Steam is a popular platform for PC gamers, offering a wide variety of games. However, not every game in your library is one you might want your friends to see. Whether it’s a game you’re embarrassed about or simply something you want to keep private, Steam provides several ways to hide your gaming activity and purchases. Here’s a step-by-step guide to ensure your games remain discreet.
Why Hide Your Steam Games?
There are several reasons to keep certain games private:
- Privacy: Some gamers prefer to keep their library hidden from others for personal reasons.
- Embarrassment: If you’ve purchased a game with questionable content or something unconventional, you might not want it visible to friends.
- Focused Gaming: Sometimes, you just want to enjoy a game without others seeing your activity or asking questions.
Steam has introduced features to cater to these needs, allowing you to manage privacy for individual games effectively.
Hiding Games from Your Steam Library
The first method to hide games involves your library directly. This ensures the game won’t appear to others browsing your profile or activity. Follow these steps:
- Open Your Steam Library: Launch Steam and go to your library where all your games are listed.
- Right-Click the Game: Find the game you want to hide and right-click on its name.
- Select “Manage”: From the drop-down menu, hover over the “Manage” option.
- Mark as Hidden: Click on “Hide this Game” to remove it from the visible library.
This method is simple and hides the game from immediate view. However, note that this doesn’t make the game invisible to friends checking your activity unless additional privacy settings are applied.
Making Games Private in Your Profile
Steam also allows you to control how your profile and activity appear to others. To fully prevent a game from being visible:
- Go to Privacy Settings:
- Open Steam.
- Click on your profile icon in the top-right corner and select “Edit Profile.”
- Navigate to the “Privacy Settings” tab.
- Adjust Game Details:
- Locate the option labeled “Game details.”
- Set it to “Private” to hide all games and achievements from friends.
- Customize Visibility:
- If you only want to hide specific games, Steam currently doesn’t offer selective privacy at the profile level, but you can mark the game as private individually (see below).
This ensures that even if someone visits your profile, they won’t see the hidden games or any related activity.
Marking Games as Private (Beta Feature)
Steam’s latest update, available in the beta client, allows users to mark individual games as private. This is particularly useful if you want to play without others seeing your activity in real time. Here’s how to enable it:
- Join the Beta Client:
- Open Steam and click on “Settings” from the top-left menu.
- Under the “Account” section, find “Beta Participation” and select “Steam Beta Update.”
- Restart Steam to apply the changes.
- Mark a Game as Private:
- Right-click on the game in your library.
- Select “Manage” and then “Mark as Private.”
Games marked as private won’t show up in the “Recently Played” section, friend activity, or under “Friends Who Own” when others check the game.
Hiding Games During Purchase
If you’re concerned about a game being visible immediately after purchase, Steam offers a privacy feature during the checkout process. When adding a game to your cart:
- Look for the “For my account” drop-down menu in the purchase confirmation screen.
- Select “Private” before completing the transaction.
This ensures the game is hidden from the start and doesn’t show up in your activity log.
Playing Games in Offline Mode
Another straightforward option is to play games in offline mode. Here’s how:
- Open Steam and click on “Steam” in the top-left menu.
- Select “Go Offline” to disconnect from the Steam network.
- Launch your game. Your playtime won’t be recorded in online activity logs.
While this method hides your gameplay, it also disables all online features, so it may not work for games requiring internet access.
Retrieving Hidden Games
If you ever want to unhide a game:
- Go to your library and click on the “Hidden” filter in the dropdown menu.
- Right-click the hidden game, navigate to “Manage,” and select “Remove from Hidden.”
For games marked as private, follow the same process and change the status back to public.
