OLD Hotmail Account from before 2016 was lost so I recreated it on GMAIL, are games gone forever?

[Linell]

Hi I just have a hypothetical question that I was wondering if anyone could answer.

Back in the days of Microsoft maintaining HOTMAIL I used to own a different Steam account. Eventually they shut down those servers and I got locked out of my steam account. I was busy and working full time with overtime around then so I didn't really notice. Just now I'm thinking fondly on a game I thought I owned wanting to play it, couldn't find it, and am just now realising it was on the old account.

Is there any way of retrieving or transferring my games across from that account to my active account? I'm pretty sure unless someone stole it somehow it's been sitting there in moth balls with no activity because I was locked out with no way of accessing it.

Is this a weird request? Are those games lost forever to me? Is there a way I can prove my identity and get stuff back?

[Linell]

I mean I believe I used the same credit card and everything on BOTH accounts....if that helps.

[Mad Scientist]

Follow this guide, and do any part that applies to you. If you can prove account ownership, it will be restored to your control:

How To Recover Your Account 

A Guide for Steam

By: 🜂∴🜏 Cassie

This is a step-by-step guide on how to navigate the Steam Support Help page to recover an account that you no longer have access to.

[Linell]

No no...I don't want to login and out of two different accounts. I want to TRANSFER ownership of the games in my old account to this account. I cannot GET to the Hotmail email that its linked to. They literally shut them down in 2013.....so its not like I can password reset or anything.

How are you going to send me email confirmations for the other account?

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Linell:

No no...I don't want to login and out of two different accounts. I want to TRANSFER ownership of the games in my old account to this account. I cannot GET to the Hotmail email that its linked to.

How are you going to send me email confirmations for the other account?

You can only have the account moved to a different e-mail if you prove ownership. There are different sections in the guide, hence do any one part that is applicable to you.

They cannot transfer games from account to account (aka no merging).

[Linell]

My new email is already attached to this account. I'd prefer they not screw up my working account. Do I have to open a new GMAIL and give them that and just maintain TWO steam accounts?

[Linell]

Well I opened the request using another email very similar to my own. I'll see if I can use this secondary GMAIL to access the old account if that's easier....But yeah...if you guys are support you can see its me. I'm asking from both that email and this one....

[Linell]

Grr...well I made the same appeal there. Lets see what they say. Today I have no access, if tomorrow is the same its been over 10 years. I can be patient longer.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Linell:

I cannot GET to the Hotmail email that its linked to. They literally shut them down in 2013....

What are you talking about? You can log in to hotmail addresses via outlook.live.com. I know this as I'm still using my hotmail account I created in the late 1990s.

[Linell]

Uhm....seriously? Its never worked...and wouldn't let me reset. Nobody has ever responded to me at a support center for restoring my account....I got ghosted....and they just refused to deal with it.

I think it was always 'we don't have enough information about you to restore it'. They did't have a credit card, phone number or address for me. I could list names of people I talked to, sites I interacted with, and a ton but they didn't care. It was always 'not enough'. It felt useless.

[UPDATE] HA. Just tried it there. It tells me that account does not exist. So NOPE. They've long since closed it. It says the would have 'deactivated it' in 8 months, then closed it after 5 years. Since I lost it in 2013....and they wouldn't help me back then. It was long dead since 2018.

I vaguelly remember I kept using my old steam account for awhile....but then got a client update on steam, making me re-enter the password I didn't remember and then went oh shoot....now I can't reset the password because the account is gone....and it wouldn't let me reactivate it through Microsoft because they didn't hold enough of my personal information.

Thank goodness for 2FA these days and restore emails.

[Linell]

OK...since starting this process I purchased a new game. Normally it comes through as 'Steam Purchase' from 'SEATTLE DE' this time it went through as '4259522985' from BELLEVUE WA.

It looks like as soon as I interacted with the support center someone on the support side messing with billing on my current account.....WHAT THE HELL guys?

This billing number has been flagged as suspicious since 2016 by the whole community. Are you folks just attempting to steal accounts?

I'm looking specifically at you Mad Scientist since you provided the support link.

[Bee🐝]

Originally posted by Linell:

OK...since starting this process I purchased a new game. Normally it comes through as 'Steam Purchase' from 'SEATTLE DE' this time it went through as '4259522985' from BELLEVUE WA.

It looks like as soon as I interacted with the support center someone on the support side messing with billing on my current account.....WHAT THE HELL guys?

This billing number has been flagged as suspicious since 2016 by the whole community. Are you folks just attempting to steal accounts?

I'm looking specifically at you Mad Scientist since you provided the support link.

This is a user forum.

No one here works for Valve.

Sort out your account issues with Steam Support.

[Crazy Tiger]

You can recover the old Steam account, you don't need access to the old email for that. You just need to be able to name the email address you had back then. Follow the guide posted earlier. If step 1 can't be done, proceed from step 2. along the way you can point out that you don't have access anymore to the email. It might require to enter a bogus email a few times to get that option popped up. At the end you'll make a ticket.

As said, games cannot be transfered.

This is a user forum. Nobody here is from Support, nor will they respond here.

Bellevue is in/near Seattle. It's where Valve HQ is located. If the listing changed a bit, it's coincidence.

[Linell]

( O_o ) IF you folks don't work for VALVE why are you responding to me at all? I only wanted to talk to them. Who are you guys?

Maybe VALVE should put a support guy on the forums. And you folks should stop responding as if you are VALVE people to a question clearly directed at THEM not you.

Look I accept games can't be transferred. I'm trying to get access to my former account via a NEW EMAIL. I paid for everything on there. Its all on my credit card statements. I have the same weird blip in payments shortly before losing that steam account. It looks like an internal job.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Linell:

( O_o ) IF you folks don't work for VALVE why are you responding to me at all? I only wanted to talk to them. Who are you guys?

Maybe VALVE should put a support guy on the forums. And you folks should stop responding as if you are VALVE people to a question clearly directed at THEM not you.

This is a user-to-user forum. The purpose is that users help each other here. People from Valve don't respond here. If you want to talk to Steam Support, create a ticket through the Support pages.

Most of us are rather experienced in the helping, bt. You can follow our advice and recover your other account. Or you don't. Both are fine, your choice of course.

[Linell]

You just led me down a hole where the support staff or someone in this forum who IS internal to Valve just played with the billing and the same thing occurred on my old account shortly before I lost it.

I had to contact support then too. They double charged me....fradulently via this same number. So basically you just put me in the line of fire. So you guys should be flagged as dangerous.

This is really douchey....just because I ask a question or try to recover an old account someone out there thinks its alright to threaten me on my current account? What the HELL.

Who are we employing in these companies anymore....maybe VALVE needs to go through some Tech layoffs / firing as well...geezus.