Humble Bundle has changed its Steam key policy so that you no longer get actual Steam keys when you buy bundles. The Humble Store will instead require you to link your Humble Store account to your Steam account to activate your new purchases.

According to an official FAQ on the Humble Bundle website, the change was put in place to make it easier to redeem purchases from the Humble Store on Steam. While it’s not officially stated in the FAQ, I have to believe that this change was made to end the gifting of Humble Store purchases that aren’t purchased specifically as gifts. The Humble Bundle terms of service say that purchases are for personal use only. Presumably that outlaws giving away Steam keys.

Worse, the linking of the Humble Store to your Steam account will mean that any games you buy in a bundle that you already own on Steam will just disappear. They don’t convert to a gift. You don’t get a key. They just disappear into the aether. That’s a great way to make customers happy. Sure, we still get a good deal but I liked buying bundles and giving keys away to friends saying that they had to play that game.

While I like the idea of instantly adding games to my Steam account with minimal effort on my part, I don’t like the rest of the deal. Giving up gifting opportunities and losing out on some games altogether just doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe I’m being a bit entitled but I liked the idea of being able to use and share keys as I wanted. I guess that’s just part of the price of being a member of the “PC gaming master race.”

Update: Humble Bundle to allow gifting of extra games bought in a bundle.

Source: Humble Bundle