Da skin ao patrimônio: propriedade, comercialização e sucessão de ativos virtuais em jogos digitais

Abstract

This paper analyzes the legal nature ofvirtual assets traded in digital games — skins, virtual currencies, cosmetic and functional items — and the possibility oftheir transmission through inheritance under Brazilian law, despite the contractual classification platforms assign to these assets asthe object ofa mere, revocable and non-transferable license. It starts from the observation that the digital game industry moves billions of dollars, driven by microtransaction, loot box and battle pass models that create artificial scarcity and market value for purely digital items, a phenomenon clearly evidenced by the secondary market for Counter-Strike skins. The research then examines the contractual regime imposed by Valve (Steam), Riot Games and Epic Games, identifying clauses that deny users any property right and prohibit the transmission ofaccounts and items through succession, and weighs these clauses against the limits that the Consumer Protection Code, the Civil Code, the Software Act, the Brazilian Internet Civil Framework and the General Data Protection Law impose on developers' private autonomy. The study then qualifies virtual assets as intangible property, endowed with individualization, legally relevant scarcity and patrimonial content falling within article 83, item III, ofthe Civil Code, examining foreign precedents — such as Ajemian v. Yahoo! and the German Bundesgerichtshof's decision — and domestic regulatory trends, particularly Bill nº 4/2025, which proposes a reform ofthe Civil Code. Building on these foundations, the paper shows that the causa mortis transmission ofthese assets faces no dogmatic obstacle under the current succession regime, grounded in the saisine principle, and proposes a succession framework structured around three axes — interpretive, procedural and legislative — capable ofovercoming the contractual obstacles imposed by platforms. The research, ofa bibliographic and documentary nature, conducted through the deductive method and occasional recourse to the comparative method, concludes that the Brazilian civil law system already possesses the dogmatic tools needed to recognize the skin as transmissible property, with the main remaining challenge being the contractual and practical resistance of digital platforms.