[dageshi]

I think this could get interesting.

Would valve be legally required to offer their services (game download + cloud saves) to a second hand buyer? Surely the person selling the game would need to provide the second hand buyer the copy of the game along with the key?

Valve merely provides a service which says "this key now belongs to this account" but that second hand buyer has no right to download from valve?

[jeroenhd]

I'd say yes. The steam key comes with a set of perks that made the buyer pick steam as a reseller over one of their competitors. Removing those features would degrade the value of the product and, in my opinion, be a measure to prevent proper resale of the product.

When I buy a key, I don't somehow get the download to my computer before adding it to my Steam account. Steam designed their system in such a way that the installer has to come from them, and that you can't burn an installer that only works with your key.

Imagine buying a chair with massage functionality and a GPS tracker that stops working when you move it outside your house. In my opinion, even though the chair itself remains functional, the added DRM would prevent someone from selling the chair second hand, because the main reason you buy the chair has suddenly been disabled by a third party.