Story perspectives

Valve Adds Playtime Tracking for Non-Steam Games, Sparks Privacy Concerns

5/1/2026

Summary

Story summary

Valve Corp. added playtime tracking for non-Steam games to the Steam client.
A Reddit user discovered the feature after adding a GOG copy of STALKER 2, indicating a limited rollout.
Valve has not issued an official comment, implying the update is being deployed quietly.
Some users welcome unified tracking while privacy-concerned users fear cross-store data collection, a change that could pressure rivals such as Epic Games Store, GOG, and Microsoft Store.

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Story summary

Valve Corp. added playtime tracking for non-Steam games to the Steam client.
A Reddit user discovered the feature after adding a GOG copy of STALKER 2, indicating a limited rollout.
Valve has not issued an official comment, implying the update is being deployed quietly.
Some users welcome unified tracking while privacy-concerned users fear cross-store data collection, a change that could pressure rivals such as Epic Games Store, GOG, and Microsoft Store.