Steam users have been estimated to have over $19 billion worth of games that have never been played in their libraries! The research estimates were produced by PCGamesN using their publicly available online tool SteamIDFinder.
Steam Users Have a Gigantic Mountain of Unplayed Games
Apparently Worth Around $19 Billion of Games That Have Never Been Touched
Online gaming news outlet PCGamesN published an article wherein they concluded that the entire population of gamers on Steam have a staggering amount of $19 billion worth of unplayed games sitting in their libraries. They utilized their newly created online tool ‘SteamIDFinder’ that analyzes Steam accounts with public libraries, checks their unplayed games and current price, and tallies them up into a ‘Pile of Shame.’ It must be stated that PCGamesN and SteamIDFinder are connected through their parent company, Network N Media Limited, as they both share the same terms of use and privacy policies, and how a multitude of PCGamesN articles are listed and linked on the SteamIDFinder website.
In their report, they state that only 10% of the Steam community, or around 73 million users, have public libraries, and that when totalling the current prices of all unplayed games of those 73~ million players, the price of unopened games amounts up to $1.9 billion. Taking this amount and multiplying it by ten, they arrive at the rough result of $19 billion worth of unplayed games for the entirety of all Steam users around the world.
The foundational statistics on which the article bases its conclusion of there being only 10% of public Steam libraries, however, cannot be publicly ascertained from the online tool itself at the time of writing. It could either be another rough estimate, or was perhaps calculated as they developed and published the article and website behind the scenes. The calculation of the initial $1.9 billion also isn’t transparent, but there isn’t really a concrete way of displaying that sort of calculation without listing every single individual account from the supposed 78 million public steam libraries.
The tool’s counting of unplayed games could also be misleading, as pointed out by gaming outlet Ars Technica, where they do a quick informal study into how Steam identifies unplayed games, which the SteamIDFinder uses as their stat for unplayed games. They found discrepancies between how Steam identifies untouched games and by manually counting them in the Steam library. That’s not to count the various game add-ons obtained from bundles,sales, and the like that inflate Steam libraries.
Although what PCGamesN concluded is by no means an accurate number, the article was certainly somewhat, if not entirely in jest and not to be taken seriously. It’s merely a fun tool to quickly enter one’s Steam ID and quickly see their amassed library of unplayed games. It has been a long-running joke and meme in the Steam community with how frequent sales take place and their lucrative deals, that no gamer is able to resist temptation and that everyone will always end up with empty wallets and hoarded games aplenty with no time to even play the majority of them. So, even if the numbers aren’t entirely accurate, Steam users could see any big number and lightheartedly go, "Oh, yeah, that sounds about right," as they sheepishly side-eye their large collection of unplayed games collecting dust.
Steam Summer Sale 2024 Most Likely to Boost the Unplayed Numbers More
Speaking of sales, the annual Steam Summer Sale 2024 is fast approaching! It will span from June 27 to July 11, 2024, and will showcase countless games at specially discounted prices! With the amount of cheap games and bundles, players will surely get even more games in their library they’ll never touch–and there’s no shame in letting that pile grow!
Sources:
PCGamesN | Steam users have spent $19 billion on games they’ve never played
SteamIDFinder
Ars Technica | The math on unplayed Steam “shame” is way off—and no cause for guilt
