I wouldn't expect that feature to be added for a non-steam game. Keep in mind this works for steam games.

Needed feature.

How about just not adding those games to Steam?

I still hope this happens.

Originally posted by BJWyler:

How about just not adding those games to Steam?

Well 1 it will be nice for people who use the steam deck, so that you dont have firefox or whatever active all the time. And aren't forced to switch to desktop mode just to watch YouTube or use a program that you could have fine in game mode

And 2 steam is a nice and convenient launcher. Having things other then games, that you expect to open and close alot, or have open for extended periods of time, would be nice to have private. So that you aren't spamming your friends or having your game status be constantly active

It's the same people would private things like wallpaper engine, or sfm, or even blender. People use steam for non game things but don't want to polute their playing status or send their friends notifications just because they used a program

I am afraid this is done on purpose, it's not a missing feature, it's a denied feature because you actually see the button with the label (not active for non-steam games). This means steam doesn't want you to "hide" your overlay working on software you didn't buy on steam. I don't care if my friends see I am using other softwares, I always rename the link as "Grand Theft Auto 6"

Originally posted by pocketjoe:

Ability to mark non-steam games as private...

Already possible, you simply do not add them to Steam.

Originally posted by The End:

Originally posted by pocketjoe:

Ability to mark non-steam games as private...

Already possible, you simply do not add them to Steam.

We need a function that actually does this for non-Steam games added to the Steam library, so please stop being a smartass.

Originally posted by ♫MusicMen225♫:

Originally posted by The End:

Already possible, you simply do not add them to Steam.

We need a function that actually does this for non-Steam games added to the Steam library, so please stop being a smartass.

A lot of Steam functionality is reserved for games purchased on Steam. As it should be. If you don't want a non-Steam game to show up in various aspects of your library, the most simplest solution in all of the world is to not add it to Steam. Problem solved.

Originally posted by BJWyler:

Originally posted by ♫MusicMen225♫:

We need a function that actually does this for non-Steam games added to the Steam library, so please stop being a smartass.

A lot of Steam functionality is reserved for games purchased on Steam. As it should be. If you don't want a non-Steam game to show up in various aspects of your library, the most simplest solution in all of the world is to not add it to Steam. Problem solved.

Exactly. So weird to ask for a solution to a problem that can be prevented by not adding said game to Steam.

Steam Deck encourages you to be in it's game-mode and gives you the ability to launch third party software - it even prompts you to add Chrome as a non-steam shortcut. If you want to have it on in the background, it would be cool to mark it as private so it doesn't override your status on your friend's list.

If you use discord, spotify, etc, it also does this. If you use software (e.g. things that aren't games) like Blender directly from steam, you have the ability to mark them as private. It's the same idea, but with non-steam stuff. That's literally all this kind of feature request is.

Necessary feature for Steam Deck users

Does Steam even show your friends the name of a non-Steam game anymore?

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

Does Steam even show your friends the name of a non-Steam game anymore?

Well, it sure doesn't show for us.

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

Does Steam even show your friends the name of a non-Steam game anymore?

If you're using SteamOS/bazzite, yes it does show the name of the nonsteam game. An easy work around is to change the name of the game through properties, just name it "private" or "quit spying weirdo" and you're done. lol

if you have the artwork for the game, that's enough to identify the game.. most steamdeck users know how to change artwork through decky.