When downloading game updates, Steam continues to try to strike a balance between keeping your games ready to play and efficiently using your bandwidth. For games you recently played, Steam will download game updates shortly after they are released. For games that you haven’t played in a while, Steam might wait a few days to bundle multiple updates together or choose to download the update while you are asleep.
While this default behavior works in most cases, there are times when you need more control of when updates are applied. Some users might want to delay updating a 200GB game until they are ready to play it again in a few months, especially if they are on metered connections or have monthly bandwidth caps. For others who play the same game every night, they might want updates downloaded as soon as they are available.
We’ve added a new section to control the default behavior for when game updates are applied, under “Downloads” in the Steam Client settings. You can set the default to: let Steam decide when to update the game (based on factors like when you last played the game, bandwidth availability, etc.) or wait to update until the game is launched.
To set specific game overrides, go to Library > Game> Game Properties (the gear icon). The options remain the same, with cleaned up descriptions.
To see which games have specific overrides, head back to the Steam Client “Downloads” settings and click “Manage Exceptions”.
These new settings join a robust set of existing download options that can be found under “Downloads” in the Steam Client settings. Head there to limit your download speed, pause downloads while you play or stream a game, and more. If there is a setting you would like to see and can’t find, please let us know!.
Learn how to opt into the Steam Client Beta to help test new features like these.
