this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2026
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Steam Hardware

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A place to discuss and support all Steam Hardware, including Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and SteamOS in general.

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There is not much to specify for the question, its really simple: Which title is the first game you have purchased on Steam? Was it a good decision? How much did you pay? When was it and what device? You don't have to answer all questions, this is just a fun discussion to have.

You can check your history: https://store.steampowered.com/account/history/ Edit: Some in the comments pointed out that the purchase history doesn't go back all to the beginnings of Steam. So if you purchased something earlier, it won't be listed on your account.

(I reply with my game too.)

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[–] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

apparently cities skylines on 14 march 2015

[–] dangrousperson@feddit.org 2 points 14 hours ago

Counter Strike Source, June 25th 2010

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 6 points 21 hours ago

The orange box. ~$50. Great purchase.

[–] Muffi@programming.dev 5 points 21 hours ago

The Orange Box. Greatest gaming value-for-your-buck there ever was.

[–] gothmog@lemmy.today 5 points 23 hours ago

the orange box

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)
[–] CaptainBasculin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Race: the WTCC Game was my first Steam game, I’ve bought a CD of the game and it came with a Steam key. I’ve pretty much forgotten about it until I heard of this new game called Portal 2 and it needs a Steam account to buy. Tried registering and whoops, you already have an account on this email.

The game itself currently cannot be purchased on its own , the bundle the game’s included costs 40$ which i don’t think is worth just for that game.

Currently I have 250 games bought and 700ish more with Family Share.

[–] Shayeta@feddit.org 2 points 20 hours ago

Call of Duty Black Ops 1. It needed something called a "steam qccount" to work? Couldn't just install and play it straight from the disk?

[–] Defectus@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

Zeno Clash i 2009

[–] Lumelore@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 21 hours ago

Mine is Subnautica in 2015 for $18. I currently have about 200 hours playtime on it. Also have 140 hours on below zero.

[–] MushroomsEverywhere@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

The oldest game on my account is Torchlight 2, but first purchased game was Ascension, the deckbuilding game. Or the Crucible DLC for Grim Dawn if that counts.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

the og sierra retail box of counter-strike is my steam originator code.

my purchase history wouldn't go back far enough for the few steam sales items i have on it. the only other retail box added was hl2 the week it came out.

TF2 after playing the orange box at a friend's.

[–] joat_mon@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

Portal in 2007!

[–] Leather@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I don't have a clue. I would have guessed Half-Life or Counterstrike, but those predate Steam. Diablo was Blizzard.

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 0 points 17 hours ago

The link provided in the post shows you all your purchase history on Steam.

[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The Talos Principle. That was in 2016, when I created my Steam account. It was also the first game I bought legally. I will now proceed to install it on my Steam Deck.

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[–] SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Surprised on this one, but it's actually Geometry Dash. I already played it on mobile, but know it was better to play on PC. Got Cities Skylines soon after.

[–] Jumi@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

I don't even have to look it up because I still remember it fondly. In I think 2013 I bought Company of Heroes

[–] TheBrones@feddit.nl 4 points 1 day ago

Garry's Mod

[–] Chingzilla@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

My first game on Steam was Counter Strike, but I had already been playing the retail release for a while. They had some one-time activation to bring over your CD key. When they launched Steam, it was horrible. Remember, this was the time of single core processors (Pentium 4), so any anything that interrupted the cpu would effect your FPS. Plus it was buggy and crashed all the time.

I boycotted Steam and Valve and kept playing pre-steam CS 1.6 till the Orange Box came out. But TF2, Portal, and HL2 plus episode 1 was too good of a deal to pass up, and I had a new AMD Athlon that felt like a beast at the time.

Kinda sad I forgot my original account, would have been neat to have an account as old as Steam. Oh well.

[–] pgs@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago

Same here, CounterStrike, and also lost my original account. Don't even know which email it used, my work account at the time (borged at least twice since then), or one of four ISPs I went through around then.

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

Oh you are one of the OGs too. Well you did (rightfully so) boycott Steam in the beginning and didn't care for your account anymore. So yeah, that's unfortunate. But well, its the past anyway. :-)

[–] remotedev@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I grew up as a console kid so I apparently didn't buy a game on steam til 2017 but it was civ 3 complete edition and cities skylines. Edit: I did have PC games but always bought them separate. I remember zoo tycoon 1/2/ultimate, red alert 1/2 as early games

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

I was also a bit late to Steam, not the very least because it was not available on Linux before. So for you, you started buying games that made actually sense to buy on PC (from your perspective). I see you are a slight fan of strategy games.^^ Just little bit slightly maybe :p

[–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

According to my history, Killing Floor was the first game I actually bought in July 2012 but I installed DC Universe Online (gross) alongside it.

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Age of Empires II HD.

Half life 2

[–] Atherel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 63 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The Orange Box - well, technically Steam came with it...

[–] Gumus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yup. First Steam account created 24th of December (guess why) 2007 for Orange Box.

Back then, it was possible to play Team Fortress 2 on one account on two PCs at the same time, but not on the same server. So my brother and I sat beside each other playing TF2 "together", but each on a different server.

We did this until we gathered enough money to buy a second copy of Team Fortress 2 in April of 2008. We were finally able to play both in the same match and it was glorious.

We both have and use these accounts to this day.

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[–] blomvik@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People in 2009 50% off for ~18€. Presumely because the game was full price on the Telltale site.

And it was a really good decision.

[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

What's that? The candy bar game?

[–] dosse91@lemmy.trippy.pizza 5 points 1 day ago

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, in 2006

Counter Strike: Source

[–] Quadrexium@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 day ago

Terraria back in 2014

[–] nightlily@leminal.space 27 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I‘m old - Half-Life 2 in the box. I had dial-up. Needless to say I loathed Steam and it’s puke green interface through the 00s. I’m still not exactly fond of it.

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[–] 5parky@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Half Life 2 retail standard. August 18, 2005.

I didn't even know that this list was available. There's a ton of games on there that I've never played because I bought them to play after I upgraded my computer and forgot about them. I have a steam deck now and really should go back and try them out.

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[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

First game I activated was a retail copy of Half-Life Platinum Pack, in August 2004. I had made by account few months earlier just for fun right after Steam originally launched.

The first games I bought from Steam specifically was the Orange Box, and AudioSurf in 2007.

The orange box was $61, which inflation adjusted means it cost $99 :)

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[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 25 points 2 days ago (5 children)

According to this page my first in store purchase was Audiosurf in 2008, and yeah - great decision and great game. I put 80 hours into it for $10.

But my actual first "steam game" was Half Life 2 in a box from a department store

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[–] Kyrias@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

No sort or search function?

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[–] Runecrush376@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Aliens vs predator classic 2000.

[–] DudeImMacGyver@kbin.earth 16 points 2 days ago (7 children)
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[–] boletus@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Just cause 2. Bought a physical copy and was confused why I needed an internet connection.

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