Hugely Inflated Gameplay Hours

[ChewBacaWaka]

I was always suspicious of my gameplay hours being heavily inflated but now I have confirmed it.

I started playing Darkest Dungeons 2 yesterday and might have put 8-10 hours in between yesterday and today. Steam is showing me at 46.6 hrs, which, is 20 hrs longer than I have owned the game.

I noticed when I went to write a review for the game and it said 26.6 hrs played with 20+ more hours on current session.

Other games like the Witcher 3 I noticed insane hours like 440 hours when I only played about 60-70. I thought MAYBE I left the game running in the background for a week. I have probably more than a half dozen games where the hours are stupendously inflated.

Anyone else have this problem or know why Steam would do this? I like being able to tell how many hours I have put into my games.

[rawWwRrr]

All hours count regardless of ownership. For instance, every minute during free weekends or borrowed from friends libraries, that's all playtime.

[Xautos]

you may have played a free weekend you don't remember playing years ago. free weekend games gives you unlimited access to the game for a few days and once the access time ends, the game is then yanked off the account until the next free weekend, if there is one, or until you buy it.

[Monk]

👍

[Aesthier]

Ran across just a few games that it counted the download time as well, but for most things it counts anything from the moment you hit the play button until it completely closes out.
Possibly even any anti cheats associated with the game that might stay running in the background after the game has been closed.

[Mountain Months]

I've never seen anything like that. something is probably wrong with your memory

[Krypto]

Every time you start a game, the time played increases. This doesn't erase if you delete the game.

[Unn4m3d (♥AUT♥)]

Originally posted by ChewBacaWaka:

I thought MAYBE I left the game running in the background for a week.

What's going on with your PC that you think you MAYBE left not only the PC running for a week, but a game at the same time?

That's something you either know you did, or you didn't. And if you are unsure, that's your answer for the playtime. No conspiracy involved.

[Yujah]

Is it the case that playtime is shown correctly on your profile ("Recent Activity") although not in the Library? If so do the in the library shown times reset to correct if you quit and restart Steam, or your system entirely? And/or do you library-share from and/or to another account?

I.e., sounds like this 10 year old bug: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/810938082288072473/