As I am approaching (or thought I was apprcoaching) the landmark of having 1000 games in my library I was thinking of setting up the obligatory GA train to celebrate. But when I went to check on the actual number of games I noticed at least three places where the number of games in my library differs. This made me wonder why the numbers are different and whether the good people of Steam Gifts could offer some explanations?

  1. Steam Profile Games Owned. I see 972
  2. Steam Library Games: In Steam client click Library, and on drop down menu I see Games (967). Note that this is on a PC with no games installed - if I do it on my gaming PC I think I see more because I have non-steam games installed but added into Steam as Non-Steam games
  3. Steam Gifts Steam Games: Click on Your Account (top RHS), then games under the Steam heading on the LHS menu. I see 1007
  4. SteamInfo 998- Added as EDIT to OP, ref talgaby's comment below

obligatory GA

8 years ago*

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Where Do I Find Out The Actual Number Of Games In My Steam Library?

View Results
Steam Profile, Games Owned
Steam Library Games
Steam Gifts Steam Games
Another, Comment Below
Manually Count Them You Idle So & So

This is driving me crazy as well hopefully someone knows the answer.

8 years ago
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There's a badge for it, I usually refer to it if anyone asks me!

EDIT: It anyway always agrees with the "Steam profile, games owned" criteria.

8 years ago
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Sorry for being a bit naive but how do I view that badge?

8 years ago
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Scroll to the very bottom in the badge page, then click it.

Mine says 521, just like the "games owned" on steam profile!

8 years ago
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Ah got it Director of Acquisitions of badge. Thanks :)

8 years ago
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Yeah, I didn't say tha name because it changes at 1, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000 games and I don't know which checkpoint comes after!

8 years ago
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No idea which is most accurate but for the purpose saying I'd reached the landmark I'd always go with the games owned count on the profile.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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That can't be right for the Steam Library Games entry though as it's less than the Games Owned number ..

You may well be right for the Steam Gifts Steam Games although that would indicate I own 35 DLCs which seems s little low to me ..

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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If games share the same store page, they sometime only register as a single game.
Deluxe editions often have separate store pages, and thus different page references, and thus count as additional games.
Steam does not report DLC owned, so there's no way for SG to recognize those [or any packages including DLC] as being owned.

It's all pretty reliable, if a bit of a muddle to remember :P

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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No, you're correct.
In the past, my Steam Library did NOT include DLC, and was smaller than the Games Owned number, for me.

At the moment, strangely, my profile games owned are only 2 higher than my library size- I have 4 items in the software tab.. so it's off by 2 either way, and definitely not due to the dozens of DLCs I own :P

Edit: And SG reports 18 games more than my steam profile does- I'm curious if that's due to duplicated games or the like, rather than DLC (since again, I own far more DLC than that).

Edit2: Oh, it may be including free games I uninstalled but never removed the licenses for..?

8 years ago*
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For the record under the library menu item I see

Games (967)
Software (7)
SteamVR (1)
Music
Videos (18)

So a total of 995 which doesn't match the Steam Gifts (which we think seems to include some DLCs anyway?) and I can't get it to match the profile number of 972 no matter which categories I add together.

8 years ago
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Library: 731 + 4 software + 1 Valve-required SteamVR entry.
Profile: 733
SG: 751
Free (uninstalled) games without removed licenses: 15

Looks like SG's total DOES make sense. It's the total between Library (all sections) plus all free licenses.
No DLC involved :)

Given that Steam profile seems to be adding 2 games for some reason [PROBABLY duplicate entries from combined keys!], I assume Library is the best reference point for actual unique games owned.

8 years ago
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Hmmm ..

Library: 437
Profile: 435
SG: 445
Free (uninstalled) games without removed licenses: ... where do i see them?

So my profile counts 2 LESS than my library.

I always thought, that could be because of Steam Free Games without licence, in my case that would be Champions online (installed) and Spiral Knights (installed), but because of the premium account not Team Fortress 2 (also installed)

8 years ago
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Click on your steam wallet amount in the top right of your client.
From there, "Licenses and product key activations".
(Shortcut: https://store.steampowered.com/account/licenses/ )
Then use Ctrl+F to search for 'REMOVE', to see free licenses you can remove from your account.

