characterize your purchase as a mere revocable license, but that characterization is not enough to erase your rights. An analysis under French and European law.
Unfair clauses in games' CGU: what you need to know
A clause that creates a significant imbalance to your detriment is "deemed not written," even if you accepted it. How European law on unfair terms applies to the CGU of dematerialized games.
Buying video games: do you really own what you buy?
Buying a game never transfers copyright over the work. In physical format, you own the copy and can resell it; in digital format, you only acquire a license to use it, governed by a contract. What this actually changes for your rights.
Usus, abusus, fructus: what "owning" a game should really mean
Civil law defines ownership through three attributes inherited from Roman law: usus, fructus, abusus. Applied to dematerialised video games, they reveal everything the licence strips away from you.
The digital era and its licences: what rights do you get depending on what you buy?
Perpetual licence, subscription, live-service game, free-to-play: they do not all grant you the same rights to play, keep and resell. A short guide to the licences of dematerialised games.