How to Gift a Game on Steam to a Friend (2026 Step-by-Step Guide)

Steam has let you buy a game for someone else for years, and it is still one of the nicest low-effort gifts you can send a PC gamer — no shipping, no wrapping, and it lands straight in their library. But the flow hides a few steps that trip people up: you have to add the game to your own cart first, tick a “This is a gift” option, and your friend has to be on your Steam friends list before their name will even appear. This guide walks through the whole process on the desktop client, including how to schedule a gift for a birthday, what the region-restriction warning means, and what happens to your money if the gift is never opened.

Before you start

Two things need to be true before Steam will let you send a gift. First, the person has to be your Steam friend — you cannot gift to an email address or a username you are not connected with. Second, your account needs to be in good standing (a brand-new account with no completed purchases, or one flagged for limited access, may be blocked from gifting).

• The recipient is on your Steam friends list (send and accept a friend request first).
• You know which game and edition you want — check they don’t already own it.
• A working payment method, or enough Steam Wallet balance to cover the price.
• You are using the Steam desktop client or the web store (gifting from the mobile app is limited).
• You and your friend are in compatible regions (see the region-restriction section below).

How to gift a game step by step

1. Find the game in the Steam store
   Open the Steam desktop client (or store.steampowered.com) and go to the store page of the game you want to send. Make sure you have selected the right edition — Standard, Deluxe or a bundle — because you gift exactly what is in your cart.
2. Add it to your cart
   Scroll to the purchase area and click “Add to Cart”. You add the game to your own cart even though it is destined for someone else — this is the step most people miss.
3. Open your cart and choose “Purchase as a gift”
   Click the cart icon at the top right, then choose the gift option (shown as “Purchase as a gift” or a “This is a gift” toggle). Steam will then ask who the gift is for.
4. Select the recipient
   Pick your friend from the list of your Steam friends. Only friends who have accepted your request will appear here. Double-check the name — gifts are tied to the account you choose.
5. Add an optional message
   Write a short note and, if offered, pick a sender name. Your friend sees this message when the gift notification arrives — a nice touch for a birthday or a thank-you.
6. Choose “send now” or schedule it
   Decide whether to deliver the gift immediately or schedule it for a future date (see the next section). Then continue to payment.
7. Pay and confirm
   Complete payment with your card, PayPal, a local method, or your existing Steam Wallet balance. Once the purchase goes through, Steam sends the gift notification to your friend (or holds it until your scheduled date).

Scheduling a gift for later

If you are buying ahead of a birthday or the holidays, you do not have to hand the gift over immediately. After you select the recipient, look for the “Schedule delivery” option. You choose a future date, and Steam holds the gift and releases the notification to your friend automatically on that day. You still pay at the time of purchase, so lock in a sale price now and let it arrive later.

How your friend accepts the gift

1. They get a notification
   On the delivery date, Steam sends your friend an on-platform notification (and usually an email) that a gift is waiting, along with your message.
2. They choose Accept or Decline
   Opening the notification gives them the option to accept the game into their library or decline it. Accepting adds it to their account permanently.
3. They have 30 days to decide
   The gift stays available for 30 days. If they take no action in that window, it expires automatically and you are refunded (see below).

The region-restriction rule

This is the single biggest reason a Steam gift fails, so it is worth understanding. Game prices differ between countries, and Valve does not want people buying games cheaply in a low-price region to gift into a higher-price one. If the price gap between your Steam region and your friend’s region is too large, Steam blocks the gift with a “cannot be sent to the recipient’s region” message.

What happens if a gift is declined or never opened

You are not out of pocket if the gift does not land the way you hoped. There are two outcomes, and both protect the buyer.

• Friend declines the gift: the purchase amount is refunded to your Steam Wallet, so you can put it toward something else.
• Friend never responds within 30 days: the gift expires and the amount is automatically refunded to your Steam Wallet.
• Friend already owns the game: Steam warns you at checkout in many cases; if they accept a game they own, they can decline it back to your wallet.

When a gift card is the better move

Gifting a specific game is perfect when you know exactly what your friend wants and you are both in the same region. But a Steam gift card wins in a few common situations: when you are not sure which game they would like, when you want to let them buy during a Steam sale, or when region differences block a direct gift. A card lets the recipient choose, and it never runs into the pricing-region wall that direct gifts do.

If you are weighing up which platform to buy for in the first place, our roundup of the best gift cards for gamers compares Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and more, and our PlayStation Plus vs Xbox Game Pass guide helps if the person on your list is more of a subscription player than a one-game buyer.

Frequently Asked Questions