Not sure why your library'd be larger, I haven't had that happen before, personally.

8 years ago
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Still not quite there for me:

Library
Games (967)
Software (7)
SteamVR (1)
Music
Videos (18)

Licences that can be removed: 12

Total 1005

Still two short of Steam Gifts Steam Games total of 1007

8 years ago
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Got any hidden games?

8 years ago
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Not that I am aware of - I certainly can't see a hidden category anywhere ..

EDIT: Definitely no hidden games as just hidden one, seen the hidden games category appear with 1 game in it, unhidden the game and the hidden categeory disappears.

8 years ago*
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Thanks!
Interesting part of Steam, never been there before ^^

Okay, there are 21 removeable licenses... now the math is even worse :D
There are 9 demos & 5 uninstalled games which are NOT in my library, and 3 installed games & 3 uninstalled games which ARE in my library.
On Top there is listed a "Half-Life 2: Update"

So ... i would have:

437 (Steam Lib INCLUDING the 6 from above) + 5 uninstalled games which are not in lib + Half-Life2: Update (which is listed by SG (!))
= 443 ... same as Andy, 2 games short of SG total of 445 for me

... and still no clue, why profile says 435, because my previous idea is wrong, i have 3 installed f2p games ^^

8 years ago*
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counter on steam profile count. thats 972

in library it howevers shows other numbers. 967+7+1+18 more than 972? yes, because you might have free to play games installed, what not count to the steam profile counts, there only paid games counted. however, steamVR games not counted twice, there might be a game there, but that in the normal games list aswell, additionally i think some of the videos or softwares uncounted aswell if they are free products.

other sites, like astats etc count more than those counters, they count all free to play games aswell you ever installed or added to your account, however, as steam profile counter only lists paid games, this number usually much higher, in your case its 1007 (based on info you provided in the topic, i not checked by myself)

8 years ago
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Hm but .. i have 3 f2p games installed (4 with TF2, which i don't count because of premium), library says 437 and profile 435 ... shouldn't it be 434 then?

8 years ago
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all of those was f2p allways? there are games what costed money but now f2p, if you bought those its counted on profile. I think if you bought DLCs for a f2p game then it will count as regular game for future aswell.

for example my Everquest 2 dont get removed from my library even if uninstalled and its f2p, probably because i bought DLC.

8 years ago
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Neither bought these games, nor a dlc for them.
The 3 games in question are:
Champions Online, Spiral Knights, You have to win the game

8 years ago
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there are other possible explanations aswell.

if you accidently hided a game then its not listed in your library counter, so if you hided one, even if accidently and have 3 f2p then 435-1+3, so 437 could be right.

8 years ago
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Checked that. I actually had one hidden, but i removed it and no number changed.

Argh i think i can't sleep tonight :D

EDIT:
To clear that up, it was pandoras saga. Can't find it in the store and it is not in my library any more.

8 years ago
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hmm, i just hided one for this, lost 1 counter, removed hide, got 1 back, no clue what other could influence it, but there are a system for it and it influenced by those i told here.

perhaps it gets counted if you used microtransaction in any of those f2p? no other ideas, but i hope you will be able to sleep tonight anyway:-)

well, as no other idea, iam off to play some game, i hope you will figure it out:-)

8 years ago
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Is there an easy way to identify the F2P games?

8 years ago
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store page only i think, however you need to check only your installed games, f2p games gets removed from your library usually if you uninstall them.

