Steam Games Analysis: Playtime, Spending, & Value

blakeallansmith
Sep 4, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Sep 15, 2025

Project Background:

This project analyzes data about my Steam games, which includes playtime, the amount spent on games, and the value each game provided to me. The goal of this project is to provide myself insights on trends in my gaming habits and provide recommendations for future game purchases. With the recommendations I can then find games that provide me more value and reduce the amount spent on games that I never play or spend minimal amounts of time on.

Project Objectives | Personal Questions:

What are my most-played games on Steam?
What genres do I spend the most time on?
Which games gave me the best value for money?
What does my backlog look like?
What is my playtime distributed across my library between my top 5 games and the remaining games?
Based on the findings what new games may provide me value?

Summary of Insights:

I have played almost 70 games on Steam, and I have put an overwhelming number of hours on Rust. However, I have also put a good number of hours into GTA V, CSGO, Ark Survival Evolved, Marvel Rivals, and Just Survive.
Compared to my hours I have a more diverse selection of genres played. Over 90% of my games played are placed in the action genre: however, genres such as indie, adventure, casual, strategy, etc. are also common.
As expected from the time played Rust provided me the most value of games that were not free. Although, games like GTA, which was not free, provided me good value compared to many other games I paid for. Otherwise, free games like Marvel Rivals provided me amazing value as I spent a good number of hours on the game.
Filtering on games I never ended up playing, I found that I spent $123 that I can no longer get back from refunds.
Finally, my top 5 most played games on Steam account for 7,481 hours of playtime or %82 of my total playtime on Steam games. On the other hand, my remaining games account for 1,639 hours of playtime or %18 percent of my total playtime on Steam games.

Recommendations:

My playtime data shows an action-heavy survival/sandbox bias within my top-played games. As a result, I should focus on games that are labeled as survival-crafting, multiplayer shooters, and open-world sandbox genres.
Before buying games focus on looking through reviews, community playtime averages, and Early Access caution before committing. Additionally, create a target ROI based off findings to find if I am satisfied with my predictions.
Leverage free games like Marvel Rivals as they provide guaranteed value. Work on exploring more free-to-play multiplayer titles outside of my core genres without risking more money that may go to waste.
Accept the fact that core games dominate my playtime at %82. However, attempt to create time slots to explore backlog games to not only give them a chance, but possibly find other games/genres that I enjoy without realizing it.
To help decrease amount of spent on games that I never played and decrease the number of games I never played, focus on improving search methods. Work on taking advantage of Steam sale events, early access trials, and games passes. I also need to take advantage of external sources like livestreams and YouTube gameplay before committing to a purchase.