No Way to Buy a Game as Gift without Recipient Already on Steam?

[justin.a.cooke]

Hi All,

I need to get a birthday gift for my nephew and thought he'd enjoy the "Ultimate General: Civil War" game. I don't think he's already on Steam, but confirmed with his dad that they'd be fine with setting it up for him.

This seems so simple -- that I should be able to buy the game as a gift and then either send or print an email (with a "redeem" link or standard Steam key), but from what I can tell, this is not possible. To give him the game, I'm supposed to have him in my Friends list and give it to him immediately (or schedule it, but then I still can't really surprise him with it or have to be VERY careful with the timing!)

Am I missing something obvious? Is there really no way to give a specific game gift without the user already being on Steam and my friends list? Of course, I could give a gift certificate, but even that doesn't seem to work without a direct Steam friend link, unless I buy a physical card from a store and then I can't get the denomination I want ($30).

If I'm right about this, then my only reasonable option is to just give him cash and that's no fun (since there's no picking out his gift).

Anyway, can anyone clarify my options here? It's hard for me to believe Steam has no robust way to give a particular game to anyone as a gift.

Thanks!
Justin

[pivotman319 (Trans Rights FTW!)]

Valve has changed the gifting algorithm as of May the 4th of this year. Changes are permanent, but with one exception:

Pre-existing gifts stored in a user's inventory still follow the old algorithm.

[Brujeira]

Well, there is a way around it if your nephew isn't on Steam already. Checking should be easy enough - I presume his dad has access to the kid's PC? He can check whether Steam's on there or not - if it isn't then you just need a bit of lateral thinking.

1. Get his dad to set the account up in your nephew's name, ask him to go to the profile page and email you a copy of its URL.
2. Send the account a friend request via the URL you've been sent. You'll have to do this through a normal web browser as the new account almost certainly won't show up through a search on Steam.
3. Send the gift for immediate delivery and make sure it shows up OK.
4. Wait until your nephew's birthday and then give him the account's user-id and password. Gift delivered.

Wait until a few days before his birthday before you do all this to make sure that you'll be covered by the refund policy just in case he doesn't like it.

[Drab]

You will also want to make sure the game will run on his computer or it won't be much of a gift since he'll need to refund it..

[justin.a.cooke]

Thanks to everyone for the advice (and especially the well thought out steps from Brujeira :) ). I was hoping to avoid that kind of process, though.

It's very surprising to me that Steam makes this such a burden, although from what I understand, it's an effort to clamp down on key resellers (or something like that). Too bad some bad apples, and an odd reaction from Valve, make the gift-giving process such a pain for the rest of us.

So be it, Steam will lose some sales because of this (as I'm sure they already know and accept). I just gave the kid cash in the end.

Thanks again!

[Kwisatz Haderach]

I know this is late, but I stumbled across this issue in late 2021 so maybe someone else will too. The only way I see to gift someone a game on Steam the "proper" way (emailing them or printing out a code that they can redeem on their account regardless of being on your friends list or not) is to buy it from a third party (e.g. greenmangaming).

It is so ridiculous to me that this is how they chose to go about this. I wanted to gift my daughter a game code but I don't have her on my friends list and her mother will not allow us to be friends because she's a spiteful [fill in the blank] that doesn't want my daughter and me to have a relationship. The only way I found to get a game code was through a separate site that sells game codes (greenmangaming in my case).

I also wanted to gift each household in my family (brother, sister, and parents) Tabletop Simulator so that we could have game nights to keep in touch from across the country. I don't think any of them have a Steam account yet and I had planned to print out custom gift cards with the codes printed on them with instructions for how to redeem them. I bought the 4-pack and now I'm presented with the same problem. So now, rather than giving everyone a cool custom gift card, I'll have to instead show them how to setup their account, add me as a friend and THEN I'll be able to give them the game. Kind of ruins the whole thing, imo. I really hope they change this in the future.

[Bee🐝]

Kwisatz Haderach eredeti hozzászólása:

I know this is late, but I stumbled across this issue in late 2021 so maybe someone else will too. The only way I see to gift someone a game on Steam the "proper" way (emailing them or printing out a code that they can redeem on their account regardless of being on your friends list or not) is to buy it from a third party (e.g. greenmangaming).

It is so ridiculous to me that this is how they chose to go about this. I wanted to gift my daughter a game code but I don't have her on my friends list and her mother will not allow us to be friends because she's a spiteful [fill in the blank] that doesn't want my daughter and me to have a relationship. The only way I found to get a game code was through a separate site that sells game codes (greenmangaming in my case).

I also wanted to gift each household in my family (brother, sister, and parents) Tabletop Simulator so that we could have game nights to keep in touch from across the country. I don't think any of them have a Steam account yet and I had planned to print out custom gift cards with the codes printed on them with instructions for how to redeem them. I bought the 4-pack and now I'm presented with the same problem. So now, rather than giving everyone a cool custom gift card, I'll have to instead show them how to setup their account, add me as a friend and THEN I'll be able to give them the game. Kind of ruins the whole thing, imo. I really hope they change this in the future.

I'm sorry, this sounds like an "You" issue - Steam's not responsible for your family not using the platform. They'll have to make an account anyway to play the games.

