Jun 26, 2024 12:30:00

It is estimated that the total backlog of games by all Steam users is worth 3 trillion yen

Just like the term ' tsundoku,' which refers to the state of leaving books piled up without reading them, there is a term 'tsumage

, ' which refers to buying games but letting them pile up in your library without playing them. PCGamesN, an overseas media outlet, estimates that the total amount spent on 'tsumage' by all users on the PC game sales platform Steam comes to about 19 billion dollars (about 3 trillion yen).

Steam users have spent $19 billion on games they've never played
https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam/pile-of-shame

The math on unplayed Steam 'shame' is way off—and no cause for guilt | Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/06/is-the-total-value-of-unplayed-steam-games-really-19-billion-probably-not/

For this calculation, PCGamesN used the service 'Steam ID Finder,' which displays information about a Steam account by entering the Steam ID of the person you want to search for. With Steam ID Finder, you can display information about the account just by entering the Steam ID or URL of the person you want to search for in the search field.

Steam ID Finder
https://www.steamidfinder.com/

Additionally, if the account has 'Game Details' set to 'Public,' the total amount spent on Steam to date, as well as the titles and amounts of backlog games, will also be displayed.

The total amount spent on backlog games on accounts registered with Steam ID Finder comes to about $1.9 billion.

According to PCGamesN, the Steam ID Finder database contains only 10% of all registered Steam accounts worldwide, or about 73 million accounts. Therefore, to estimate the total amount spent on backlogs by all Steam users, multiply the above figures by 10. As a result of the calculation, it was estimated that the total amount spent on backlogs by all users is about $19 billion.

PCGamesN states that 'this amount is more than the gross national product (GNP) of Nicaragua, Niger, Chad, and Mauritius.'