Valve has rolled out a major update for Steam that makes wishlists much more useful (at least for those who have a long and winding list of titles) while also making it easier than ever to gift games to friends and family. The latest changes introduce better wishlist organization, improved sharing tools, and several gifting upgrades.

The biggest addition is support for custom wishlist categories. Instead of keeping every game in one long list, users can now create their own categories to organize titles however they like. For example, players can separate games by genre, controller support, upcoming releases, multiplayer titles, or even create a dedicated list of games they’d like someone to gift them in the future. Games can be assigned to multiple categories, making it easier to sort large wishlists.

More tools for organizing your wishlisted games, and much more

Valve has also updated the wishlist search function with autocomplete, allowing users to find games much faster. Another useful addition is demo support. If a game on your wishlist receives a playable demo, Steam will now highlight it, and users can also choose to receive notifications when demos become available.

The overall wishlist page has received several quality-of-life improvements as well. Hovering over a game’s artwork now plays its microtrailer, navigation between pages is smoother across Steam, SteamOS, mobile devices, and browsers, and the interface has been updated to improve readability.

Alongside the wishlist improvements, Valve has significantly expanded Steam’s gifting features. The biggest change is that Steam games can now be purchased through a guest checkout. Previously, guest checkout was limited to hardware and digital gift cards, but now anyone can buy games without creating a Steam account first.

Valve has also added the ability to gift games directly through email. If you don’t know someone’s Steam username, you can simply send the gift to their email address instead. If that email is linked to their Steam account, they’ll receive a link allowing them to sign in and accept the gift. Unclaimed gifts are automatically refunded after 30 days.

Another big improvement is cross-region gifting. When buying a game for someone living in a region with different pricing, Steam now automatically calculates the correct local price during checkout instead of requiring users to figure it out themselves. The recipient still needs to be on the sender’s Steam friends list for this feature.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.