If I buy a complete bundle for a game, but I already own the main one, will it work?

[Killoli]

I'm thinking about buying Spore Complete Pack on G2A but I just need the DLC, i'm fine with buying the whole thing, just wondering if it will work.
Thanks for everything.

[76561198218426745]

It should add the content you don't own. You won't receive an extra copy of the main game.

[Killoli]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

It should add the content you don't own. You won't receive an extra copy of the main game.

Oh okay, thanks! :D
Edit: Added quote lolz

[Kritter]

Except for when it doesn't. As I just found, despite the fact I'm completely willing to give up a key to get the rest of the bundle, I can't even add it to my cart because 'the offer is only available if I purchase all 6 items'.

So I think it depends on the bundle.

[ໂ‧͡‧̫ໃ]

Originally posted by Kritter:

So I think it depends on the bundle.

That's true to a degree.

But that's because there are two different types of "bundles" currently on Steam.

One has "bundle and the other has "sub" in the URL.
That way you can differentiate between the two. :)

"Subs" you can only buy as a whole.
So you can't get it if you already have at least one game in it.

"Bundles" you can get partial discounts.
So it's cheaper the more games from it you already have.

The Spore bundle is a "bundle" so it adds content, like habitualaction mentioned.

You can also buy discounted games and add them to your inventory as a gift and buy another etc.. It's a nice way to gift games cheaper to your friends.

[Kritter]

@Tawny Lawns (great name, btw!)

Re your last line above... I could just be misinterpreting what you're saying... but does that mean that if you bought a bundle and added it to your inventory, you could gift it to someone who already owns one of the games? ie, you could circumnavigate the stupid restriction I've come up against?

To explain: I want to buy a bundle. It's a bundle of 5 games I don't own! Great! Except they've chosen to give away a FREE bonus game... which I DO already own. So I am not allowed to buy 5 new games because they want to give me a free gift and refuse to let me refuse it... So, so stupid.

I even tried to get another account to gift me the bundle. But it refused that too, because I already own one of the titles. *sigh*

So if I did it via the inventory, would I likely still be unable to gift it to an account that owned it?

I really don't know why Steam has to make this so difficult. Once upon a time, it would just warn you that you wouldn't get a second copy of the game, and you wouldn't be able to gift that extra copy, but did you want to proceed?

Then lately, it's been better still, and they've actually just discounted the bundle by the cost of the game you already own.

Except now I'm finding I'm point blank refused the ability to buy 5 games because I already own the free one they're giving away. Which is beyond ridiculous.

[ໂ‧͡‧̫ໃ]

Thanks, Kritter! Ditto. ;)

If you bought a game on a different account to gift to the one that already had that game in the first place, you're right, you wouldn't be able to. It doesn't give you the option.

The method I wrote above is only useful before you get all the games in the bundle, for the games you don't already have.

I'll give a really specific example.
I have this running joke thing with a friend (we actually do like the game) and take turns to gift Zup! to each other every time a new one comes out (lol!). When it comes out the bundle is cheaper for people who have all the previous games than the basic 10% discount you get the first few days when a new Zup launches.

I could just buy my copy first and then buy it at the "normal" 10% off for my friend but instead I buy the new Zup! through the bundle (extra discounted) and buy it as a gift. I then purchase my own copy through that method and I'm set. That way I get both copies at a higher discount.


Those bundles where it says you can't buy it at all because of one or more games you already have, those aren't set by Valve, they're set by the publishers of those games unfortunately. :( They get to choose how they want to sell certain bundles.

[Kritter]

Ah ok. Thanks. The thing that's a shame in this case is that it's actually 5 different Indie devs I'd happily pay to support, but I'm refused because another dev bundled in a free gift... which is currently on sale at all of £0.49 anyway!

Although I just posted in each of the forums for those other games. I know I've got virtually no chance of any help through Steam Support, but maybe one of those other developers will think it's as unfair as I do and be able to do something about it.

Several other people have pointed out the same thing, so potentially they're losing a reasonable amount of revenue because of it.

[ໂ‧͡‧̫ໃ]

Yeah, that part has always been a big issue for people. The fact they don't give out separate games for the bundle is a big downer for most customers since like you said, you can't even gift it to yourself using a different account. :/

[ KARR™]

As the OP isn't buying on Steam, but a third party site, the steam checkout wouldn't be an issue for them.

[Kritter]

Originally posted by 𝒦𝒜𝑅𝑅™:

As the OP isn't buying on Steam, but a third party site, the steam checkout wouldn't be an issue for them.

well, except it very well might. I often buy games on third party sites that are redeemable on Steam. Sometimes, a bundle will be collated by that seller, and therefore you get x amount of individual Steam keys, which may or may not be tied directly to a specific Steam account, but nevertheless, you then don't have to redeem them!

On the other hand, as per the discussion we've just been having off the back of the original question, if the third party are selling a single key to a bundle that's already on Steam, then you would likely not be able to redeem it for exactly the same reason we've just discussed.

Case in point: The OP asks about Spore. Spore is available on Steam as part of this bundle:

http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/1245/

I am not allowed to purchase this bundle. Therefore, if I bought a key elsewhere for this, rather than 3 seperate keys for the component parts, I would likely not be able to redeem it.

[ໂ‧͡‧̫ໃ]

@Kritter

Sorry to anyone else getting an alert. You can "Unsubscribe from discussion" using the button to the top right of the screen.

I didn't want to use this thread which is only partially related and also not your thread to begin with (sorry OP!). But I've waited a couple of(?) days after adding you since your profile is private but have had no luck. So I'm posting here. Hope this info can help in any way.

I was looking at the Sims 3 bundle on sale the other day and noticed a comment on reddit about it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/comments/5vd5u0/steam_midweek_madness_the_sims_3_49999962475_off/de1ehim/

VindictiveVince on reddit basically says they went to buy The Sims 3 bundle, logged out, added to cart, proceeded to check out. At this point it'll ask you to sign in, they could choose to purchase it as a gift and store it in the inventory for later. The games were all stored separately.

I've seen this mentioned by other users before for other bundles. But since I don't know exactly which bundle you were trying to buy, I couldn't test it myself. You might want to give it a shot, see if it works for you.

[verdeAntico]

Originally posted by Tawny Lawns 💗:

But that's because there are two different types of "bundles" currently on Steam.

One has "bundle and the other has "sub" in the URL.
That way you can differentiate between the two. :)

"Subs" you can only buy as a whole.
So you can't get it if you already have at least one game in it.

"Bundles" you can get partial discounts.
So it's cheaper the more games from it you already have.

Thank you a lot for that information! I couldn't understand why the bundle work so differently

[ValentDs]

my problem is similar, i've the game but i would the bundle with all dlc, i can add all dlc in that bundle on my original key i've already the base game or not work?

[ᴠᴀʀ]

There is a very easy test to see if you get an extra copy or not.

Just add it to your cart in steam store and go to checkout. You get a warning saying you get an extra copy or not.

[Steigen Führer Macky]

But I will pay the same price? Example is there's a bundle worth $5 and I already own the main product, do I still pay the same price?