Steam no longer requires buyers to create an account for gifts
Valve has updated Steam’s gifting system with guest checkout for games, email delivery and expanded support for cross-region purchases.
Steam games can now be purchased without an account
Steam introduced guest checkout in 2024 for digital gift cards and hardware. The same checkout option can now be used to purchase any game on the store, allowing someone to send a gift without creating a Steam account.
© Valve Games and digital gift cards can also be sent directly to an email address. The recipient must sign in to Steam or create an account before accepting the gift. Unclaimed email gifts are automatically refunded after 30 days and cannot be scheduled for later delivery.
Email gifting still has a regional restriction. Valve states that the buyer and recipient must live in the same country, so this option cannot be used to bypass Steam’s regional pricing rules.
Cross-region gifting uses the recipient’s local price
Steam now supports direct cross-region game gifting through a separate method. The recipient must be on the buyer’s Steam friends list and Steam calculates the purchase price using the recipient’s region at checkout.
© Valve Valve has also added custom categories to Steam wishlists. Users can share individual categories or filtered lists, control notifications by category and receive alerts when demos become available. Shared wishlist links can be opened by people without Steam accounts, who can then purchase a listed game through guest checkout.
