Steam owns your games. Valve owns your account.

Steam has your library. You have permission to use it. Here's what happens when that permission disappears—and when it doesn't.

Valve runs Steam, the largest PC gaming platform. You buy games there. They live in your account.

🔴 You lose everything if your account gets terminated. Valve can close your account and keep your entire library. No refund. No way to retrieve what you paid for. It's gone.

🔴 Your account is not yours to give away or sell. You can't transfer it to someone else, share login credentials, or sell the whole thing. The account is non-transferable, period.

🟡 Valve can change the rules whenever they want. New terms bind you automatically. You don't consent to each change—you accept it by continuing to use Steam.

🟡 If your account gets hacked, Valve doesn't have to help. You're fully responsible for security. They're not liable if someone else accesses it.

🟢 The refund policy and conduct rules actually work. Steam has a straightforward refund system and clear community guidelines that protect users from abuse.

You're paying for access, not ownership. Valve can revoke it whenever it wants. That's the deal.

This breakdown is based on Valve (Steam)'s publicly available Terms of Service and/or Privacy Policy. It may contain mistakes. Spot one? Let us know.