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Question about gifting retail game w/required Steam Activation

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Archknave

So I own a physical copy of Fallout: New Vegas. It forces you to activate it on Steam. After playing it through, I removed it from my Steam account by contacting customer service. They required a photo of the game, and the serial number, etc.

Anyway, now the retail version of the game is ready to be used by someone else. My question is, could I gift it in SteamGifts with just the cd-key that comes with it, or does someone need the actual dvdrom to install it? I located Fallout: New Vegas on the FAQ list of Steam activated games in the sticky thread here, but I don't know if that means my version needs the dvdrom or not.

Tanks.

12 years ago*

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18 Comments
Nthrax

i didnt know you can do that :O i think you can not use the cd key anymore :O , cos if it would work, everybody would just finish the game and sell it back...

12 years ago
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Pur3Bolt

Apparently Steam can do it. It's pretty obvious that if you have completed the game they won't

12 years ago
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xarabas
(Junior Moderator)

I asked Steam Support for two of my games to be removed and when they did it, they always said that with removal the cd key will also be invalid and unusable so im not sure you can gift it anymore

12 years ago
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darkdude8

why would you want to remove them if it makes the games unusable ??????

12 years ago
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xarabas
(Junior Moderator)

I just didnt want them on my account anymore. HL2 Ep 3 was rather bad and didnt quite lived up to the expectations and you dont want me to start talking about SW Republic Commando II

12 years ago
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Scorcher24

EP3?
I see what you did there..

12 years ago
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karnage10

lucas arts should buy a studio to make battlefront 3 and republic comando 2. Even if those games were just a bit better than the originals they would still make enough money to make profit

12 years ago
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evodoc

In the case of Modern Warfare 2 there was some problem with DLCs, meaning players with every combination of having DLCs were separated when trying to find games, and you can't disable or temporarily remove those DLCs. My friend had the second DLC and was unable to play until he made Valve to remove it from his account.

12 years ago
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Yako27

I do it that, the key was avaliable to activate again.

12 years ago
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xarabas
(Junior Moderator)

"Hello Admir,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

I can assist you in permanently removing the game(s) from your account. However, the game(s) will not be refunded and will not be accessible for future use.

If you wish to play the games again you will need to repurchase them from the Steam store in the future.

If you registered a game with a CD Key and we remove it, the CD Key will no longer be valid and it will not be redeemable in the future.

Please let me know if you would like to proceed with the removal of your game(s)."

12 years ago
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Yako27

9 Mensaje por ** el Fri, 2nd Sep 2011 5:33 pm
Hello,

The CD Key in question has been reset and can be registered to the account of your choosing.

If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you.

12 years ago
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xarabas
(Junior Moderator)

Obviously i was scammed by Valve, im starting a lawsuit immediately

12 years ago
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Yako27

Some tech guys are awesome and the others are bad :(

12 years ago
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Qrkus

Please, do it.

12 years ago
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Brecho

You just lost your Fallout, this key can not be used.

12 years ago
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Archknave

Wow, quite a range of responses. I was not told my key would not be usable again. I'll have to go back and check to see if they explicitly said I could use it again.

For those that got the message that they couldn't use the game again, can you confirm that you registered a PURCHASED PHYSICAL RETAIL edition of the game on DVD? I understand that if I downloaded the game through Steam or just registered it using a key alone that it would not be re-usable. I'm thinking that a physical copy might be handled differently.

12 years ago
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Archknave

UPDATE: I went back and checked my e-mail response from Steam. They did not say the game would be unusable after it was removed from my account. However, they didn't say it would be usable either. I find it hard to believe they would have me go through the process of physically verifying that I owned the DVD Rom and game package just to remove it from my Steam account, unless I could then re-register the game again. I e-mailed Steam support the question. Let's see what they say.

12 years ago
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OatmeaCookie

create a ticket to ask if the cd key is valid etc etc

12 years ago
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Closed 12 years ago by Archknave.