Valve has updated the wishlists and gifting feature on Steam

The Steam Wishlist works just like it does in any other digital store: users can add games they want to buy in the near future – preferably at a discount. But over time, these lists can become long and disorganized. Now Valve is adding the ability to create categories within the Wishlist, which will allow users to group games by genre, priority, intended as gifts, and other criteria.

Users will be able to create their own categories and filter their wishlists by them, which is especially useful for those whose wishlists have grown to the size of Jennifer L. Armentrout’s or Sarah J. Maas’s fantasy series. In addition, Valve has improved search functionality within wishlists by adding autocomplete. The store will now indicate whether a demo is available for a game on your wishlist. If a demo becomes available after a game has been added to your wishlist, you’ll receive a separate notification. Navigation has also been improved, and the interface is now higher-contrast and easier to read.

Previously, you could already share your wishlist with a friend, and this feature was especially useful ahead of birthdays or other holidays, but now Valve allows you to share a link to a specific category of your wishlist or to a filtered list. This special link does not grant access to the rest of the wishlist and can be revoked at any time.

Another update concerns gifting games – Valve now allows you to make purchases as a guest for any game on Steam. Previously, without a Steam account, you could only purchase digital gift cards or hardware, but that restriction has now been lifted. If you don’t know the Steam account name of the person you want to send a gift to, you can send it to their email address. And if the recipient doesn’t activate the gift within 30 days, the funds will be refunded to the buyer.

Additionally, if you’re giving a game to a user in a different region where prices are higher, the store will show you exactly how much the game costs in the recipient’s region during checkout. This will help avoid misunderstandings regarding potential additional charges. After the update, users will be able to send a digital gift card or gift a game directly from the user’s wishlist, and they can also create a shared link to a wishlist filtered to include only specific games.

When a friend or family member opens your shared wishlist link and decides to gift you a game, the recipient’s information will be automatically filled in the shopping cart. And, by the way, you no longer need to be friends on Steam to send gifts. All these new features will make the process of gifting games simpler and more convenient.

Major Steam update: Valve improves wishlists and gifting

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