36.9% of Steam purchases are never played

A new insight into the digital lives of Steam users has revealed a host of fascinating data, not least of which is the number of games left untouched by owners.

Ars Technica‘s detailed insight into Valve’s service, the technicals of which are outlined in detail in its report, show that 36.9 per cent of registered Steam games are never played. 17 per cent are played for less than an hour.

DOTA 2 is the most owned game on the service (25.93m copies). In fact, the 13 most owned Steam games come from Valve, with the highest ranking non-Steam title – Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – ranking 14th.

However, when it comes to the games that are actually played the most per user it’s a very different story with Sega’s famous home-wrecker Football manager coming out on top followed by Skyrim, Modern Warfare 2 (multiplayer), Assassin’s Creed IV and Dragon Age: Origins.

This list also features some surprise inclusions – such as Farming Simulator 2013, Mount & Blade: Warband and Mabinogi – demonstrating the loyalty of such fan bases.

Of the 2,750 titles identified in Ars Technica’s report, just 100 games account for around half of total game sales. The bottom 1,000 titles, however, represent just 1.6 per cent.

Furthermore, about half of the estimated 18.5bn hours that have been spent on Steam games are put into just six games – Skyrim, Civilization V, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2.