Exact Answer: More than 2 hours
Every PC game fanatic is presumptuously familiar with the gaming platform, Steam. Created by Valve, it is one of the most prominent PC gaming platforms that has impressively gathered over 150 million users since its launch in 2003.
It is a gaming cloud library that allows users to access the games they bought or downloaded from their Steam accounts from any computer, thus saving storage space on their device.
It is a one-stop gaming shop that allows you to buy, sell, and store games while engaging with an online community of PC gamers. It hosts several games from leading developers.
How Long Does Steam Support Take?
The platform has a personalized support service. Anyone who’s facing issues with their Steam account or trouble with any Steam products can contact Steam Support. You need to submit a ticket explaining the problem you’re experiencing and expect a support person to get in touch with you to help you out with your query.
If you’re facing issues with Steam, whether technical, financial, or security-related, you might be wondering how long it takes to resolve it through customer support. The support service receives thousands of support requests regularly and is reportedly slow in response. The time required to respond to support tickets is inconsistent and depends on the category of request. While refund requests can be resolved within two hours, other requests show an inconsistent track record of responses.
According to Steam Support Stats, it takes anywhere between 2.43 hours to 10.84 hours to respond to Account Recovery and Security requests. Game and Steam Technical support, on the other hand, can be managed as early as 1.65 hours but could extend to 15.76 hours. Requests regarding Purchase and Billing Support show the widest range of response, taking anywhere between 2.52 hours to 1.85 days.
| Request Category | Average Response Time |
| Refund | 1.35 to 1.99 hours |
| Account Recovery & Security | 2.38 hours to 10.74 hours |
| Purchase & Billing Support | 1.22 hours to 8.12 hours |
| Game & Technical Support | 1.12 hours to 18.50 hours |
The aforementioned statistics only reveal the typical period of response. More than not, it takes longer to resolve your issues through steam support. Customers have complained about waiting over 3-5 days to receive a solution.
Why Does Steam Support Take This Long?
Steam is one of the most popular gaming platforms but receives complaints about its slow customer support service. Valve acknowledged this shortcoming of the software and tried to resolve it by providing more transparency about the steam support ticket system. New updates let customers see the number of active requests and the estimate of waiting time on the software.
According to the stats, the Steam support service receives about 50,000 to 100,000 request tickets every day. The requests are categorized into four types: Refund, Account Recovery and Security, Technical Support, and Purchasing or Billing. Refund requests are as high as 50,000 on an average day and resolved within an hour or two. Valve receives around 20,000 request tickets regarding account recovery and security every day. Depending on the number of requests, the waiting period can stretch as long as 10 hours. The numbers for Purchase and Billing Support and Game and Technical Support are within 10,000 per day.
Though the company is actively investing in upgrading its support service with better technology and increased staff, there is a long way to go. They are swamped with request tickets regularly. Users submit multiple tickets, hoping to get a faster response, but end up decelerating the process more. The only suitable solution is to submit one request ticket describing the specific problem and wait patiently for a couple of hours.
Conclusion
Valve is continually trying to improve the Steam support interface for maximized customer benefit. The Steam Support Stats page, which allows you to see the number of active requests broken down into categories, is a promising step toward improvement. They are constantly trying to minimize the backlog of waiting requests and respond to tickets as quickly as possible. Though they try to respond within a few hours, the wait stretches longer as they deal with over 75000 requests every day.