• A Steam user named Sonix from Shanghai, China has become the first person to own over 40,000 games on the platform, specifically 40,028 games
• This massive collection was built over 15 years, averaging about 2,668 games purchased per year or roughly 7 games every single day
• Steam is the world’s largest digital PC gaming platform, operated by Valve Corporation
• This milestone highlights the extreme collecting habits of some gamers and the vast scale of Steam’s game library
• The achievement raises questions about digital game collecting versus actually playing purchased titles
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A dedicated gamer from Shanghai has just achieved what many would consider an impossible milestone in digital game collecting. Sonix, also known as SonixLegend on their Steam profile, has become the first person ever to own more than 40,000 games on Steam, the world’s most popular PC gaming platform.
The remarkable collection consists of exactly 40,028 games, accumulated over the 15 years since Sonix created their Steam account. To put this achievement in perspective, this means Sonix has been adding an average of 2,668 games to their library each year. Breaking it down even further, that equals approximately seven new games added every single day for the past decade and a half.
For those unfamiliar with Steam, it’s a digital distribution platform created by Valve Corporation that allows users to purchase, download, and play video games on their computers. Think of it like Netflix or Spotify, but for video games. Users can browse thousands of titles, buy them digitally, and access them from any computer where they log into their account. The platform launched in 2003 and has grown to become the dominant force in PC gaming, with over 120 million active users worldwide.
The scale of Sonix’s collection becomes even more impressive when you consider the practical implications. If someone were to play each game for just one hour, it would take over 4.5 years of continuous gaming without sleep, food, or breaks. Even if Sonix dedicated 8 hours a day exclusively to gaming, it would take nearly 14 years to spend just one hour with each title in the collection.
This raises interesting questions about the nature of digital collecting in the modern age. Unlike physical game collections that require substantial storage space, digital libraries exist purely in the cloud. A collection of 40,000 physical game boxes would fill multiple rooms, but Sonix’s entire library takes up no physical space at all. This fundamental difference has enabled collectors to amass libraries that would have been impossible in the era of physical media.
The financial investment in such a collection is also noteworthy. While Steam regularly offers deep discounts during seasonal sales, where games can be purchased for 50 to 90 percent off their regular prices, the total cost would still be substantial. Even if we conservatively estimate an average price of $5 per game after discounts, Sonix’s collection represents a $200,000 investment. The actual figure could be significantly higher or lower depending on when games were purchased and what discounts were available.
Steam’s ecosystem makes this kind of collecting possible through several features. The platform maintains a wishlist system that notifies users when desired games go on sale. Bundle deals often package multiple games together at reduced prices. The Steam marketplace also allows users to trade and sell in game items, potentially offsetting some purchasing costs. Additionally, free games are regularly offered on the platform, though these likely represent only a small fraction of Sonix’s massive collection.
The phenomenon of buying games without playing them is common enough in the gaming community that it has its own term: “backlog.” Many Steam users joke about their growing backlogs of unplayed games, purchased during sales with the best intentions but never actually launched. Sonix’s collection represents the ultimate extreme of this behavior, where collecting has clearly become the primary goal rather than playing.
This milestone also showcases the sheer volume of content available on Steam. The platform hosts everything from major releases by large studios to independent games created by solo developers. Educational software, creative tools, and experimental interactive experiences all find homes on Steam alongside traditional games. This diversity means collectors like Sonix can continuously find new additions for their libraries.
The achievement has sparked discussions in gaming communities about the value and purpose of such extensive collections. Some argue it represents a form of digital hoarding, while others see it as a legitimate hobby similar to collecting stamps, coins, or trading cards. The key difference is that games are designed to be played and experienced, not just owned and displayed.
As gaming continues its shift toward digital distribution and cloud gaming services, stories like Sonix’s may become more common. The barriers to building massive collections continue to fall as storage becomes cheaper and internet speeds increase globally. What once required warehouses of physical media can now exist entirely in the digital realm, accessible with just a few clicks.
If you had unlimited funds and time, would you focus on collecting as many games as possible like Sonix, or would you prefer to deeply experience a smaller selection of carefully chosen titles?
