14 DAY TRIAL // Humble Bundle has just announced new changes in its Steam key redemption system, which might or might not be on everyone’s liking. Up until now, you couldn’t offer a Steam key for trade unless you knew your friend’s email address.
Well, effective January 12, you can now purchase any game from Humble Store that comes with a Steam key attached, and trade it with whomever you wish. Basically, the old system where you purchased a bundle or a game and received a Steam key that you could manually redeem on Valve’s store is no longer backed up.
According to Humble Bundle, this system, implemented a little over a year ago, won’t be supported by Valve anymore. In fact, it looks like Steam will be removing support for OAuth, which means Humble Bundle will return to the old system where customers were given Steam keys to redeem manually.
The new (old) method encourages games trading between PC players
What does it mean? Well, beginning January 12, whenever you purchase bundle or a game through Humble Store, you will receive your Steam keys, which you will need to manually redeem it on Steam just like any other game.
Even though this might sound a bit of a hindrance for some PC gamers, the majority is likely to favor this method over the OAuth one given the fact that it will now be easier to get rid of the games you own from a bundle you have just purchased.
The new method of redeeming Steam keys also favors game trades between PC gamers. How many times did you wish you could trade one or more games got in a bundle and couldn’t because of the OAuth system?
Well, from now on, assuming you trust that person, you will be able to trade Steam keys that you got by purchasing a bundle via Humble Store.