Many players have been collecting monsters in Pokémon GO for years now. Large, lovingly maintained collections are coming together. But what happens to such an account if one should die? Can it be transferred? Deleted? We inquired.
Many people enjoy collecting something. Stamps, coins, trading cards, model cars – whatever it may be. They connect something emotional with it, and a lot of effort goes into these collections. And often, it is the case that the heirs receive such a collection when the collector passes away.
There are also stories in the realm of video games where people feel connected to deceased loved ones through a game. Time and again, one reads about such experiences where old profiles, characters, or game collections are continued to be played by survivors.
We’ve read such questions about Pokémon GO frequently as well. No wonder: The game appeals to people who might not otherwise be into video games, has a large fan base in general, occurs in everyday life, and has been around for almost 9 years now. Many large collections have also been amassed. Therefore, we inquired: Is it actually possible to bequeath an account?
What Niantic says about inheriting an account in Pokémon GO
In principle, Pokémon GO accounts are considered non-transferable. For example, a father who no longer wants to play cannot transfer his account to his daughter, where new access data would be used while the old game progress continues.
But how about in the event of death? Upon inquiry, we were informed that Niantic considers the account to be strictly personal. Selling, exchanging, gifting, or transferring an account to other individuals is prohibited under the terms of use – and this applies even in the event of death. Using the access data also violates the usage policies.
Only account deletion can be achieved. However, transferring the account is not possible.
So, can an account in Pokémon GO be inherited? As of now, the answer is: No.
Not only an interesting question for Pokémon GO: In general, the inheritance of digital content is a topic that concerns some players. After all, there are now literally huge game collections that exist purely digitally – such as on Steam. And even there, inheriting the digital collection is difficult. On GOG, this was also a topic, but it is treated somewhat differently.
Often, digital content is not even about actual “ownership” but rather user licenses that expire upon death – or personal accounts that are not transferable. Therefore, it may be the case with many providers that inheritance is ultimately not intended. What do you think about this topic? Tell us in the comments!
