How to activate a game key

A key is a code you redeem on the platform the game runs on. Nothing is downloaded from the shop you bought it from, and nothing is downloaded from us: after the code is accepted, the game is in your own library.

Steam

In the client: Games → Activate a Product on Steam. In a browser, the same form is at store.steampowered.com/account/registerkey. The game is added to the account you are signed in with, and it stays there — a key is redeemed once.

GOG

In a browser at gog.com/redeem, or in GOG Galaxy from the account menu. GOG games have no DRM, but the code itself is still redeemed once, on one account.

Ubisoft Connect, the EA app, the Epic Games Store, Battle.net

Each has a redeem or activate item in the account menu of its own client. We name the platform on every offer, so you know which client the key belongs to before you pay — a Ubisoft Connect key does not become a Steam game.

What the offers we track activate on

Counted across the 8241 games we compare.

Activates on	Offers
Steam	58777
GOG	4820
Not stated	897
Ubisoft Connect	817
Microsoft Store	355
EA app	340
Epic Games	101
Download	88

If the code is refused

Three reasons cover almost everything. The key is for another region — see game key regions. The key is for another platform than you thought. Or the key was already used, which on a marketplace means the seller is the person to take it up with. In all three cases the shop, not the platform, is who you deal with: they sold it.