Note: If you already have Steam installed on your computer, move down to the next method below. This occurs because most games are using several services used for authentication procedures and multiplayer components. The vast majority of PC games nowadays will require you to have Steam installed on your PC even if you install them from a disk. Method 1: Installing the Steam client (if applicable)īefore you try anything else, it’s important to make sure that you have the Steam client installed on your computer. You should eventually find a solution that is effective in solving the problem in your particular scenario.

We encourage you to follow the methods below in the order that they are presented. Below you have a collection of verified troubleshooting method that other users in a similar situation have used to resolve the “Steam must be running to play this game” error. If you’re struggling to resolve this particular error message, this article will help. Verifying the game’s file integrity will resolve the issue in this case.

Game’s installation directory is missing some files – It’s possible that a sudden interruption has tricked Steam into believing that the game was updated correctly.

Game’s installation folder contains foreign files – If you modified the Steam installation folder of the game, the issue might occur because Steam is preventing some files from running.

Steam is not updated to the latest version – There’s a slight chance that you might be seeing the error message because your Steam client is outdated.

In this case, reinstalling the client will most likely resolve the issue.

Corrupted Steam installation – The issue might also occur due to some corrupted files inside the Steam installation folder.

Some games require the Steam client to authenticate or to use multiplayer services.

Steam is missing from the computer – You might be encountering this error message if you recently installed a game from its installation media.

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