Steam
Steam gives you access to a massive game library, but the legal terms heavily favor Valve at every turn — they can change the rules whenever they want, ban your account and keep all your money and games without warning, and take no responsibility if their platform or the games you paid for stop working. Money added to your Steam Wallet can never be withdrawn as cash, and most legal disputes must be resolved in Washington State courts, making it impractical for most users to challenge Valve's decisions. On the privacy side, Steam collects a wide range of personal data including chats, purchases, and gameplay activity, much of which is kept for up to a decade or even permanently — even after you delete your account. While Steam does offer some positive features like anonymous accounts and clear regulator contacts, the overall arrangement places nearly all the risk and responsibility on the user.
Last analyzed
Heads up: this analysis is AI-generated, can be incomplete or wrong, and is not legal advice. Use it as a starting point and read the original document before you agree — see our Terms.
Clause-by-clause breakdown
Every clause we flagged in Steam's agreement, with what it means for you.
Deleting your account doesn't guarantee all your data is erased.
“If you terminate your Steam User Account, your Personal Data will be marked for deletion except to the degree legal requirements or other prevailing legitimate purposes dictate a longer storage. In certain cases, Personal Data cannot be completely deleted in order to ensure the consistency of the gameplay experience or the Steam Community Market. For instance, matches you have played that affect other players' matchmaking data and scores will not be deleted; rather, your connection to these matches will be permanently anonymized.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: When you delete your account, Steam does not guarantee full deletion of your personal data. Some data — such as gameplay records that affect other players — is kept forever, with only your direct link to it anonymized. The phrase 'other prevailing legitimate purposes' is vague and could justify retaining data well beyond legal requirements.
What you can do: Before deleting your account, request a copy of your data via Steam's privacy settings. Understand that some gameplay-linked data will never be fully erased.
Your purchase and payment records are kept for up to 10 years.
“Please note that Valve is required to retain certain transactional data under statutory commercial and tax law for a period of up to ten (10) years.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Valve keeps your transaction records — purchases, payments, and related financial data — for up to 10 years after they are created. This is partly required by law, but it means your financial history with Steam is retained for a very long time regardless of whether you delete your account.
What you can do: Be aware that purchase and payment records will remain on file for up to a decade. There is no action you can take to shorten this retention period.
Valve can change the rules anytime; continued use means you agree.
“Valve may amend this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use) unilaterally at any time in its sole discretion. In this case, you will be notified by e-mail of any amendment to this Agreement made by Valve at least 30 (30) days before the effective date of the amendment. You can view the Agreement at any time at http://www.steampowered.com/. Your failure to cancel your Account prior to the effective date of the amendment will constitute your acceptance of the amended terms. If you don't agree to the amendments or to any of the terms in this Agreement, your only remedy is to cancel your Account or to cease use of the affected Subscription(s). Valve shall not have any obligation to refund any fees that may have accrued to your Account before cancellation of your Account or cessation of use of any Subscription, nor shall Valve have any obligation to prorate any fees in such circumstances.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Valve can change any part of this agreement whenever it wants. You get 30 days' email notice, but if you keep using Steam after the deadline, you've automatically agreed to the new terms. Your only real option to reject changes is to delete your account — and you won't get a refund for any unused time or wallet balance.
What you can do: Watch for policy-change emails from Valve and review them before the 30-day window closes. If you disagree, withdraw your Steam Wallet balance before cancelling your account.
Valve excludes nearly all liability, even for its own negligence.
“TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, NEITHER VALVE, ITS LICENSORS, NOR THEIR AFFILIATES, NOR ANY OF VALVE'S SERVICE PROVIDERS, SHALL BE LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE STEAM, YOUR ACCOUNT, YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS AND THE CONTENT AND SERVICES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES. IN NO EVENT WILL VALVE BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH STEAM, THE CONTENT AND SERVICES, THE SUBSCRIPTIONS, AND ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, OR THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE CONTENT AND SERVICES, SUBSCRIPTIONS OR ANY INFORMATION, EVEN IN THE EVENT OF VALVE'S OR ITS AFFILIATES' FAULT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR BREACH OF VALVE'S WARRANTY AND EVEN IF IT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THESE LIMITATIONS AND LIABILITY EXCLUSIONS APPLY EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE RECOMPENSE. THIS SECTION 7 DOES NOT APPLY TO EU OR UK SUBSCRIBERS.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Even if Valve is at fault — including through negligence — it accepts zero liability for virtually any harm you suffer: lost access to games, computer damage, lost data, or financial losses. This clause explicitly applies even when Valve knows its actions could cause harm. EU and UK users are exempt from this section, but everyone else is bound by it.
