Extra copies in Steam

[Mako]

Kinda got tripped up by this one last night when I purchased the THQ complete pack. Was going to give my extra copies of DoW2 and CoH to a friend. If you already own a game on steam and get it again via a bundle deal etc you dont necesarily get an 'extra copy' for you to gift. Its only specific situations where this occurs.

I remember having HL2 and Ep1 then getting the valve bundle and recieving duplicates to gift, this lead me to believe it was the same for all purchases.

[MadMax]

Can you gift/giveaway a game you own in steam already?

Thereby gifting anything before a complete pack purchase.

[Mako]

no, unfortunatley not - looked into that too and when buying as a bundle you cant specify the individual games as gifts at the checkout

[Mighty Brush]

It's pretty much only Valve who allow people to receive gift copies like that.

Always assume it won't happen.

[Mako]

it seems wrong to me, if you already own something in the physical world and you buy it again you have two copies. Who are Valve to say you cant have two copies of a particular product on steam?

[PhatFreD]

I too assumed that if you bought a game you already own you could gift it to someone. Good to know. Thanks Mako!

[Thermal Ions]

Interestingly, the following just released Steam offers do provide gifting ability (of the freebie)

Dawn of War II Chaos Rising Expansion pre-order gets you Saints Row 2 free

Necrovision: Lost Company pre-order gets you Necrovision free

So seems some publishers are waking up to the will of the customers.

That said you still need to assume inability to gift unless specifically stated otherwise on the store page - I wouldn't be relying on for example Steam forum posts.

[Wiz_74]

I agree that is is very wrong, if you dont get a second copy then the price should be slightly discounted to cover the fact you already have those games imho.