Is Steam safe for my child?

Steam is safe for children if set up correctly. The key steps are enabling Family View (which requires a parental PIN to access certain games and features), setting the profile to private, and talking to your child about stranger contact in community chats and forums. Steam does sell adult-rated games including content rated PEGI 18, but Family View can restrict access to these. The community features — forums, group chats, and profile comments — are where most child safety risks arise, as strangers can contact children through these channels. With the right settings in place, Steam is a reasonable platform for older children and teenagers who enjoy PC gaming.

Can my child spend money on Steam without my knowledge?

Yes, if they have access to a payment method. Steam uses a digital wallet system, and game purchases and marketplace transactions can add up quickly. We recommend not saving payment details to the account, setting up a Steam Wallet with a fixed budget rather than linking a credit card, and having a conversation with your child about spending expectations. The Steam Marketplace allows real-money trading of in-game items, which is a particular area to monitor.

Steam Safety Guide for Parents

A parent's guide to Steam — the world's largest PC gaming platform — including community chat risks, profile safety, and adult content mods.

Official age

13+

We recommend

13+

Developer

Valve Corporation

Risks

Direct messaging

In-app purchases

Overview

Steam is the world's largest digital distribution platform for PC and Mac games, operated by Valve Corporation. It has over 130 million active accounts and sells games across every genre and age rating. Beyond being a game store, Steam has a significant social layer: user profiles, friend lists, community forums, group chats, and a marketplace for in-game items. For children, the risks come less from the games themselves and more from the social and community features.

How children use it

Children use Steam primarily to buy, download, and play PC games. Many games on Steam are age-appropriate, but the platform also sells adult-rated titles including games with PEGI 18 content. Children communicate with friends via Steam chat and may join community groups or forums for games they enjoy. Some children use the Steam Marketplace to trade in-game items, which can involve real money.

Main risks

online strangers gaming safety harmful content in app purchases

Recommended privacy settings

Profile Privacy

Location: Steam profile → Edit Profile → Privacy Settings

Set to: Private (for under-16s)

A public Steam profile can be viewed by anyone on the internet. Setting it to private ensures that only friends can see your child's game library, activity, and hours played.

Friend Requests

Location: Privacy Settings → Who can send me friend requests

Set to: Friends of friends only

Preventing strangers from sending friend requests significantly reduces unsolicited contact.

Family View (Parental PIN)

Location: Steam menu → Settings → Family → Manage Family View

Set to: Enabled

Family View lets you set a PIN to restrict access to certain games, the Steam Store, and community features. It is one of the most useful parental tools available on the platform.