Question on Steam Support

[Sir Alock]

Hi All: I purchased Disciples III from Steam 6 days ago. Download went well but the CD Key provided doesn't work. I created a "support ticket" & have yet to hear from them. I wanted to ask if this is "normal"? My 1st game ever from Steam & I must admit I'm not impressed.

[ThunderTitan]

What do you mean doesn't work?

If you bought it on Steam it shouldn't need any CD-Key... then again i don't have Disciples 3, but no other game i have on Steam did.

[GreatEmerald]

Unreal Tournament 3 did need a CD key, and the one provided by Steam did work for me. It worked so much, in fact, that now I can use UT3 without Steam (so it's good riddance, Steam is a ridiculous piece of software in my opinion).

[Xdarkon]

Happened to my brother once, he needed to Activate Dead Space 2 and it wouldn't accept the key provided by Steam . I don't remember how it finished though.

[TheUndeadKing]

Some games do have separate CD Keys (other than the Steam activation key) - you can see if the game has one by right clicking on the game under your Steam games library.

These keys are usually related to the DRM of the game you purchased. Some games will check your CD Key (similar to CD/DVD Check) before letting you play the game. Some keys are needed only for multiplayer games (like Unreal Tournament 3). So basically this is just another DRM on top of Steam (if you consider Steam a DRM). Steam/Valve can't remove these requirements if the developer/publisher does not give them the rights to do so and Steam/Valve has no control over it - Steam can only remove CD/DVD requirements for these games. GTA IV is a DRM monstrosity because of this (if you buy it on Steam, you will need: Steam, GfWL and a Rockstar Social Club account :/ ).

I've heard some cases that recently bought games with separate CD keys didn't work right away. This happened because Steam didn't provide you a key or the provided key wasn't "active" yet. This usually get solved by itself by giving it time so it "activates". If it doesn't, then contact Steam Support.