Many Steam users wish to keep their game holdings private from friends or the wider community. While the platform provides privacy settings for your profile and collections, controlling the visibility of owned or wishlisted games on individual game pages remains limited. This guide explores the current options available to hide your game ownership details and discusses recent updates and workarounds to enhance your privacy on Steam.
Steam has introduced features allowing you to set your profile to private, which generally hides your game library and activity from other users. When you change your profile visibility to private, your friends and the public cannot see your owned games or wishlist on your profile page. However, visibility of game ownership on individual store pages is not always affected by these privacy settings, leading to confusion among users who want to keep their game collection discreet.
Can I Hide Owned or Wishlisted Games on the Steam Store?
Currently, Steam does not provide a direct option to hide specific games from appearing on your profile’s game list when viewed by others in the store. If your profile is set to private, your entire library becomes hidden from friends and the public, but your game ownership may still be visible on the store pages of individual titles, especially if you have not set your profile to the most restrictive privacy level.
Recent updates have introduced new privacy controls. As of March 5, 2024, Steam now allows users to make their purchases and gameplay activity private during or after the purchase process. When buying a game, the shopping cart includes an option to make the purchase private, preventing it from showing up on friends’ activity feeds or timelines. Additionally, players can right-click a game in their library and mark it as private through management options, which helps keep gameplay activity hidden.
However, despite these enhancements, the visibility of game ownership on the actual store pages remains inconsistent. Setting your profile to private effectively hides your library from your profile, but it doesn’t necessarily prevent others from seeing that you own a game if they visit its store page and your profile is set to “friends only” or “public.” When your profile privacy is set to “private,” your friends shouldn’t see your game list, but certain details may still be accessible depending on the context.
Recent Developments and Official Updates
In November 2023, Steam quietly rolled out an update that allows users to hide ownership details from the store pages of specific games. This feature is still in testing and not yet available to all users, but it indicates Valve’s intention to improve privacy controls. The update also includes options to hide total playtime and other activity metrics, giving users more control over their shared information.
For now, the most effective way to limit visibility is to set your profile to “Private,” which generally restricts game ownership visibility to only you and trusted friends. To do this:
- Go to your Steam profile.
- Click on “Edit Profile.”
- Under “Privacy Settings,” select “Private.”
This configuration ensures that outsiders cannot see your game list or wishlist from your profile page. However, if you want to prevent your ownership from appearing on game pages when others visit, you may need to wait for future updates or use workarounds.
Workarounds and Additional Tips
As a workaround for hiding specific games from your library or store pages, some users create secondary accounts solely for purchase purposes. This method involves buying games on a secondary account that is not connected to your main profile or friends list. This approach is cumbersome and generally not recommended, but it can prevent certain games from appearing on your primary account’s profile.
Another option involves using Steam’s support features to remove games permanently from your library. Although this process is labeled as “permanent,” it can be undone by re-adding the game if you have a backup or a link to reinstall it. To do this:
- Log into Steam Support.
- Select “Games, Software, etc.”
- Find the game in question.
- Choose “I want to permanently remove this game from my account.”
- Confirm the removal.
Remember, this method makes the game inaccessible unless you re-purchase or reinstall it, which defeats the purpose if you want to keep the game but hide it temporarily.
For more advanced privacy management, some users explore game modding tools or third-party software, but these methods often violate Steam’s terms of service and can lead to account sanctions. Always prioritize official features and settings.
Final Recommendations
- Set your profile privacy to “Private” for maximum concealment of owned and wishlisted games.
- Use the new purchase privacy options during checkout to prevent showing recent acquisitions.
- Regularly check Steam’s official updates and blog posts for upcoming features related to privacy controls.
- Contact Steam support if you encounter issues or need specific privacy adjustments that are not currently available.
To learn more about managing permissions and privacy on Steam, you can visit the official Steam support page or explore related guides on community forums. For instance, understanding how to assign permissions in your game development projects might be relevant if you’re managing shared access, which you can find discussed in detail at how to assign developer permissions in your roblox game. Similarly, users interested in customizing their game experience through modding can refer to a detailed guide on game modding, while those exploring game development tools might benefit from insights into unlocking game creation capabilities with specific mods.