What is an EULA? The contract you sign without ever reading it

Let us ask a simple question: when you "buy" a video game, what exactly are you paying for? The answer surprises most players. You are not buying a game. You are buying a right of use, a licence, governed by a contract called the Contrat de Licence Utilisateur Final (CLUF), or EULA in English (End User License Agreement).

And there is nothing new about this, nor anything specific to the digital world. This contract already existed in the physical era. It was inside the box.

"Signing" a contract you cannot read before signing it

On old game, software, and sometimes cartridge boxes, there was a seal or a plastic film that had to be torn to open them. Tearing that seal was legally supposed to count as acceptance of the licence, a practice known as the "shrink-wrap contract". The paradox is dizzying: the licence was inside the box, so to read it you first had to open it... and opening it counted as acceptance. In other words, you signed before you could read.

Today the logic is the same, in two forms:

• either an unreadable block of text appears with an "I accept" button, and nobody reads it;
• or you accept simply by launching the game, without even being shown anything.

And if you refuse? You have bought a game you are not allowed to play. Logically, and under European law, a refusal should lead to a refund. This is almost never clearly offered.

The same contract for every game

A publisher does not write one contract per game. It writes a single framework EULA and applies it to its whole range. Why? Because it assumes you will not read it. So it can put almost anything in there "just in case", clauses that are never used, except on the day the publisher decides to use them against you.

Some examples that really appear in the EULAs of major publishers:

• Resale ban. The contract often states that the game is for single use and cannot be resold. If the contract were followed to the letter, almost every player who has ever resold a game would be "at fault". Fortunately, for physical copies, the legal rule of exhaustion of rights allows resale, whatever the contract says.
• Possible shutdown "some day". The contract provides that the publisher may withdraw your access to the game, without ever giving you a date. A normal contract sets deadlines; here, you are simply told "some day, maybe".
• Mandatory connection, including in single-player, often for data-collection reasons as much as for protection.

A contract that changes after your "signature"

This is probably the most abnormal point. Most EULAs provide that the publisher may modify them unilaterally, whenever it wants, sometimes without notice. Imagine signing the lease on your home, then receiving a message: "we have decided that your flat no longer has a roof, that is just how it is". That is, quite literally, what these clauses allow.

Yet a contract is not above the law. It presupposes two parties, an agreement, and a balance. In Europe, several texts exist precisely to rebalance the relationship:

• the 14-day right of withdrawal for any online purchase (which EULAs almost always ask you to give up right away);
• Directive (EU) 2019/770 on digital content, which imposes a conformity obligation and regulates unilateral modifications;
• the law on unfair terms (Directive 93/13/EEC), which renders "unwritten" any clause creating a significant imbalance to your detriment;
• the GDPR, which requires a valid legal basis and clear information for the collection of your gameplay data, and, where the publisher relies on consent, a free and informed consent.

What you should be able to know before paying

The real issue is not "physical versus digital". It is transparency and choice. Before paying, you should clearly know:

• the nature of what you are buying (a game? a licence? a service? DLC?);
• its duration of access, unlimited or limited, and the conditions under which it may disappear;
• your rights: to transfer, lend, resell, back up, be refunded;
• what is done with your data;
• the rules for modifying the contract.

None of this is unreasonable: it is exactly what consumer law already guarantees for other products and services. A phone plan, an internet box, an electronic device, all of these come with clear procedures for withdrawal, termination, and end of life. Why should video games, now the most powerful cultural industry in the world, be exempt from them?

A game is not a piece of plastic. It is a work you take part in, hours of your life, memories. The contract that governs your access to that work deserves to be read, understood, and, when it is unbalanced, challenged.

For a concrete case, read our analysis of Ubisoft's EULA in the light of the The Crew affair.

Official references

• Directive (EU) 2019/770, digital content and services (EUR-Lex)
• Directive 93/13/EEC, unfair terms (EUR-Lex)
• Directive 2011/83/EU, consumer rights (EUR-Lex)
• Regulation (EU) 2016/679, GDPR (EUR-Lex)