Gamers Steam Backlogs Are Worth an Astonishing Amount of Money

Gamers Steam Backlogs Are Worth an Astonishing Amount of Money

• Steam users have an estimated $19 billion backlog of unplayed games.
• Steam sales and subscription services contribute to growing backlogs.
• RPG and open-world games are often time consuming and also contribute to the backlog.

Numbers show that Steam users have a rather mind-boggling amount of unplayed games in their backlog, totaling approximately $19 billion in value. Steam’s Summer Sale kicked off on June 27 and is slated to run through July 11, and undoubtedly many people have taken advantage of the tempting discounts to add to their ever-growing list of games to play.

Every gamer knows the frustration of having a larger backlog of titles to play than time. Steam greatly contributes to this not-so-unpleasant hardship, with its sales events that take place on a nearly monthly basis, as do subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus that constantly provide new tantalizing games to play for a relatively low monthly fee.

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PCGamesN has delved into the data available through Steam ID Finder, a website that tracks the data of public Steam accounts and provides interesting tidbits of information, such as the total number of hours played, number of games owned, and the title that gave the best value for money. Only about 10%, or 73 million, of Steam ID’s are public, but data shows that they collectively own about $1.9 billion worth of unplayed games. Extrapolating to account for the IDs that are private leads to an approximate total of $19 billion worth of games purchased on Steam but never played. This doesn’t count all the unfinished games; that number is probably astronomical.

What Is the Value of Everybodys Steam Backlog?

It’s likely that many of the unplayed games fall into the categories of RPG or open-world games that are easy to get agreeably lost in, as titles in those genres tend to be the greatest time sinks. A lot of people put off even starting a game that will require a lot of dedication, waiting for that prime moment when they have extra free time. Unfortunately, that moment often doesn't come often enough, or by the time it does, dozens of other games have been released that are also demanding attention.

It's also easier, when that treasured free time does pop up, to drop into a game that can be finished in just a few hours. That can provide a feeling of accomplishment by somewhat quickly knocking at least one title off of a gamer’s to do list. The Steam Summer Sale is the last big event for the first half of 2024, but Valve has promised more to come in the latter half of the year, and GOG, Epic Games Store, Xbox, Nintendo, PlayStation, and other online retailers will be having major sales as well. It’s no wonder, then, that a gamer’s backlog seems to grow exponentially every year.

Steam

Brand ValveOriginal Release Date September 12, 2003 See at Steam