After a gamer dies, where do his or her video game accounts and purchases go?

Mobile games and video games are popular and even in-game purchases have become nearly commonplace.  You may wonder what happens to these accounts and these purchases after death. 

A patent that was applied for in 2019 by Tencent Holdings has been recently granted.  This patent, among other things, deals with the inheritance of digital assets.  The reason this is of importance is because the newly granted patent would allow direct transfer of these kinds of video game accounts and digital items if the items are specified in a will.   Inheritance of these digital items may be important to a gamer, if making in-game purchases on mobile games, like on their cell phones or video gaming systems such as PlayStation and Xbox.

Moreover, if the gamer dies, and their account is no longer being used, those in-game purchases or other digital video game items may be worthless.  Thus, a gamer should consider who would receive their game characters, advanced level status, and other similar game-related digital assets. 

While this is still in the early stages of development, this may be one topic to discuss with your estate planning lawyer in the preparation of a will, just like your other assets, together with the requirements and interplay of Florida Statutes Chapter 740.