Many players feel uncertain because Sony can simply delete unused PSN accounts. What about my Steam account? Can Valve delete it if I haven’t logged in for a while?
Game accounts are often very valuable. Not only from a financial perspective but also often for nostalgic reasons. But sometimes you don’t get around to logging in or forget your account.
The reminder, that Sony is allowed to delete your PSN account after several years, has caused a stir. But what about other platforms, like Steam: Can Valve delete my Steam account if I haven’t logged in for a while?
Valve does not delete your Steam account due to inactivity
Does Valve delete my Steam account if I don’t play? No, and that is the good news. In the official guidelines of Steam, there is no time-limited indication that your account can expire and be deleted. Specifically, it says in the official Steam Subscriber Agreement:
Termination by Valve
Valve can restrict or terminate your account or specific subscriptions at any time if (a) Valve generally stops providing such subscriptions to subscribers in a similar situation, or (b) you violate the terms of this agreement (including the subscription terms or usage rules).
If your account or a specific subscription is restricted, terminated, or canceled by Valve due to a violation of this agreement or due to inappropriate or illegal activities, there is no entitlement to a refund. This exclusion of a claim for a refund also applies to subscription fees or unused balance in your Steam Wallet.
This means that Valve only deletes your account if Steam shuts down its service or if you violate the terms of service. Then everything is really gone, and you have no right to a refund. There is explicitly no mention of deletion due to inactivity.
Good evidence that Steam does not simply delete accounts is for example, Reddit threads where users discuss accounts that have not been online for years or even over a decade. Sometimes these are friends who have passed away, but the account still exists because Valve has not deleted it to this day. By the way, Steam accounts cannot be inherited.
Why does Sony even have the reminder? In Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU applies. It obliges companies like Sony to not store data longer than necessary and to provide clear notices on what happens with inactive accounts. Importantly, Sony is not alone in this: companies like Microsoft, Google, or email providers have similar deletion clauses in their terms of service.
In principle, Valve would also be obligated to include such a notice under European law. However, so far Valve has not complied with this.
Do you consider such a non-deletion to be reasonable or just a waste of resources when Steam accounts lie unused for years and potentially even occupy usernames?
MeinMMO editor Benedikt Schlotmann has been using a feature on Steam since the beta and for over 2 years now. Benedikt has saved a lot of money with it. You can read more about this directly on MeinMMO: I’ve been using a brilliant feature on Steam for 2 years and have saved several hundred euros
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