Steam keeps your personal data only as long as needed for the stated purpose or to meet legal requirements, using a proportionality assessment to set retention periods.
This analysis describes what Steam's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
The policy does not specify fixed retention periods for most data categories, meaning your data may be retained for extended periods based on Valve's internal assessments of operational and legal necessity.
Interpretive note: The policy provides retention criteria rather than specific retention periods, meaning the actual duration of data storage for key categories such as payment data and game statistics cannot be determined from the policy text alone.
This addition provides specific data retention guidelines and criteria, demonstrating commitment to data minimization and compliance with retention limits mandated by privacy regulations.
View full change record →Valve applies a factors-based retention assessment rather than fixed retention periods for most personal data categories, which means the duration your game statistics, account data, and payment information are held is determined by Valve's internal policies that are not publicly disclosed in this document.
How other platforms handle this
We retain personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. The specific retention periods depend on the type of information and the purposes for which it is processed.
We keep information for as long as we need it to provide our products, comply with legal obligations, or for other legitimate purposes, such as to maintain safety, security, and integrity.
After your account is deleted, we keep data about interactions you've had on our service to prevent abuse, ban evaders and others in an effort to protect and ensure the safety and security of our service and our members.
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Steam has changed this document before.
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"We will only store your information as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose it was collected for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.— Excerpt from Steam's Steam Privacy Policy
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: GDPR Article 5(1)(e) establishes the storage limitation principle, requiring that personal data be kept no longer than necessary for the specified purpose. Specific retention periods are not mandated by GDPR, but controllers must be able to justify retention duration. The UK ICO's retention guidance and the CCPA's data minimization principles also apply. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The absence of disclosed retention periods for specific data categories such as payment data, game statistics, and behavioral tracking data makes independent compliance verification difficult. Regulators may require documentation of retention schedules during audits. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and UK supervisory authorities expect documented retention schedules as part of Records of Processing Activities (RoPA) under GDPR Article 30. California's CPRA requires disclosure of retention periods or criteria in privacy notices, which this policy addresses only at a general level. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Retention policies should be reflected in data processing agreements with third-party developers who receive Steam user data. If those parties have independent retention periods, data subject deletion requests may not be fully honored. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should confirm that Valve maintains an internal retention schedule document that specifies periods by data category, aligned with business and legal requirements. CPRA-specific disclosure obligations regarding retention criteria should be reviewed for adequacy given the high-level nature of the policy's retention language.
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The policy does not specify fixed retention periods for most data categories, meaning your data may be retained for extended periods based on Valve's internal assessments of operational and legal necessity.
Valve applies a factors-based retention assessment rather than fixed retention periods for most personal data categories, which means the duration your game statistics, account data, and payment information are held is determined by Valve's internal policies that are not publicly disclosed in this document.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 136 platforms. See the full comparison.
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