Valve has firmly refuted recent reports suggesting that its Steam platform experienced a "major" data hack, emphasizing that there was "NOT a breach" of Steam systems.

Despite concerns among some users about reports claiming that over 89 million user records were compromised, Steam's thorough investigation revealed that the issue was limited to a leak of "older text messages." Importantly, these one-time code SMSs did not contain any personal data.

In a statement posted on Steam, Valve clarified that after a detailed examination of the leak sample, they concluded that customer data remained secure. They stated: "The leak consisted of older text messages that included one-time codes that were only valid for 15-minute time frames and the phone numbers they were sent to. The leaked data did not associate the phone numbers with a Steam account, password information, payment information, or other personal data."

Valve further reassured users that "old text messages cannot be used to breach the security of your Steam account." They emphasized that whenever a code is used to change a Steam email or password via SMS, users receive a confirmation through email and/or secure Steam messages.

Taking the opportunity to enhance user security, Valve encouraged players to set up the Steam Mobile Authenticator, highlighting it as "the best way to send secure messages about your account and its safety."

Given the increasing frequency of data breaches and the fact that over 89 million users have a Steam account, concerns about a potential security compromise were understandable. The most notable video game-related data breach occurred in 2011 when PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable networks suffered a severe outage lasting nearly a month, affecting 77 million accounts.

It's not just customer data that's at risk. In October of the previous year, Pokémon developer Game Freak experienced a significant hack, resulting in the leakage of data about its former and current staff, as well as its development pipeline. In 2023, Sony confirmed that data belonging to nearly 7,000 of its current and former employees was compromised in two breaches that year. Additionally, in December 2023, hackers breached confidential data at Marvel's Spider-Man developer, Insomniac.