Steam: Users Throw $19 Billion Out the Window

From June 27 to July 11, Steam is holding its traditional summer sales. The opportunity, as during the many other promotional periods carried out by the platform during the year, to treat yourself to games at a fraction of their initial cost. But before validating your basket, you may want to check that games already present in your game library do not deserve your attention. Because according to a recent report, games purchased but never launched on Steam represent a whopping $19 billion…

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The GDP of a small country in Steam games never launched

It is the PCGamesN site which arrived at this conclusion with a method that is certainly approximate, but probably fairly representative of reality. After analyzing the games library of Steam accounts displayed publicly in the SteamIDFinder database, the media estimated that there were $1.9 billion worth of games purchased but never launched once.

Since these public accounts represent only 73 million people, or about 10% of the total accounts registered with Steam, PCGamesN estimates by multiplying this figure by 10 to 19 billion dollars, or a little less than 18 billion euros, the amount wasted by all players. That is the GDP of small countries like Malta or Nicaragua.

A figure to be put into perspective, but to be taken into account

This figure, which is most likely overestimated, must however be put into perspective for several reasons. First of all, let’s remember that according to the latest count, Steam “only” has about 30 million active users per month. The profiles considered in the 90% of private accounts are therefore probably numerous to be inactive and therefore to have only a handful of games, unlike the 10% in public probably active for years on Steam. In addition, SteamIDFinder bases its calculations on the current prices of games, and not on the amounts actually paid by players, probably revised downwards during sales or via bundles.

Still, if your own “Pile of Shame” is high, you might think twice before splashing out on new games on sale. To check your pile, after making your Steam account public, head to the tool developed by PCGamesN. It’s likely that a big RPG that you never had the courage to launch will be there, this genre being the most represented in the titles gathering dust in gamers’ libraries.

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