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How to delete your Steam account, and what you should know before you do
Valve’s Steam can be a great source of entertainment. With its many titles and intuitive interface, it’s the quickest way to get stuck into gaming. But what if gaming is taking up your entire life? You may want to consider some severe measures. In that case, here’s how to delete your Steam account and everything you need to know before you do.
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Open the Steam desktop app or website, tap on your profile name, select Account details, then tap Delete my Steam account. Follow the prompts to complete the process.
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What you should know before deleting your Steam account
There are a few things you should be well aware of before deleting your Steam account.
For one, make sure that there are no Steam games on your account that you still want to play. Deleting your account will also delete any games and game licenses purchased via Steam. Account deletion will also rubbish your “community profile, gifts, inventory items, wallet funds, and other associated information.” This data will be unrecoverable. Games that require a Steam account will also not be playable, while VAC-secured servers will be inaccessible to you.
Deleting a Steam account is a big step. and if you get cold feet after the fact, you can recover your deleted Steam account within 30 days by contacting Steam Support.
How to delete a Steam account on the desktop app
Now that you know the dangers of deleting your account find the steps to do so below.
- Open the Steam app on your desktop.
- Tap on your username at the top right.
- Select Account details in the drop-down menu.
- Click Delete my Steam account.
- Tap Proceed to account deletion.
- Fill out the personal information form provided.
- Once complete, hit Send.
How to delete a Steam account on the website
If you don’t have the Steam app installed on your computer or are using another machine to access your account, you can also delete your Steam account on the Steam website. Find the steps below.
- Open your web browser, then navigate to the Steam website.
- Tap on your username at the top right.
- Select Account details in the drop-down menu.
- Click Delete my Steam account.
- Tap Proceed to account deletion.
- Fill out the personal information form provided.
- Once complete, hit Send.
FAQs
Yes, you don’t need to pay a one-time or subscription fee for a Steam account.
Yes, you can recover a Steam account provided you contact Steam Support within 30 days of deleting it. Any later, the account won’t be recoverable, even by Steam staff.
Returning a Steam game is simple. Head on over to the Steam help page and follow the steps described in our guide.
You may want to hide a specific game on your Steam account instead of deleting your entire account. Our full how to hide a Steam game guide runs through the required steps.