How to Gift a Game on Steam, PlayStation and Xbox (2026 Rules)

Gifting a game sounds like it should be the same everywhere. It is not. Steam lets you send almost anything, almost anywhere, and made it easier in July 2026. Xbox lets you gift inside your own country. PlayStation still has no button for gifting a game at all.

Here is how each one works, and what to do when the store you need does not cooperate.

Steam: the easiest store to gift from

Steam has the most complete gifting system of the three, and an update that rolled out in late July 2026 removed most of the old annoyances.

To gift a game to a Steam friend:

1. Open the game's store page and click the purchase button.
2. In your cart, change the drop-down from "For my account" to "This is a gift".
3. Pick the recipient from your friends list, write a message and a signature, and pay.
4. The recipient gets a notification and an email. They choose Accept Gift or Decline Gift.

To gift to someone who is not your Steam friend, you can now send a game straight to an email address. The recipient gets a link, signs in (or creates an account) and accepts it. Email gifts have to be accepted within 30 days or Steam refunds you automatically, and for email gifts the recipient must live in the same country as you.

Cross-region gifts used to be the biggest headache. If your friend lived somewhere with different pricing, Steam often refused the gift. Since the 2026 update, Steam charges you the price set for your friend's region instead. The catch: the two of you must already be Steam friends, because that is how Steam confirms which region their account is in.

Wishlist gifting also arrived with that update. If someone shares their wishlist link, you can buy a game from it as a gift, even without being their Steam friend and even without a Steam account of your own, through guest checkout.

What happens if they decline

If the recipient declines, Steam refunds your original payment method. If they never respond, unclaimed gifts are refunded after 30 days. Before it is redeemed, a gift follows the normal refund rules. After it is redeemed, only the recipient can request the refund. See our Steam refund policy guide for the full 14-day and 2-hour rules.

You cannot schedule a Steam gift

There is no "deliver on December 25" option. If you want a gift to land on a specific day, buy it that day, or send a Steam gift card instead.

Xbox: possible, but same country only

Xbox and the Microsoft Store do support gifting, with more restrictions than Steam.

To gift a game on Xbox or PC:

1. Find the game in the Microsoft Store, the Xbox app on PC, or on your console.
2. Choose Buy as gift (on some screens it is under the "..." menu).
3. Send it to an Xbox friend's gamertag or to an email address.
4. The recipient gets a code, sent to their console and to their email, which they redeem like any other code.

The rules that trip people up:

• Sender and recipient must be in the same country. A gift from a US account to a Japanese account will usually fail without a clear error message. This is the most common reason an Xbox gift "disappears".
• Not every game can be gifted. It depends on the publisher's settings, and some add-ons and bundles are not giftable at all.
• Subscriptions can be gifted. That includes Game Pass. If that is what you have in mind, our guide to paying for Game Pass or PS Plus with gift cards covers the stacking rules.

Because what you gift on Xbox is really a code, the recipient can redeem it whenever they want. If something goes wrong, the steps in our Xbox code redemption guide apply.

PlayStation: there is no game gift button

As of 2026, the PlayStation Store still cannot gift a specific digital game to another account. There is no "buy for a friend" option on the console or the website, and it is one of the most-requested missing features on the platform.

What you can do instead:

1. Send a PlayStation Store gift card. Many retailers sell digital PSN cards that can be emailed with a personal message. The recipient adds the money to their wallet and buys the game themselves.
2. Buy a physical copy, if the game has one.
3. Buy a game code from an authorised retailer. Some stores sell PSN game codes as gifts. Stick to retailers PlayStation lists as official partners, and avoid "cheap key" marketplaces.

One warning: PSN gift cards are region-locked. A US card will not work on a UK account. Check which country your recipient's account is set to before buying anything. Our gift card troubleshooting guide explains the region error if you have already bought the wrong one.

Quick comparison

The universal fallback: a gift card

When gifting a game is blocked because the store does not allow it, the regions do not match, or you do not know what they want, a gift card for the right store and region always works. It also lets the recipient wait for a sale. Our Steam sale calendar lists every confirmed date.

That is also where XPReward fits. XPReward pays out in Steam, PSN and Xbox gift cards, so the points you earn from offers and surveys can become someone else's present. To be upfront about the cost: the smallest reward is a $25 card at 3,600 points, so it is not a quick way to fund a gift. Our points value explainer shows exactly what the points are worth.

FAQ

Can I gift a game I already own?
On Steam, no. Gifts must be new purchases. The old "extra copies in your inventory" system is gone.

Can I gift DLC?
On Steam, usually yes, but the recipient must own the base game. On Xbox it depends on the publisher.

Why did my Steam gift fail with a region error?
If you sent it before the July 2026 update, or to someone who is not on your friends list, region pricing rules still apply. Add them as a friend and try again.

Can I gift a game on PlayStation from the PS App?
No. The app can buy games for your own account only.