120 Steam users now own 20,000 games or more, three whales own over 40,000 games — one player's library is worth nearly $750,000 at today’s prices

It is easy to get sucked into Steam Sale fever and end up buying more games than you have the time or the inclination to play. However, it is still surprising to see that at least 120 people have collections with 20,000 or more games, according to SteamDB’s latest figures. Number one on the leaderboard is Sonix, with a Steam game collection of 43,085 Steam games worth nearly $750,000 at today’s prices.

We guess many readers will be familiar with the experience of a digital games library growing into astronomical numbers. But personal three or four-figure game collections are relatively small when you see what the Steam whales are up to.

(Image credit: Future)

(Image credit: Future)

Three Steam gamers have over 40,000 games in their bulging entertainment libraries. That’s a huge number of games. Last September, we reported on Sonix becoming the first to earn the 40K badge; now, they are one of three to earn that ‘honor.’

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So, what of the other 120 folks who have 20,000 or more games in their collection? Number 120, Cheltan, is a Japanese user who has been on Steam for over 17 years. Their 20,005-strong collection is worth $148,596 at today’s prices. Surely they got a lot of the titles in the sales, though, with an average paid game price of $7.47.

Cheltan’s game-playing stats are interesting, but not unusual for this kind of user. For example, they have 'only' played 8,732 out of the 21,938 games they have access to on Steam (paid and free titles). Their average playtime is 4.7 hours, and the average price per hour of gaming fun is $0.92.

The last time we looked at these colossal Steam game collections, we estimated that playing through a 40,000-game collection would take seven full years, nonstop. At a more reasonable 8-hours-per-day workload, make that 21 years. Moreover, if it takes just a single minute to purchase a game, and ‘working’ 8-hour days again, one would need three months to build such a library.

Buying games twice because they are a bargain

Many gamers will admit they have hundreds or thousands of games in their libraries and probably can’t remember most of them. I have 140 games, Steam informs me, but I know I have bought the same game twice occasionally, after seeing an irresistible sale somewhere and purchasing it before realizing. Remember, PC gaming bargains can be had directly and via bundles, third-party sales and offers, and more. Using a third-party key store means you aren't saved from purchasing duplicates by the Steam checkout system.

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