Valve has introduced some big updates to Steam’s gifting system that makes it easier for the users to buy and send games to friends and family. The update brings guest checkout for game purchases, email based gifting, cross region price adjustments and new wishlist sharing tools, removing the restrictions that previously made gifting more complicated.
So far, people without the Steam account can only purchase hardware such as the Steam Deck or digital gift cards. Now, anyone can buy and gift Steam games without signing up for the platform. Valve has also introduced email gifting, allowing buyers to send games directly to recipients email address instead of needing them to be on their Steam friend list.
The recipient can claim the game by signing into their Steam account using the link in the email. If the game remains unclaimed for 30 days, the purchase is automatically refunded to the sender.
Also read: Google says Gemini 4 will help it catch up with OpenAI, Anthropic despite AI coding gap
Steam has also made gifting across different countries a lot easier. Instead of asking buyers to calculate regional prices or rely on gift cards, Steam now automatically adjusts the purchase price based on the recipient’s location. The move is said to make gifting more convenient for users with friends and family living overseas.
Along with gifting improvements, Valve has also made some changes to Steam wishlists. Users can now organise games into custom categories and generate filtered wishlist links that can be shared with anyone. People opening these links can purchase games directly from the wishlist, even if they are not connected as Steam friends.
The changes have largely been welcomed by Steam users, especially the addition of easier cross-region gifting. However, some community discussions have also talked about the regional pricing differences that can be exploited if the safeguards are not in place.