Key Takeaways:
- Steam lets you add any non-steam game to the Steam library.
- To add a non-steam game, click “Add a game > Add a non-steam game,” select the game from the list, and click “Add selected programs.”
- Once added, you can access the non-steam game from the Steam library.
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Did you know that you can add a non-steam game to the Steam library? This guide shows you how to do it.
For a vast majority of users, Steam is the primary marketplace to buy, install, and play games. However, what if you bought and installed a game from another store or directly from the publisher?
In that case, you can add any non-steam game to the Steam library. That way, you can access the non-steam game in the Steam library making it easy to manage and launch the game.
Follow the below steps to add a non-steam game to Steam on Windows.
Steps to add non-steam game to the Steam library
Follow these steps to add non-steam games to the Steam library:
Step 1: Open the Steam application.
First, open the Steam application by searching for it in the Start menu or double-clicking on the Steam desktop shortcut. Of course, if Steam is pinned to the taskbar, you can also click on it.
Step 2: Click the “Add a game” option at the bottom and select the “Add a non-steam game” option.
Once the Steam application opens, click the “Add a game” option at the bottom-left corner and select the “Add a non-steam game” option. You can also select “Games > Add a non-steam game to my library” from the top menu.
Step 3: Select the game and click/tap the “Add selected programs” button.
From the list of programs, find the game you want to add to the Steam library, select the checkbox next to it, and click the “Add selected programs” button. As you can guess, if you have multiple games, you select all of them at once by selecting the relevant check boxes.
Note: If you cannot find the game in the list of programs, click the “Browse” button, navigate to the game folder, and select the game’s exe file, and click the “Open” button. This will add the game to the Steam library.
Once the game is added to the library, you can open the game directly from your Steam library.
Limitations to consider when adding non-steam games to Steam
When adding a non-steam game to the Steam library, there are a few limitations you should know and consider.
- Game integration: Adding a non-Steam game to your library allows you to launch the game through Steam, but it doesn’t provide the same level of integration as Steam-native games.
- May launch third-party launcher: If your game requires access to a third-party launcher then that launcher might automatically open when you launch the game from Steam. For example, if you added a game download from the Epic store to the Steam library, opening that game might launch the Epic launcher. To put it simply, you cannot avoid third-party launchers just because you added the game to your Steam library.
- Non-steam games cannot access Steam-specific features: Since this is a non-steam game, you won’t have access to features like Steam achievements, Steam Cloud saves, Screenshots, Community, User reviews, or automatic updates.
- No game updates via Steam: Steam doesn’t provide game updates to non-steam games. For example, if there is a new update for your non-steam game, you have to do it via the game’s official launcher. You will not get the update from Steam.
- Varied controller support: Steam’s built-in controller support may work with some non-Steam games, but it can vary depending on the game and its compatibility with Steam’s controller configuration.
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That is all. It is that simple to add any game to the Steam library.
Related Steam guides:
- How to reduce Steam client RAM usage
- How to change the Steam download location
- How to limit Steam download speed
- How to delay Steam client startup on Windows
- How to create desktop shortcuts for Steam games
I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.
If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.
