Buying a PC game for someone who does not use Steam has always required working around the platform. That changes with a new update from Valve, which now allows users to send games directly by email, even if the recipient has no Steam account.
According to Engadget, the update lets a buyer send a link to claim a game to any email address, regardless of whether that address is connected to a Steam profile. Previously, gifting a game required knowing the recipient's Steam account directly.
There are a few conditions. The buyer and recipient must be in the same country, and if the recipient does not accept the game within 30 days, it is automatically refunded. Sending a game to someone in a different country still requires being Steam friends with them, though Valve added a feature that automatically calculates the cost of a game in a friend's region at checkout, removing a step that previously required manual research.
Guest accounts also received an upgrade. Users can now use a guest account to purchase games directly, not only gift cards or Steam hardware as before. Valve designed these changes to make it easier for people who do not play PC games themselves to buy games for others.
The update also overhauled the Steam wishlist. Users can now sort saved games into named categories, functioning like folders or tags. Games can be added to a category from their store page or from within the wishlist itself. Filtering the wishlist by category shows only the games in that group.
Sale notifications, which alert users when a wishlisted game goes on sale, can now be enabled or disabled for specific categories rather than applying to the entire list. Users can also generate a shareable link to their full wishlist or to a specific category, see whether saved games have available demos, and play trailers for wishlisted games by hovering over them.