8 years ago
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Check this :-)

8 years ago
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Ah OK, more understanding now. I'd assumed this wasn't a 100% reliable list as my LOTRO (F2P) wasn't listed but I figured out why, its because I originally installed it on Steam using the Steam Starter Pack. It also includes DLCs like RPG Maker: Community Resource Pack

8 years ago*
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I found "Steam profile, games owned" the most relevant. Steamgifts games also include DLCs, soundtracks and other additional content you can buy on Steam, but isn't de facto a game itself. Also I'm very surprised, cause SG shows I own 200 more games than Steam profile, that's almost twice as I really have! I can't believe I have so many DLCs ;_;

8 years ago
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Steam counts the games as licenses, with some packages counting as a set amount of licenses.
Some games can also add several entries, for example the old episodic games of TellTale add five games to your library view. They count as one on the profile page and five in the library/played games list. This list also counts every game you played from family sharing.
Some games also add derivates, like separate multiplayer or a Mac version. Some DLCs are also standalones and count their hours, some are separate licenses but go to the DLC count, yet also appear in the full game list accessible from SteamDB.

Most people consider the number in the profile page the real one since the badge is based on that. Some use the SteamDB one (in your case it is 998, by the way), especially if they are reviewers and they make articles for all applicable products.

8 years ago
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Thanks for the additional info. Added the SteamDB info to the OP

Interestingly the Owned Products in SteamDB matches the SG Steam Games so I guess they are using the same mechanism to calculate

8 years ago
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Well, if you have time, lots of time, you may can check the lists to see which are the extras. Usually they are some DLCs that are almost standalone, expansion level, but not products that can start on their own (for example, the Enemy Within DLC from the XCOM remake).

8 years ago
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I refer to Steam Profile count.

It used to count F2P games back in the day too.

8 years ago
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I used to count by the number on Steam Library, because it lists free games, too (well, I install them, I play them, why shouldn't I count them?), but now you made we think...
Steam profile: 353
SteamDB/SG: 371
Steam Library: 390
Removable licences: 17
o.O I would check it all manually, when I have time tonight.
Also, does the counter in the library includes hidden games? I think so, otherwise the difference in numbers would be even more dramatic...

8 years ago
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Numbers will differ because of different factors involved.

Firstly, some background: Steam works on license-based system, which means that what is connected with your account is license (subscription) to given appID, and not given appID itself.

Now, those subscriptions grant all sort of stuff. Some can grant a game, some a DLC, some can grant multiple games and DLCs, some can grant movies, applications, and so on... SG uses simple mechanic of counting to how many appIDs you have an access. This will count movies, applications, games, and everything available in the store, but will NOT count DLCs as those are not reported by steam. There are some little exceptions, but in general steam doesn't provide within it's API that information. Finally, there are also some rare cases such as having two licenses connected with the same game, e.g. a license which grants game only, and game + soundtrack. Those will be showed by SG as two different games, but steam will show it as a single one.

Number on your steam profile should consider all single appIDs that are games and not DLCs. It doesn't include removed games from store.

Your number in library is one of the most accurate ones, as it also shows removed games, but free ones unfortunately too. For instance I have 2610 total, 2587 on my profile. This gives around ~23 removed games (substract free ones you have from that), which is pretty accurate.

Hope it helped.

8 years ago
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More useful info, thanks :)

Question on removed games (as I don't think I have any) - you say they are still listed in your library? If so can you still play them from the Steam Client or do you have to manually access them from your file system/desktop shortcut?

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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That's weird. Are you sure you didn't add any games outside of steam there? Number of games in library should be the biggest one.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Then I have no idea.

8 years ago
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Steam profile: 1527 games - 914 DLC
SteamInfo: 1537 games
SG: 1542 games
Library view: 1518 games - 7 software - 1 video

It's still more than what I actually own; Back to the Future keeps its episodes as standalone games, Company of Heroes, GTA & Batman games have 2 versions (Old-New or PC-Mac) and SEGA Genesis & Mega Drive Collection is 1 game with 56 DLC's.

tl;dr: It's confusing... (:

8 years ago
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Sooooooo...
I have actually counted the games listed in my library (including the free ones and hidden games), and I got the number 345. Which, considering that it's a lot and it's still morning, I could or could not screw up a bit.
Steam profile shows: 355
SteamDB/SG: 374
Steam Library: 391
Removable licences: 18

It seems that the number on the profile is the closest to the actual thing.

8 years ago
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