General Information

What are Orange Box gifts?

Orange Box gifts are allocated to users who own either 'Half-Life 2' and 'Half-Life 2: Episode One' and then go on to purchase The Orange Box, which includes these two games. An Orange Box gift allows users to give either or both 'Half-Life 2' and 'Half-Life 2: Episode One' to a friend who does not already own the game. An Orange Box gift is an easy way to let your friends enjoy 'Half-Life 2' and 'Half-Life 2: Episode One' for free.

Giving Orange Box Gifts

How do I get Orange Box gifts to give away?

If you own either or both Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One and then install The Orange Box using the Steam account that contains those games, you will automatically receive Orange Box gifts you can give to friends. You can receive Orange Box gifts by purchasing The Orange Box on Steam or at any retailer.

When will I be able to give Orange Box gifts?

Orange Box gifts will be available to give when the Orange Box officially launches. If you pre-purchase the Orange Box and are eligible for the Orange Box gift, you will still have the gift, you will just have to wait until the release date of Orange Box to give the games to a friend.

How do I know when I have Orange Box gifts available to give away?

You will receive a message through Steam when your Orange Box gifts become available to give away. You will also see gift links beside your previously purchased games in your My games list. You can also find your gifts under the Games menu listed as Manage gifts and guest passes.

Will my Orange Box gifts expire if I don't give them out quickly enough?

No, you can give your Orange Box gifts at any time, as long as your Steam account remains active.

How many gifts will I get when I purchase The Orange Box?

You will receive one gift for each previously released Orange Box game in your Steam account. For example, if you already own both Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One, you will receive two gifts you can give to friends: one gift of each game.

What will my friends see if I send them Orange Box gifts?

If your friend does not currently have a Steam account, your invitation will be sent to his or her email address with information on installing Steam and accepting your gift. If your friend already has a Steam account, your friend will still receive an email, but the gift will immediately be linked to his or her account.

I already own both Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One. Can I give my Orange Box gifts to two different friends?

Yes, you can give your two gifts to either the same friend or two different friends.

How can I tell if my Friend already owns one of these games?

If your friends are members of your Steam Friends list, you can learn whether they already own the game you'd like to give. Your Steam Friends who already own this game will automatically be filtered out of the potential list of recipients.

May I Buy, Sell or Trade gift subscriptions?

No. This violates the Steam Subscriber Agreement and may result in having your account disabled.

Receiving Orange Box Gifts

How do I use an Orange Box gift given to me by a friend?

If you do not already have Steam, follow the link in the email you received to download and install Steam. Once you have Steam installed, you will be prompted to create and account or login to an existing account. If you do not have an account, create one. A pop-up message will notify you that you have received a gift. Once you have accepted the gift, you can download the game and activate your subscription from the My games list.

I sent an Orange Box gift to a friend, but that person never received it. What now?

You can resend gifts in case your friend's email gift message was lost. If you are resending to a new (or corrected) email address you should be able to resend immediately. If you are attempting to resend it to the same email address the Steam system requires that you wait 24 hours to prevent the spamming of users. When you resend a gift the previously generated email will become invalid and the “accept” link within it will no longer work. Your friend must use the latest version of the email when accepting the gift.

I sent an Orange Box gift to a friend using their email address, but it turns out that person already owns this game. Can I give this Orange Box gift to someone else?

Yes, provided your friend has not already accepted your gift using a different Steam account. To give your gift to a different friend, simply find your gifts under the Games menu listed as Manage gifts and guest passes. From the Gifts and Guest Passes dialog, highlight the gift in question and select Resend to give your gift to a new recipient.

Guest Passes

What are guest passes?

Guest passes are a new Steam feature; they are given out to users when they purchase certain products and enable them to share a temporary license for a game with their friends who do not own it. Their friends are then able to play the game for a limited time period before the pass expires. After the pass expires the friend will have the option of purchasing the full version to continue playing. Think of guest passes as a way for you to easily let your friends try out your favorite games with no commitment or expense on their part.

What games will guest passes be supported for?

Initially guest passes will be supported only for Day of Defeat: Source. In addition, guest passes will initially be granted only to a small set of users invited to a private beta. After the beta period ends guest passes will be rolled out on a larger scale.

How do I know when I have guest passes available to give out?

You will receive a message at the time of purchase or the next time you logon to Steam notifying you that you have guest passes to give out and providing a link to directly open the management dialog. In addition, you will see a guest passes column in the My Games list telling you how many guest passes are remaining for any games which you have guest passes available. Finally, you may open the manage guest passes dialog directly from the Games menu in Steam.

How do I get guest passes to give out?

You get guest passes by buying certain supported games. Valve is currently launching guest passes as a limited invitation only beta. You may be contacted by Valve and invited to participate in this beta. After the beta period ends guest passes will be rolled out on a larger scale.

Will my guest passes expire if I don't give them out quickly enough?

Guest passes have a one month lifetime from the time they are granted to you. If you have not given out your guest passes after one month they will expire and you will no longer be able to send them to friends.

How many guest passes will I get when I purchase a game?

After the end of the beta period we expect to support guest passes for a small number of games. Existing owners of the games will be given guest passes as well as those who purchase the game for the first time. How many guest passes you get per game will be decided on a game by game basis.

Can I ever get more guest passes after I use those I get on initial purchase of a game?

Initially we will only be supporting an initial fixed number of guest passes on purchase. However, in the future we may allow users who have previously used their guest passes up to get a new set in some manner. The mechanics for this are not yet determined but would aim to reward those users who are actively recruiting new players.

What will my friend see if I send him or her a guest pass?

When you send a guest pass to a friends email address they will receive an email with information on installing Steam and a link to click in order to accept the guest pass and tie it to their account. If you send a link to an existing Steam user who is already in your friends list they will receive this email but the guest pass will also be immediately tied to their account and they will receive a pop-up in Steam (immediately, or when they next login) informing him or her that you have sent a guest pass.

After I have received a guest pass how do I use it?

If you have received a guest pass email you should begin by installing Steam if you don't already have it. Once Steam is installed you can click the accept link in the email to tie the guest pass to your account. At this point Steam will pop-up a message telling you about the guest pass and how it works. Having accepted the guest pass does not start the timer on your free trial but simply add's an entry for the game it applies to in your My Games list. You can then activate the guest pass from your My Games list as soon as you are ready to start your trial.

How long can I play a game using a guest pass?

Each game in the guest passes program may offer a different duration for the free trial license it generates. We expect the duration to usually be on the order of 1-5 days. The time left on your license starts counting down from the time you activate (not the time you accept) the guest pass and you will see the time left on the license displayed within the My Games list or Mini-games view in the Steam client.

Does the time I spend downloading a game take time off my trial license?

Yes, however, Valve tries to allocate a reasonably large amount of time for each game involved in the guest passes program and the size of download is one factor in deciding how long the license will last.

I sent a guest pass to a friend, but they never received it. What now?

You can resend guest passes in case your friends email invitation was lost. If you are resending to a new (or corrected) email address you should be able to resend immediately. If you are attempting to resend to the same email address the Steam system will make you wait 24 hours to prevent spamming of users. When you resend a guest pass the previously generated email will become invalid and the accept link within it will stop working, your friend will need to use the latest version of the email when accepting the guest pass.