Activating old retail copies of games on steam

[kbmodigity]

I have a bunch of old retail box games that I have been able to activate and add to my steam library by punching in the key that came with the CD/DVD. Last night i was able to do it with half life and it actually added like 6 games.

I have a few retail box games that I cant seem to do it with that are on steam. GTA san andreas and vice city i have on disk but those didnt come with keys. Is there anyway to add them that I am unaware of?

I also have the game sacrifice and that does have a key but when I put it in it says it is invalid. The game is on steam so I would think it would work like the other games that Ive done it with. Any ideas to get it to go through?

And to be clear, I am talking about entering the key and have it part of my library, not just make a shortcut to a game and using steam as a launcher. I am sure that someone will say that you cant do that with any game, but trust me, you totally can.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Not all games have Steam redeemable keys. Some use their own service. Others are just plain install from disc games.

[Crazy Tiger]

With some games you can, yes. Most not, though. It all depends on whether the developers/publishers set things up so that the CD-key can be used on Steam.

For the games that don't work, you can always try and contact the publisher/IP-holder to request a Steam key. Most will ignore that, but some will give you a Steam key if you provide the proof of ownership they request.

[kbmodigity]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

With some games you can, yes. Most not, though. It all depends on whether the developers/publishers set things up so that the CD-key can be used on Steam.

For the games that don't work, you can always try and contact the publisher/IP-holder to request a Steam key. Most will ignore that, but some will give you a Steam key if you provide the proof of ownership they request.

Kinda what I figured. I can see that if a game wasn't on steam that it would totally not be available, but with games that are on here it would be nice if they did have that for all of them. I can see that being a bit too much for some older more obscure games though.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by kbmodigity:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

With some games you can, yes. Most not, though. It all depends on whether the developers/publishers set things up so that the CD-key can be used on Steam.

For the games that don't work, you can always try and contact the publisher/IP-holder to request a Steam key. Most will ignore that, but some will give you a Steam key if you provide the proof of ownership they request.

Kinda what I figured. I can see that if a game wasn't on steam that it would totally not be available, but with games that are on here it would be nice if they did have that for all of them. I can see that being a bit too much for some older more obscure games though.

Most publishers rather have you purchase the game again. Same reason why a game purchased on Origin, Epic or GoG doesn't give you a Steam version either.

[IronKnightAquila]

Look for the SSA where it says NOTICE: next to the Steam symbol. That means it's a Steam key.

https://imgur.com/a/xQHhWe4

If the game is not sealed the key most likely will not work.

Old retail keys is just CD/DVD DRM, not Steam DRM.

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

With some games you can, yes. Most not, though. It all depends on whether the developers/publishers set things up so that the CD-key can be used on Steam.

For the games that don't work, you can always try and contact the publisher/IP-holder to request a Steam key. Most will ignore that, but some will give you a Steam key if you provide the proof of ownership they request.

Yes this is correct. I contacted EA support over the phone many years ago and the super nice support guy just added Crysis to my account.

I had a boxed copy and asked if I needed to provide some proof, the guy just said "No it's cool I'll just add it to your account".

[Sgoc]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

With some games you can, yes. Most not, though. It all depends on whether the developers/publishers set things up so that the CD-key can be used on Steam.

For the games that don't work, you can always try and contact the publisher/IP-holder to request a Steam key. Most will ignore that, but some will give you a Steam key if you provide the proof of ownership they request.

Has anyone tryied this with Ubisoft games?
I just contacted them for this and waiting for an answer

[Dieter]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.