Reports that a user lost hundreds of pounds worth of games from their account has put Ubisoft’s general data protection regulation (GDPR) policy under scrutiny.
According to an investigation by PC World, a Norwegian player has had their Ubisoft account and all their games permanently deleted after less than two years of inactivity. They claim to have received just one e-mail warning of the impending deletion which was sent to their spam.
Ubisoft denies the possibility of this occurring, stating that four conditions are considered before an account is eligible for deletion. They are:
- The gaming activity of the account since its creation.
- The ownership of PC games since the creation of the account: accounts tied to purchased games are not eligible for deletion
- The duration of inactivity of the account, meaning the last login to our ecosystem (including from Ubisoft games on Steam and other platforms). While our terms of use are meant to reflect every possibilities, in practice, we have never deleted accounts that have been inactive for less than 4 years.
- The existence of an active subscription to Ubisoft+ related to the account.
As this user had purchased games on their account, was very active prior to two years ago and took a hiatus for less than two years, it should not have been eligible for deletion. However, evidence provided to PC World appears to support the user’s claim. According to Ubisoft’s GDPR policy:
“We may suspend or close your account and your ability to use one or more services or part of the services, at any time, automatically and at our sole discretion … upon notification, where your account has been inactive for more than six months.”
Checking other major company’s GDPR statements it seems that most claim to never delete accounts with purchases attached. Blizzard, Steam and GOG do not delete accounts for any reason. Epic Games may rename inactive accounts, but also do not delete.
Microsoft says it reserves the right to delete accounts after 18 months of inactivity and lack of payment to the subscription service. may also delete accounts after a “prolonged period” of inactivity on the free to play game. No specific time period is given for this.