What you can do: If you are outside the EU/UK, be aware that you have very limited legal recourse against Valve for service failures. Consider whether local consumer protection laws in your country override this clause.
Non-EU/UK users must take legal disputes to Washington State courts.
“You and Valve agree that all disputes and claims between you and Valve (including any dispute or claim that arose before the existence of this or any prior agreement) shall be commenced and maintained exclusively in any state or federal court located in King County, Washington, having subject matter jurisdiction. You and Valve hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts and waive any objections as to personal jurisdiction or venue in such courts.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: If you have a legal dispute with Valve and you live outside the EU or UK, you must sue in King County, Washington, USA — regardless of where you live. This makes legal action practically impossible for most international users, as they would need to travel to or hire lawyers in Washington State.
What you can do: EU and UK users are exempt from this clause. If you live elsewhere, check whether your local consumer protection laws allow you to sue in your home country, as some jurisdictions override mandatory foreign-venue clauses.
Steam Wallet money is locked in and cannot be withdrawn as cash.
“Subject to Section 3.I, funds added to the Steam Wallet are non-refundable and non-transferable. Steam Wallet funds do not constitute a personal property right, have no value outside Steam and can only be used to order Subscriptions and related content via Steam (including but not limited to games and other applications offered through the Steam Store, or in a Steam Subscription Marketplace) and Hardware. Steam Wallet funds have no cash value and are not exchangeable for cash.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Money you put into your Steam Wallet is locked in permanently. You cannot withdraw it, transfer it to another account, or get it back as cash. If Valve terminates your account for any reason, that balance is gone — Valve explicitly states no refund will be given in termination cases.
What you can do: Avoid keeping large balances in your Steam Wallet. Only add funds when you're ready to spend them, and be aware that any balance is at risk if your account is suspended or terminated.
Valve can ban your account and keep all your money and games.
“Valve may restrict or cancel your Account or any particular Subscription(s) at any time in the event that (a) Valve ceases providing such Subscriptions to similarly situated Subscribers generally, or (b) you breach any terms of this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use). In the event that your Account or a particular Subscription is restricted or terminated or cancelled by Valve for a violation of this Agreement or improper or illegal activity, no refund, including of any Subscription fees or of any unused funds in your Steam Wallet, will be granted.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Valve can terminate your account and keep all your money — including your Steam Wallet balance and any games you've purchased — if it decides you've violated the agreement. Given the breadth of the agreement's rules, this is a significant risk for users with large libraries or wallet balances.
What you can do: Carefully follow Steam's conduct rules and terms. Keep your Steam Wallet balance low to minimize financial exposure in the event of an account ban.
Steam collects your chats, posts, purchases, and contact details.
“Information that you post, comment or follow in any of our Content and Services; Information sent through chat; Information you provide when you request information or support from us or purchase Content and Services from us, including information necessary to process your orders with the relevant payment merchant or, in case of physical goods, shipping providers; Information you provide to us when participating in competitions, contests and tournaments or responding to surveys, e.g. your contact details.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Steam collects a broad range of personal data including your chat messages, posts, comments, purchase details, payment information, and contact details from surveys or competitions. This is a wide net of data collection covering both your communications and your commercial activity on the platform.
What you can do: Review your privacy settings on Steam and limit participation in optional activities (surveys, contests) if you want to minimize data collection.
Steam can keep your data even after you object, citing other legal bases.
“If you withdraw your consent on which a processing of your Personal Data or of the Personal Data of your child is based, we will delete your Personal Data or respectively the Personal Data of your child without undue delay to the extent that the collection and processing of the Personal Data was based on the withdrawn consent. If you exercise a right to object to the processing of your Personal Data, we will review your objection and delete your Personal Data that we processed for the purpose to which you objected without undue delay, unless another legal basis for processing and retaining this data exists or unless applicable law requires us to retain the data.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: You can withdraw consent or object to data processing, and Steam says it will delete the relevant data promptly. However, there is a significant catch: Steam can refuse deletion if it claims another 'legal basis' exists for keeping the data, which gives it broad discretion to retain data even after you object.
