Activate a retail copy

[n4444sty]

Hi,

I found my old CoD2 Retail DVD at the basement and wanted to add the game to my steam library. But Steam won't accept the code of my retail copy. Is there anything I can do, to add my CoD2 to my Steam library?

[Crush✿]

No. I tried the same and it does not work. You can buy CD keys from some sites if you want and if you do not know what am i talking about, ask me in chat and i will give you further instructions. :)

[zeke]

No, because your copy of the game was released before steam had Call of Duty games on it.

However what you can do is download the game using the disc, and then add the game manually to your steam library ( In the top left of the steam client you should see "Steam View Friends Games Help." Click on "Games", Then "Add a non steam game to my library.") Simply select Call of Duty 2, and then it should appear in your normal library with all of your other games. This should allow you to open up the steam overlay in game, and when you launch the game it will appear to your friends as "N4444sty is in non-steam game Call of Duty 2".

I subbed to the discussion so if you have any more questions just comment and I will do my best to answer.

[n4444sty]

Hey =)

Thank you. Thats what I expected, but good to know it for sure now. Thanks for clearifing this to me. I will add CoD2 as a Non-Steam game then.
Thanks again and have fun.

[Power Pixel]

We need petition for steam to alow us to activate ( cod1/united offensive,cod2,cod waw ).

[pilinha]

I have the same issue. i buy on STEAM and works fine.

[Power Pixel]

Why giving them 10e for games which are old 1 decade.Allow us to activate our retail keys on steam.

[I have quit gaming]

Originally posted by Pixel:

We need petition for steam to alow us to activate ( cod1/united offensive,cod2,cod waw ).

We need Activision to give the permission.

[Power Pixel]

Agreed with you guys...I still want to activate it on steam.

[gocdavies]

I agree. any game bought is protected by consumer protection and the develop has a obligation to ensure that the product bought can be played on the system it was design for no matter what changes the OS undergoes. they should allow the game that was bought with money be also allowed to be downloaded by the same key on the disk. any developer that does not do this is not one gamers should look to buy any game from in the future. because what if in 10 years something else changes and the games you downloaded in steam will then no longer be usable because of a OS change. we treat games bought in steam just as we did pre steam. its a game you own and if for any reason outside your control the game cant be used then teh developer should provide the consumer with a refund or replacement

[Power Pixel]

If game that you have on CD is available for purchase on steam,why wont they let us activate :D
Cause it cost like 10-15e more

[lewosch]

there has to be an agreement regarding DRM, between game publishers (activision for CoD series) and download client services, such as Steam, Origin, Uplay, Battlenet, GoG... (Valve, EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard, CD-Project; respectively).

when CoD2 was released in 2005, digital download services weren't as popular in gaming, except a few titles. most games were bought as retail discs, and downloads were only done for patches; not for the base game itself (except piracy, of course). it was Modern Warfare 2 (2009) where steamworks integration started for Call of Duty franchise. since said game, even the people buying the game as retail disc had to sign up to Steam and register their keys to legally play the games. in this case, activision doesn't have a legal obligation to make it possible to register retail copies of CoD2 as if they're digitally bought from Steam. for CoDs prior to MW2, if you didn't buy from Steam, you still need to use your CD/DVD to install and play. I don't think activision would make a business contract with Valve for these very old games at this point. actually, they abandoned Steam as main platform of CoD products, and CoD:WWII (2017) is the last game available on Steam, and newer CoD titles are being sold on their own platform (Battlenet).

TL;DR : I dislike activision for numerous reasons, but they're not legally obliged to make it possible what you want. I honestly don't even remember many publishers doing this on Steam, aside from a few exceptions of DRM moves (such as Dirt 3 and Batman: Arkham City).

[juz3r]

Hello! Is there a way to retrieve old CD keys from Steam based on the 10 COD2 Steam keys I purchased? I'm the only one with Steam access, we would play the game at the company, but they don't have Steam and installation is forbidden.