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‘Oh god’: There’s a buried Steam help page that shows how much money you’ve ever spent on the platform, and you may not want to know
Unveiling the Hidden Costs of Gaming on Steam
A fascinating web tool has emerged that allows gamers to estimate the value of their Steam accounts by analyzing the games they own. However, this tool falls short of revealing the true extent of financial commitment users have made to Valve’s platform, particularly when it comes to microtransactions. The elusive figure of total spending is tucked away within Steam’s help menus, a detail recently highlighted by Reddit user trotski94.
To uncover this potentially eye-opening number, users can navigate through the Steam client by following this path: Help > Steam support > My account > Data related to your Steam account > External funds used. One Redditor shared their staggering total of over ,000, a figure that may pale in comparison to those who have invested significantly in Counter-Strike skins. In fact, a Counter-Strike streamer estimated that the highest-level Steam account holder has spent upwards of 0,000 to reach that status.
While my own total resides comfortably in the thousands, it’s the context of that number that reveals the deeper sentiment—much of it was funneled into Rocket League loot boxes before their retirement. For those seeking a comprehensive breakdown of their spending, the entire Steam purchase history can be accessed via: Help > Steam support > My account > Data related to your Steam account > Purchase history.
Engaging in PC gaming is not the most economical pastime, especially when considering hardware costs. Yet, despite our shock at our individual spending histories, few gamers genuinely regret their contributions to Gabe Newell’s yacht fund. When you accumulate any category of discretionary spending over an extended period, the resulting figure can be quite startling. Personally, I suspect I’ve spent more on energy drinks than on video games throughout my life.
Our astonishment often stems from the hypothetical scenario of receiving that sum of money all at once. However, it’s challenging to envision an alternate version of ourselves who has never invested in PC gaming, and there’s no guarantee that they would be in a better financial position. Perhaps they would have squandered that money elsewhere, like at the racetrack.
Moreover, when factoring in total playtime, video games frequently emerge as a cost-effective form of entertainment. There have been stretches where I paid for a Netflix subscription without watching a single show, and I’d rather not calculate the cost-per-minute of that experience. Who knows, I might have ended up spending per episode of Squid Game without realizing it.
We invite you to share your thoughts on your total Steam expenditure in the comments section below.