Steam Gifting Gets a Major Upgrade | Cross-Region Gifting Restored, Guest Checkout and Email Delivery Added
TL;DR
Valve overhauled Steam gifting: cross-region gifting is back, guest checkout from wishlist works without a Steam account, and email gifting launches.
Valve overhauled Steam gifting features today with a synchronized wishlist upgrade. Cross-region gifting is restored — players can send games directly to friends in different regions, and Steam calculates the price based on the recipient's region at checkout. The recipient must be on the sender's Steam friends list.
New guest checkout / direct gifting from wishlist: players can share their wishlist link with friends and family, who can buy gifts directly from that wishlist without owning a Steam account. Email gifting is also new: digital gift cards or games can be sent directly by email with a claim link; unclaimed gifts auto-refund after 30 days. Email recipients must be in the same country/region as the buyer.
Valve tightened cross-region gifting years ago; this release opens it back up. Whether region-locked games can be gifted through this path hasn't been tested yet — probably not — but the whole cross-region gifting scenario that has been blocked for two years is back on the table.
via gcores
New guest checkout / direct gifting from wishlist: players can share their wishlist link with friends and family, who can buy gifts directly from that wishlist without owning a Steam account. Email gifting is also new: digital gift cards or games can be sent directly by email with a claim link; unclaimed gifts auto-refund after 30 days. Email recipients must be in the same country/region as the buyer.
Valve tightened cross-region gifting years ago; this release opens it back up. Whether region-locked games can be gifted through this path hasn't been tested yet — probably not — but the whole cross-region gifting scenario that has been blocked for two years is back on the table.
via gcores
