Shame on Larian for this EULA. I was just reading this, as I got my gaming computer out of the shop and the new update had it popping up. It is a cutesy way of putting forth Electronic Arts level corporate tyranny. After all the recent press of how consumer-friendly Larian is as a company, and that coverage was rightfully made based on what was discussed, this EULA is a snap back to reality. It uses contract law to force users into a post-purchase agreement which greatly restricts the legal rights of the users:
1) It declares that you do not own the product you purchased, meaning that it can only be modded with permission and Larian can simply make it unavailable to you at their whim - you purchased a nonperpetual access and Larian may fly by night, including removing access, after making massive sales. It is explicitly stated that they can remove your access to the game at any time, at their discretion.
2) It claims copyright over user modifications. If you were to make your own class or your own party member, along with voice acting, or your own armor or weaponry, or create your own area in the game... Larian is making you agree that you do not have any intellectual property in that derivative work - presumably they own it but that is not made clear.
3) It removes your ability to utilize the right to fair use under copyright law. All fair use is, instead, directed to an alterable Fan Content Policy which tells you how you may cover their product. As is, if you are reviewing their game and have a sponsor who they disapprove of, they can declare that a violation of their policy and issue you a copyright strike. They do this by restricting to the clause "You don’t use a sponsor that would be harmful to Larian Studios’s image, like endorsing offensive or polarizing sponsors." What is considered harmful, offensive, or polarizing is not defined anywhere in the policy and so follows a law and order legal philosophy rather than a rule of law legal philosophy - whatever they arbitrarily deem to be such, is such. A court is unlikely to uphold such a provision as the United States' and other major markets' legal systems are based upon the rule of law, but companies such as YouTube or Medium are likely to uphold it. This also is subject to arbitrary change, meaning that if Larian drops the ball at some point and releases a subpar DLC, they can determine that you may not be disparaging toward the product, so any YouTube video criticizing it, which also uses footage, or articles, which also uses screenshots or video, can suddenly be hit with a copyright strike. It is good reason for any YouTube creator to avoid Larian games like the plague until the EULA is changed and explicitly reinstates politically granted legal rights. YouTube will demonetize you.
4) To challenge any of this, you must do so in Ireland.
They are altering your legal rights granted by governments to you by using contract law - and there is no valid reason to add a contract as a prerequisite to use a video game. Now, given the one-sidedness of the agreement and the fact that it is offered only after purchase without an explicit option of refund, courts are unlikely to uphold the EULA at all, but it would be a long and expensive legal fight which the average end user cannot afford. But this is an absolutely nasty development and Larian's reputation is tarnished by it, immediately after gaining so much. This is a reminder that Larian may deliver a better product than other producers, but they are no less evil and greedy. An attempt to force a contract upon a user, limiting their legal rights, is nothing short of an attempt to subvert democracy itself - declaring a private fief.
