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Steam has three different controls for unwanted games, and each solves a different problem. Choose Hide this game to remove a title from your own Library list, Mark Private to hide ownership and related activity from other people, and Ignore to exclude a product from future Store recommendations and featured spots.
Hiding a game does not, by itself, change Steam’s recommendation system. If you want a title out of your Library view and out of recommendation surfaces, apply the controls for both jobs.
Which Steam setting should you use?
The fastest way to choose is to identify who or what should stop showing the game. Steam separates Library organization, social privacy, and Store discovery rather than treating them as one visibility switch.
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|---|---|---|
| Remove an unwanted title from your normal Library list | Hide this game | The game no longer appears in your normal Library view, while you continue to own it. |
| Prevent other users from seeing ownership and related activity | Mark Private | Other users see the game as if you do not own it; documented profile, status, and activity visibility is suppressed. |
| Stop a product from being suggested by Steam | Ignore | Steam excludes the product from future recommendations and featured spots. |
These controls can be used independently or together. For example, someone who wants a game out of their Library and away from friends’ activity feeds can hide it and mark it Private. Someone who simply dislikes seeing a product promoted in the Store needs Ignore, whether or not the title remains visible in the Library.
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Hide this game: clean up your own Library
What Hide does
Steam Support describes Hide this game as an organizational tool for games you still want to own but do not want taking up space in the client’s game list. After hiding, the title is removed from your normal Library view. Ownership is retained; this is not a license removal, refund, or account deletion action.
How to hide a game
- Open the Steam Client and go to your Library.
- Find the game you want to remove from the regular list.
- Open the game’s context menu.
- Choose Manage.
- Select Hide this game.
The effect is local to your Library organization: the game stops appearing to you in the ordinary Library list. Steam’s documentation does not describe Hide as a Store-recommendation control or a social-privacy control, so do not use it as a substitute for Ignore or Mark Private.
When Hide is the right choice
- You have a bundled or promotional title you do not plan to play and want a shorter Library list.
- You want to keep ownership but remove a game from day-to-day browsing.
- You are organizing a large collection and want infrequently used titles out of the default view.
What Hide does not promise
Hide does not promise that Steam will stop recommending the product. It also does not make your ownership invisible to other users. If the problem is a friend seeing the title on your profile, use Mark Private. If the problem is the title appearing in Store recommendations, use Ignore.
Mark Private: hide ownership and activity from other users
What Private changes
Steam says a game marked Private appears to other users as though you do not own it. The documented social effects cover several places where ownership or play activity can otherwise surface:
- The game is removed from the games list on your Community profile.
- The game is removed from the recently played section shown to other users.
- Your In Game status is suppressed for that title.
- Achievement unlocks and related activity for the game are kept out of friends’ Activity feeds.
- When a friend views the game in the Store, Steam does not show you in the Friends who own this game section.
Private is about what other people can see. The game remains visible to you in your own Library, unlike a hidden game. Marking a title Private therefore does not clean up your personal Library list.
Three ways to mark a game Private
Steam documents three entry points. Availability can depend on whether you are using the client, a browser, or buying the game at that moment.
- From the Steam Client: In your Library, open the game’s Manage menu, or open the game’s privacy properties, then choose the Private option.
- From a web browser: Open the games list on your Community profile and use the privacy control for the relevant title.
- Before purchase: In the shopping cart, select the option to mark the game Private before completing the purchase.
When Private is the right choice
- You do not want friends to know that you own a particular game.
- You want to play without the title appearing in your recent games or friends’ feeds.
- You want to prevent the Store from identifying you to friends as an owner of that product.
Private is not a recommendation filter. A game can be private to other users and still appear in your own Library or in Store recommendations unless you separately hide or ignore it.
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Ignore: reduce Store recommendations for a product
What Ignore does
Valve’s Steam Discovery Update says that any product in Steam, including products in the Discovery Queue, can be marked ignored to exclude it from future recommendations and featured spots. This is the control aimed at recommendation generation.
How to ignore a game
- Open the game’s page in the Steam Store.
- Locate the control for marking the product as ignored.
- Apply the setting.
Once ignored, Steam’s documented promise is exclusion from future recommendations and featured spots for that product. This is different from removing every possible reference to the title. The official wording does not guarantee that Ignore removes the product from every search result, sale list, category page, or other Store surface, so treat it as a recommendation filter rather than a universal block.
When Ignore is the right choice
- You do not want a product appearing in recommendation carousels.
- You are tired of seeing a title in featured placements or in the Discovery Queue.
- You want to tune Steam’s discovery surfaces without changing your Library or social profile.
Ignore does not change ownership and does not hide your play activity from friends. If you already own the game and want social privacy, add Mark Private. If you want it out of your personal Library list, add Hide this game.
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Why hiding a game does not stop recommendations
Steam’s recommendation surfaces use multiple signals. Steam describes factors including games you recently played, recommendations from friends, items on your wishlist, and well-reviewed titles across Steam categories. Steam also allows users to customize which products are included in parts of the Store.
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Combining the controls for common situations
“I never want to see this game in my Library or recommendations.”
Use Hide this game from the Library and Ignore from the Store page. The first addresses your personal game list; the second addresses recommendation and featured-product surfaces.
“I own it, but I do not want friends to know.”
Use Mark Private. This targets ownership, recent-played visibility, In Game status, achievement activity, and the Friends who own this game Store indicator. Hide is optional and only affects your own Library view.
“I want a tidy Library, but I do not care about social visibility.”
Use Hide this game alone. Your ownership is retained, and the title is removed from your normal Library list. Do not expect this action to alter Store recommendations.
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“I do not own it, but Steam keeps promoting it.”
Use Ignore on the product’s Store page. Hide and Private apply to games in your ownership and Library context; Ignore is the control designed for a product you want excluded from future recommendations and featured spots.
“I want all three forms of separation.”
Apply Hide, Private, and Ignore for their respective jobs. They are not redundant: Hide affects your Library view, Private affects other users’ visibility, and Ignore affects Store recommendation surfaces.
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The game disappeared from my Library, but I still see it recommended
That is consistent with Steam’s documented behavior. Hide is an organizational setting, while recommendation exclusion is handled by Ignore. Open the product’s Store page and use the Ignore control.
Friends can still see that I own the game
Check whether you marked the title Private. Hiding it only changes your own Library list. Private is the setting that makes the game appear to other users as if you do not own it and suppresses the documented social activity surfaces.
I marked the game Private, but it remains in my Library
That is expected. Steam explicitly distinguishes Private games, which remain visible to the owner, from hidden games, which are hidden from the owner’s Library view. Add Hide this game if your goal is also to remove the title from your normal Library list.
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The product still appears somewhere in the Store
Ignore is documented to exclude a product from future recommendations and featured spots. It is not documented as a guarantee that every search, sale listing, category page, or other Store surface will remove the product. Seeing it in one of those places does not necessarily mean the Ignore setting failed.
A friend does not see the game in Friends who own this game
That is one of the documented effects of Mark Private. Steam suppresses the ownership indicator for that Store view while the game remains owned by you.
Practical limits and privacy expectations
These settings operate at different scopes, so their effects should not be generalized beyond the documented surfaces. Hide is personal Library organization. Private is social visibility for ownership and related activity. Ignore is recommendation and featured-placement filtering.
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None of the controls removes your license or deletes the product from your Steam account. Private does not remove the title from your own Library, Hide does not promise recommendation exclusion, and Ignore does not promise that the title vanishes from every Store page. Choosing the narrow control that matches your goal gives the predictable result without changing settings you do not need.
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