The gifting system works this way to avoid fraud or rather an even more dodgy, bigger grey market for Steam keys. Obviously, Steam can not manage how other platforms distribute Steam keys to a certain extent.

And it's a better system because people buy dodgy keys all the time and get ripped off. Preventing people from just using unbound keys eliminates this issue...mostly...

[Washell]

Kwisatz Haderach eredeti hozzászólása:

I really hope they change this in the future.

Kinda ironic with that username...

Anyway, the loss in sales through abuse of such an open ended gift system was how we got to the current system. It's highly unlikely they'll revert back.

[Alien]

Bee eredeti hozzászólása:

Kwisatz Haderach eredeti hozzászólása:

I know this is late, but I stumbled across this issue in late 2021 so maybe someone else will too. The only way I see to gift someone a game on Steam the "proper" way (emailing them or printing out a code that they can redeem on their account regardless of being on your friends list or not) is to buy it from a third party (e.g. greenmangaming).

It is so ridiculous to me that this is how they chose to go about this. I wanted to gift my daughter a game code but I don't have her on my friends list and her mother will not allow us to be friends because she's a spiteful [fill in the blank] that doesn't want my daughter and me to have a relationship. The only way I found to get a game code was through a separate site that sells game codes (greenmangaming in my case).

I also wanted to gift each household in my family (brother, sister, and parents) Tabletop Simulator so that we could have game nights to keep in touch from across the country. I don't think any of them have a Steam account yet and I had planned to print out custom gift cards with the codes printed on them with instructions for how to redeem them. I bought the 4-pack and now I'm presented with the same problem. So now, rather than giving everyone a cool custom gift card, I'll have to instead show them how to setup their account, add me as a friend and THEN I'll be able to give them the game. Kind of ruins the whole thing, imo. I really hope they change this in the future.

I'm sorry, this sounds like an "You" issue - Steam's not responsible for your family not using the platform. They'll have to make an account anyway to play the games.

The gifting system works this way to avoid fraud or rather an even more dodgy, bigger grey market for Steam keys. Obviously, Steam can not manage how other platforms distribute Steam keys to a certain extent.

And it's a better system because people buy dodgy keys all the time and get ripped off. Preventing people from just using unbound keys eliminates this issue...mostly...

nah its stupid. I wanted to surprise my friend with a gift that doesnt have steam. I thought it would be nice and a good way to get him into using steam (fairly new to pc gaming) but i cant now cause of this cringy steam system

[Bee🐝]

Alien eredeti hozzászólása:

Bee eredeti hozzászólása:

I'm sorry, this sounds like an "You" issue - Steam's not responsible for your family not using the platform. They'll have to make an account anyway to play the games.

The gifting system works this way to avoid fraud or rather an even more dodgy, bigger grey market for Steam keys. Obviously, Steam can not manage how other platforms distribute Steam keys to a certain extent.

And it's a better system because people buy dodgy keys all the time and get ripped off. Preventing people from just using unbound keys eliminates this issue...mostly...

nah its stupid. I wanted to surprise my friend with a gift that doesnt have steam. I thought it would be nice and a good way to get him into using steam (fairly new to pc gaming) but i cant now cause of this cringy steam system

It makes total logical sense. This "cringy" system is what happens when people abuse something - this is why we can't have nice things.

I think Washell said it best:

Washell eredeti hozzászólása:

Anyway, the loss in sales through abuse of such an open ended gift system was how we got to the current system. It's highly unlikely they'll revert back.

Anyway, help your friend set up their account, and then send them the gift. Make a day of it.

[crunchyfrog]

Alien eredeti hozzászólása:

Bee eredeti hozzászólása:

I'm sorry, this sounds like an "You" issue - Steam's not responsible for your family not using the platform. They'll have to make an account anyway to play the games.

The gifting system works this way to avoid fraud or rather an even more dodgy, bigger grey market for Steam keys. Obviously, Steam can not manage how other platforms distribute Steam keys to a certain extent.

And it's a better system because people buy dodgy keys all the time and get ripped off. Preventing people from just using unbound keys eliminates this issue...mostly...

nah its stupid. I wanted to surprise my friend with a gift that doesnt have steam. I thought it would be nice and a good way to get him into using steam (fairly new to pc gaming) but i cant now cause of this cringy steam system

Cringey or not, it's staying because it had to beat the fraudulent users.

Do you rag on your bank for having to go through security steps and PIN nubers?

[76561199044757151]

Brujeira eredeti hozzászólása:

Well, there is a way around it if your nephew isn't on Steam already. Checking should be easy enough - I presume his dad has access to the kid's PC? He can check whether Steam's on there or not - if it isn't then you just need a bit of lateral thinking.

1. Get his dad to set the account up in your nephew's name, ask him to go to the profile page and email you a copy of its URL.
2. Send the account a friend request via the URL you've been sent. You'll have to do this through a normal web browser as the new account almost certainly won't show up through a search on Steam.
3. Send the gift for immediate delivery and make sure it shows up OK.
4. Wait until your nephew's birthday and then give him the account's user-id and password. Gift delivered.

Wait until a few days before his birthday before you do all this to make sure that you'll be covered by the refund policy just in case he doesn't like it.