Installing retail games in steam.

[Ruthl3ss]

I had bought Call of Duty: World at War years ago before I had a steam account. I recently wanted to play it but do not have a drive connected to my machine.

I have tried these steps with no luck.

1) I installed the game on my laptop hoping that steam would recognize it and put it in my libraries but Steam keeps it as a "non-steam" game even though its on here.

2) I tried punching in the product code to see if that would work, nada.

3) I tried finding a help request but I could not find any ways to contact Steam Support to find out what to do.

I defintely do not want to purchase the game agian for $19.99 just so I can have it in steam or have to purchase an external DVD drive for $25. Has anyone ran into this problem before? There must be a way for Steam to accept the game.

EDIT: I figured out a workaround for now. Activision is working on getting me a steam code after they verify my serial.

[Seretti]

Unless it came with a Steam key, I'm afraid you will have to repurchase it on Steam.

[Ruthl3ss]

Are you aware if it is possible to redeem a steam code if I have the original retail code?

[Seretti]

Did a quick google search and found this: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1816727

Looks like you have to buy it again on Steam

[Ruthl3ss]

:( Thats just stupid...

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

Originally posted by Ruthl3ss:

Are you aware if it is possible to redeem a steam code if I have the original retail code?

It is not.

[StickyPawz]

Originally posted by Ruthl3ss:

:( Thats just stupid...

Steam doesn't owe you a new steam key for a non-steam game you bought somewhere else years ago.

[Ruthl3ss]

They should respect the retail key if they sell the game themselves at an inflated price. Activision still gets money for the game that gets sold through steam. Steam just makes a percentage.

[Ruthl3ss]

At any rate, does anyone know of a way to contact Steam support? I havent been able to find a single way to contact them. By the looks of it they have no live support or "support team" as they claim.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Ruthl3ss:

At any rate, does anyone know of a way to contact Steam support? I havent been able to find a single way to contact them. By the looks of it they have no live support or "support team" as they claim.

They do not control retail activations

Publishers do

Contact the publisher

Publishes set prices

If you don't like the price on steam go yell at the publishers

[Ruthl3ss]

I contacted Activision and they told me to contact Steam support because there is no way for them to verify the serial number.

So basically, Activision cant even provide support for their own products. There is no way to contact Steam support. So basically Its just ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Seretti]

Steam support wouldn't be able to help anyway. Activision is the one you need to talk to.

[Satoru]

Again publishers control all aspects of the cd key chain.

Steam does not.

If your key doesn't activate on steam it's cause the publisher choose to do that

[Ruthl3ss]

This is directly what Activision support told me "we don't have any means to validate and check on our end. The best way to check is to contact Steam support for them to check and validate it."

[Seretti]

Originally posted by Ruthl3ss:

This is directly what Activision support told me "we don't have any means to validate and check on our end. The best way to check is to contact Steam support for them to check and validate it."

Yeah, no. Steam support can only send you back to Activision.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Ruthl3ss:

This is directly what Activision support told me "we don't have any means to validate and check on our end. The best way to check is to contact Steam support for them to check and validate it."

And let me reiterate that they are giving you false information

Steam already validated the key

It is NOT a steam key

The publisher controls if a key will activate on Steam or not

If you have a non Steam key, Steam will not magically convert it to a Steam one

The publisher controls what keys activate on Steam