What you can do: Submit a data deletion or objection request through Steam's privacy settings. If refused, you can escalate to your regional data protection authority (links are provided in the policy).
Some gameplay data is kept forever, even after you delete your account.
“In certain cases, Personal Data cannot be completely deleted in order to ensure the consistency of the gameplay experience or the Steam Community Market. For instance, matches you have played that affect other players' matchmaking data and scores will not be deleted; rather, your connection to these matches will be permanently anonymized.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Even after account deletion, some of your gameplay data is permanently retained in Steam's systems — only your direct link to it is anonymized. This means data you generated while playing (e.g. match results, scores) lives on indefinitely in Steam's databases.
What you can do: There is no action available to prevent this; it is a structural limitation of how Steam's multiplayer and marketplace systems work.
The Cookie Settings page was broken and failed to load.
“Something went wrong while displaying this content. RefreshError Reference: Store_10953803_b974d2566636bfddLoading CSS chunk 22634 failed. (error: https://store.fastly.steamstatic.com/public/css/applications/store/accountpreferences.css?contenthash=9038cf2a4d05c575f6b2) Use this page to configure your Cookie and Browsing preferences Something went wrong while displaying this content. RefreshError Reference: Store_10953803_b974d2566636bfddLoading CSS chunk 21574 failed.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: The Cookie Preferences page — the primary tool for managing your tracking and privacy settings — failed to load during analysis. This means users may encounter a broken interface when trying to exercise their cookie opt-out rights, effectively preventing them from managing their privacy settings.
What you can do: Try accessing the Cookie Settings page directly at store.steampowered.com/account/cookiepreferences/ from a different browser or after clearing your cache.
Valve gets a permanent worldwide license to use and modify your uploads.
“When you upload your content to Steam to make it available to other users and/or to Valve, you grant Valve and its affiliates the worldwide, non-exclusive right to use, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, transmit, transcode, translate, broadcast, and otherwise communicate, and publicly display and publicly perform, your User Generated Content, and derivative works of your User Generated Content, for the purpose of the operation, distribution, incorporation as part of and promotion of the Steam service, Steam games or other Steam offerings, including Subscriptions. This license is granted to Valve as the content is uploaded on Steam for the entire duration of the intellectual property rights.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: When you upload anything to Steam — screenshots, artwork, Workshop items, reviews — you give Valve a permanent, worldwide license to use, modify, and distribute it for the life of the copyright. Valve can create derivative works from your content and sub-license those derivatives to others, even after you remove your content.
What you can do: Only upload content to Steam that you're comfortable with Valve using indefinitely. If you remove Workshop content, note that Valve retains rights for content already distributed in-game.
Valve can terminate your account with zero warning.
“You acknowledge that Valve is not required to provide you notice before terminating your Subscription(s) and/or Account.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Valve can shut down your account without warning. You could lose access to your entire game library instantly, with no prior notification and no guaranteed refund.
What you can do: Keep records of your purchases and be aware of Steam's conduct rules to minimize the risk of unexpected termination.
Valve can share your data with law enforcement without telling you.
“Valve's obligations are subject to existing laws and legal process and Valve may comply with law enforcement or regulatory requests or requirements notwithstanding any contrary term.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Valve can hand over your account data or comply with government/law enforcement requests without needing to notify you, and this overrides any other privacy commitment in the agreement. There is no mention of requiring a court order or legal process threshold before complying.
What you can do: Be aware that your Steam account data can be disclosed to authorities. Review Valve's Privacy Policy for more detail on how law enforcement requests are handled.
Valve makes no promises that Steam or games will actually work.
“TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, VALVE AND ITS AFFILIATES AND SERVICE PROVIDERS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM (I) ANY WARRANTY FOR STEAM, THE CONTENT AND SERVICES, AND THE SUBSCRIPTIONS, AND (II) ANY COMMON LAW DUTIES WITH REGARD TO STEAM, THE CONTENT AND SERVICES, AND THE SUBSCRIPTIONS, INCLUDING DUTIES OF LACK OF NEGLIGENCE AND LACK OF WORKMANLIKE EFFORT. STEAM, THE CONTENT AND SERVICES, THE SUBSCRIPTIONS, AND ANY INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN CONNECTION THEREWITH ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, "WITH ALL FAULTS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Valve makes no promises that Steam or any game will work correctly, be available, or be free of bugs. You're buying access to software that Valve explicitly says may be faulty, and Valve accepts no responsibility if it doesn't work as expected. EU and UK users have statutory protections that override this.
What you can do: Use Steam's refund policy within the eligible window (typically 2 hours of playtime and 14 days of purchase) if a game doesn't work as advertised.
Steam allows anonymous accounts and limits internal data access.
“Minimization of data collection; in particular the possibility to set up and operate anonymous accounts Provision of access to data on a need-to-know basis The use of Standard Contractual Clauses in their version in force and approved by the European Commission and the UK ICO to safeguard transfers Certification and participation in the DPF, set out in the DPF List available at https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Steam states it minimizes data collection, allows anonymous accounts, restricts internal data access, and uses approved legal mechanisms (Standard Contractual Clauses and the Data Privacy Framework) for international data transfers. These are meaningful user-protective commitments.
What you can do: Consider using Steam's anonymous account option if you want to reduce the personal data tied to your activity.
Steam lists data protection authority contacts for users to file complaints.
“EU DPAs: https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en UK ICO: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/ GRA: https://www.gra.gi/data-protection FDPIC: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/home.html”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Steam explicitly provides contact details for multiple data protection authorities — including the EU, UK, Gibraltar, and Switzerland — where users can file complaints if they believe their data rights have been violated. This is a user-protective transparency measure.
What you can do: If Steam refuses a data request or you believe your rights have been violated, contact the relevant authority listed for your region.
Valve offers anonymous accounts and strong data transfer safeguards.
“Minimization of data collection; in particular the possibility to set up and operate anonymous accounts Provision of access to data on a need-to-know basis The use of Standard Contractual Clauses in their version in force and approved by the European Commission and the UK ICO to safeguard transfers Certification and participation in the DPF, set out in the DPF List available at https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/s/participant-search”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Valve explicitly supports anonymous account creation, limits internal data access to those who need it, uses Standard Contractual Clauses for international data transfers, and participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. These are meaningful, user-protective commitments that go beyond the legal minimum in many jurisdictions.
What you can do: Take advantage of Steam's anonymous account option if privacy is a concern. You can also exercise data access and deletion rights through Steam's support portal.
Steam has a refund policy, with extra rights for EU and UK users.
“Without prejudice to any statutory rights you may have, you can request a refund for your orders or purchases on Steam in accordance with the terms of Valve's Refund Policy http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/. For European Union and United Kingdom consumers: EU and UK law provides a statutory right to withdraw from certain contracts for physical merchandise and for the order of digital content. You can find more information about the extent of your statutory right to withdraw and the ways you can exercise it on this page: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8620-QYAL-4516.”
Quoted verbatim from the agreement What this means: Steam has a published refund policy, and EU/UK users have additional statutory withdrawal rights. This is a user-friendly commitment that provides a clear path to getting money back on eligible purchases.
What you can do: Request refunds through Steam's support site within the eligible window. EU/UK users should check the linked page for their broader statutory rights.
Frequently asked questions
Is Steam's Terms & Conditions agreement fair?
- BeforeYouClick grades Steam D on an A–E scale, where A is the fairest. Its agreement contains 7 critical clauses, 8 warnings and 4 good practices.
What are the biggest problems with Steam's terms?
- The most serious clauses we flagged are: Account Deletion Leaves Data Behind, Financial Data Kept for a Decade and Valve Can Change Terms Unilaterally Anytime.
How long does it take to read Steam's terms?
- Steam's agreement takes about 54 minutes to read in full, across 19 clauses we reviewed. The summary on this page covers the same ground in under a minute.
When was Steam's agreement last analyzed?
- We last read Steam's Terms & Conditions on September 1, 2026. Companies change their terms without notice, so check the original document for the current version.
Is this analysis legal advice?
- No. This analysis is AI-generated, can be incomplete or wrong, and is not legal advice. Use it as a starting point and read the original agreement before you agree to it.
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