Most financial advice starts with limiting your spending on small items. It doesn't matter how seemingly inconsequential a purchase is--a bunch of little transactions quickly add up. Of course, many people live with the belief that a morning coffee or evening beer doesn't cost that much, at least as long as you never calculate the grand total. When it comes to money, ignorance truly is bliss. And now Valve wants to ruin your day.
You can now visit a web page to see exactly how much money you've spent on Steam. The page appears to be part of Valve's push to make more information available to Steam customers in light of the GDPR rules that went into effect in May. It presents you with three totals: OldSpend covers purchases made before 2015, PWSpend refers to money spent on Perfect World Entertainment's games, and TotalSpend includes everything else.
It's even harder to keep track of how much you spend on Steam than it is to think about the financial impact of a cup of coffee. PC games regularly go on sale, and if you're anything like us, chances are good that you find something to buy every time a half-decent promotion is running. Games that cost $60 at launch quickly fall to $40 and then shift price based on how well they're selling or what deals Steam and its publishers want to run.
We'll use ourselves as an example. The new External Funds Used page says we spent $8.99 sometime before 2015 and an additional $275 after. (Can you guess which spending category is devoted to a time after we built our gaming PC?) Does that mean we've bought four games plus some DLC? Nope. We've purchased somewhere around 81 games. (It's hard to tell because other sellers, like the Humble Store, use Steam keys.)
Here's the rub: most of those games have never been played. We have 39 installed, and we've completed a few games, but for the most part we've built our Steam library with the belief that we'd eventually get to everything we'd purchased. Based on the Reddit comments we see when Steam runs another sale, we aren't alone in this. Steam is less a game store and more a way to convert money into the false hope of infinite free time.
Speaking of sales...the annual Steam Summer Sale is expected to kick off today. You can expect the usual discounts on dozens of titles, with deals ranging from "why did you notify me about a 10% discount" to "holy crap, I can't believe this game's already on sale for less than $10" and everything in between. Maybe wait to visit the External Funds Page until after the sale is over. There's nothing wrong with a little denial, right?
Oh, and once you're done weeping over the money you've spent on games you've never even thought about playing, check out Business Insider's guide to seeing how much money you've spent on Amazon. Then just console yourself in the knowledge that nobody puts "stop buying games during Steam sales or using Amazon" on their list of the best ways to save money. At least you aren't buying avocado toast, right?
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Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer
Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.
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15 CommentsComment from the forums
Jake Hall $1,927.80 :O
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ubercake "...Steam is less a game store and more a way to convert money into the false hope of infinite free time..."
Truth.
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10tacle Or you can just learn how to use Excel in a monthly personal expense balance sheet and track it yourself. I have every expense down to work vending machine purchases. You'd be surprised how much money you throw away in that and fast food for lunch while at work vs. brown bagging. I was shocked when I saw that annual summary.
If you want to know why so many don't have much in personal savings, this is an example as to why. What you don't know in your day to day purchases CAN hurt you. I have my Steam and PlayStation games categorized as entertainment. I don't go on lavish vacations and don't go to movies or concerts, so I'm okay with that money well spent.
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velocityg4 21077040 said:
Or you can just learn how to use Excel in a monthly personal expense balance sheet and track it yourself. I have every expense down to work vending machine purchases. You'd be surprised how much money you throw away in that and fast food for lunch while at work vs. brown bagging. I was shocked when I saw that annual summary.If you want to know why so many don't have much in personal savings, this is an example as to why. What you don't know in your day to day purchases CAN hurt you. I have my Steam and PlayStation games categorized as entertainment. I don't go on lavish vacations and don't go to movies or concerts, so I'm okay with that money well spent.
Do the same myself. Although I switched to Quickbooks Online as it's quicker to track spending. Since you just have to categorize transactions from your accounts. Tried the free Mint route but it lacked too much in the way of management.
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derekullo Gamer May Cry ...
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hotaru251 tbh....i have TONS of games...but i spent chump change.
I have no NEED for new games atm so I juts get humblebundles bundles and/or monthly and save tons.
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dalauder Meh...$222 all time, or about $25/year. I think it'll hit most people harder. i'm well aware that I never have the time to get into that queue.
21077040 said:
...I don't go on lavish vacations and don't go to movies or concerts, so I'm okay with that money well spent.10Tacle, does that mean you go on reasonable vacations? Seriously, a backpacking trip someone awesome on reward miles or points can be like $500/person.
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Fluffy_Hedgehog Me: "ah well, let's have a look … I mean how bad can it HOLY sh*t, GOOD LORD, MOTHER... *censored*"
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The Paladin easy budget it and dont spend more... in my case 15$/month
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Wimpers Have you tried this?
https://steamtime.info/
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