Plenty of possible things can happen.

Using the Steam search bring up many possible answers...

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882958665520871138&include_deleted=1&q=What+will+happen+if+steam+shuts+down

Or using Google, you can see the various threads over the years about this very topic...

https://www.google.com/search?q=What+will+happen+if+steam+shuts+down?+site:steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com

In the past, I've heard that Valve has said they will somehow make it so that games can still be played without the steam client. However that was well before they had 20,000+ titles on the store. I don't think the topic has been adressed in a few years.

Originally posted by Swordsoulreaver:

What if steam shut down one day? What would happen to the games we own? I just want some thoughts on this, I randomly thought about it this morning and decided to make this discussion.

Bottom line, you have not purchased games, you purchased licenses and that's a whole other ball of wax. Read the SSA, Valve explicitly says they can shutdown at any time for any reason and the end users accepts this risk. They decide to shutdown there is nothing you or I can do about it per the SSA.

Originally posted by Dr. Fronkensteen:

In the past, I've heard that Valve has said they will somehow make it so that games can still be played without the steam client. However that was well before they had 20,000+ titles on the store. I don't think the topic has been adressed in a few years.

This, however it's more likely that the service and its customer base will be bought out by someone else, since it's too big to disappear without a trace.

But, anything could happen with it, especially if new ownership/management enters the picture. So...

Originally posted by Eisberg:

We don't know what will happen, till it actually happens. it is best just to assume that if it does happen, then you will lose access to all your games and they will be gone.

while this is unlikely, this is still a possibility worth considering and protecting against. Those times y'all bought DRM-free + Steam key on Humble Store would come in quite handy -- doubly so if you downloaded the game onto a backup drive already.

Gabe's worth 5.5 billion and can do whatever he wants. We can only hope that he wouldn't betray us after all of the riches that we've contributed to. There are no assurances though it's just blind trust in the man with a thousand knives.

I wouldn't worry. Why would Steam shutdown? It's like wondering what happens if google dies.

Originally posted by Dr. Fronkensteen:

In the past, I've heard that Valve has said they will somehow make it so that games can still be played without the steam client. However that was well before they had 20,000+ titles on the store. I don't think the topic has been adressed in a few years.

Depending on how they DRM work it could probably just be fixed by a patch if needed I guess, at least for those games that only uses Steam's own DRM. I usually avoid buying games that comes with additional DRM

Not to mention that every game playable offline could be still played probably. You just need to download a Steam installer and keep it along with a backup of your games (it is possible to create a backup) if you are concerned. Even if Steam will shut down you could install Steam and all your games and play them. I only like single player games :) of course it won't be possible with online only games but I don't care about them anyway

We'll probably be into WW3 at that point

World war 3, the war of gamers. The winning team wins the war. That would be weird if it's true.

Originally posted by ezwip:

Gabe's worth 5.5 billion and can do whatever he wants. We can only hope that he wouldn't betray us after all of the riches that we've contributed to. There are no assurances though it's just blind trust in the man with a thousand knives.

It should be pointed out that the estimates of Gabe's wealth in the press are mostly based on the value of Valve, and him owning ~50% of it. If, hypothetically, Steam was no longer a viable business and they had to shut it down, Valve would be worth significantly less, and Gabe's estimated wealth would drop commensurately.

There's no real way of knowing what his wealth is if you exclude his ownership stake in Valve, but it's much more likely millions than billions.

I doubt that will happen in our lifetime. It's practically the "home for PC gamers". There's no sign or reason that it would start dying out in the next decades.

I would not worry about this. Where else can you get physical games? You keep game licenses for life. If we lose games because Steam closes down, I'm sure we all would be pissed off. I highly doubt that it would happen.

This is not a question of what would happen to our games alone. IF steam somehow screws up and we lose access to all our games (or licenses for the buthurt ppl out there) then ALL OTHER downloadable media outlets will be devastated because nobody will trust buying a digital version of ANYTHING ever again.

Steam isn't the only outlet for digital purchases. It just happens to be one of the biggest out there. And for people who spent tens of thousands of dollars on their accounts to lose everything and not have access to any of it, would most likely start a domino effect that would absolutely kill the digital market for everyone else.

Originally posted by Grandmaster Foo:

This is not a question of what would happen to our games alone. IF steam somehow screws up and we lose access to all our games (or licenses for the buthurt ppl out there) then ALL OTHER downloadable media outlets will be devastated because nobody will trust buying a digital version of ANYTHING ever again.

Steam isn't the only outlet for digital purchases. It just happens to be one of the biggest out there. And for people who spent tens of thousands of dollars on their accounts to lose everything and not have access to any of it, would most likely start a domino effect that would absolutely kill the digital market for everyone else.

The same happens to console gamers almost everytime a new console get released, but not many people cared that much. To tell the truth honestly I would prefer consoles but I'm moving on PC instead mostly because of that (and a few other reasons that would be off topic now) but many others still buy new consoles and say that they don't care that much about the older games they bought, they just want the new ones.