Divinity: Original Sin Dev Tests if People Read EULAs, They Do

For just about every product you buy and every service you sign up for, you have to sign some kind of fine print discussing the legality and the rights reserved by you as well as the rights of the company providing the good and service. It’s big, it’s hefty, and no one actually expects anyone to read it, which is why so many fine prints are full of some truly terrifying things you don’t know you’re agreeing too.

And even knowing I could be selling my soul or my firstborn child by getting a Spotify account, I still don’t read that crap.

But sometimes--just sometimes--it pays when you do. As was the case recently on Steam when some eagle-eyed and extremely patient players actually decided to read the terms of service for Divinity: Original Sin Enchanted Edition, the latest/best game from Larian Studios, and discovered this gem hidden in all the legalese.
 

16. Special Consideration. A special consideration in material or immaterial form may be awarded to the first 100 authorized licensees to actually read this section of the EULA and contact LARIAN STUDIOS at info@larian.com. This offer can be withdrawn by LARIAN STUDIOS at any time.

Those ‘special considerations’ turned out to be free steam keys for their games, and as it turns out, this entire event was an experiment to see how many people actually read the EULA. Enough, as it turns out, as they’ve recently come clean about the special consideration over Facebook.
 

We did a little experiment yesterday with the release of Divinity-Original Sin - Enhanced Edition to discover if people actually do read end user license agreements (EULAs)... We're telling you now because the results are in and it turns out that you in fact do read these things. Our lawyer feels good about this. He's also revoking the consideration because we're making him pay for every mail we get.

I have to say, this is pretty hilarious. Not only because they’d pull a stunt like this, but because enough people read the EULA to fill the 100-man quota in less than a day. I feel a bit better about the internet now, knowing we have so many stalwart defenders actually combing over those things.

I hope other game companies follow that example. We need more happy lawyers.