Steam has implemented significant changes to its gifting system, making it easier for users to send games and digital gift cards to others. Previously, gifting required the sender to be friends with the recipient on Steam and know their account name. The new system eliminates this requirement, allowing users to gift games and cards using only an email address, even if that address is not linked to a Steam account.
This update also introduces the ability to gift games across different regions. However, regional gifting requires the sender to know the recipient's Steam account and will use the game's price in the recipient's local currency. The option to gift directly from a shared wishlist has also been added.
Alongside the gifting improvements, Steam has introduced new features for managing wishlists. Users can now organize their wishlists into custom categories. When sharing a wishlist, users can choose to share only a specific category, such as a holiday or birthday list. This allows for more tailored sharing of desired games with friends and family.
These updates address long-standing user requests for a more streamlined and flexible gifting process on the platform. The retirement of physical Steam gift cards due to fraud concerns by Valve may also be mitigated by these digital improvements, offering new ways to present digital gifts in a tangible manner, such as printing redemption links for physical cards.