Who Owns Your Game? IP, Source Code and Assets Explained

If you paid for it, you should own it. All of it. The source code, the art, the sound, the name, and the right to walk away and take it somewhere else.

That is our position, and it is written into our contracts. It is not the industry standard, which is exactly why this article exists.

What "owning your game" actually includes

Ownership is not one thing. It is a stack, and a contract can quietly hand you some layers while keeping others.

• Source code. The project files, not just a compiled build. Without this you cannot change the game, ever.
• Art and audio. The layered, editable originals. A flattened PNG is not the asset.
• The store listings. Under your developer account, not the studio's.
• The name and brand. Including the trademark, if there is one.
• Third party licences. Any plugin or font used must be licensed to you, transferably.

Miss one of these and you do not fully own your game. You rent it.

The clauses that quietly take ownership away

Read for these. They are common and they are usually not called out.

1. "Licence to use" instead of "assignment of rights." A licence means they still own it and you are allowed to use it. This is the big one.
2. Code delivered as builds only. If the contract promises the game but never says source, you may never get the source.
3. Studio-owned store accounts. If the app lives on their developer account, they control updates and takedowns.
4. Reuse rights. A clause letting the studio reuse "generic components" can mean your unique mechanic appears in a competitor's game.
5. Ownership on final payment only. Reasonable in principle. Dangerous if "final" is never precisely defined.

If a studio will not put "you own the source code" in writing, that is the answer. You have learned what you needed to learn.

What is fair to the studio

Some limits are normal and you should not fight them.

Studios reuse their own internal tools and engine code across projects. That is how they stay affordable, and it does not touch your game. What matters is that anything specific to your game is yours, and that nothing prevents you from hiring someone else tomorrow.

We also ask to show the finished game in our portfolio. That is a credit, not ownership.

What to ask before you sign

• Do I own the source code outright, and is the word "assignment" in the contract?
• Will the game be published under my developer account?
• Do I get the editable art files, not just exports?
• Are all third party licences transferable to me?
• If we part ways at week six, what exactly do I walk away with?

A good studio answers all five in one sentence each, without checking with anyone.

Questions we get asked

Do you keep any rights to my game? No. You own 100 percent of the finished game, source code, and assets. We ask only to feature it in our portfolio.

What if I want to move to another studio later? You take everything and go. No lock-in is the point of doing it this way. It also keeps us honest: we keep your business by being good, not by holding your files.

Can I sell the game? Yes. It is yours to sell, licence, or shelve.

Ask us the hard version of these questions

We would rather have that conversation early. Share your idea and ask about ownership on the first call.