Unpacking on Steam refers to the process where Steam prepares the downloaded game files for use by decrypting and installing them. This typically happens after you download a game or an update, especially if you have preloaded the game before its official release. When you preload a game on Steam, you download an encrypted version that cannot be played until the release date. Once the game is officially released and you have access, Steam "unpacks" the game by decrypting these files and installing them so you can start playing. This unpacking process is essentially Steam installing the game files after the download is complete
. Unpacking can also occur when updating a game, where Steam decompresses and installs the update files. The process can sometimes take a while, especially if the hard drive is slow or the update is large, because Steam needs to safely decompress and copy the files without corruption
. In summary, unpacking on Steam means getting the downloaded game files ready to run by decrypting and installing them, which is a normal and necessary step before you can play the game
