Per Activision, must buy the game from Steam to use...

[Jimbo]

Heya, got the 2 new comps up and running, they are sweeeet!  The XFX 260's came with CoD4, which work great, but I couldn't add them to Steam since I didn't have a box or a registration key.  Went to Activision site, and they had a little blurb up that if you didn't by CoD4 from Steam, you can't use it on Steam.  I don't mind, since I find a ton of servers on CoD4 anyway without Steam, but thought it would be nice to be able to add that game to it.  Are other games like that?

[Azazel]

Can't you add non-Steam games to Steam anyway? Like, you'll still need your disc in to play, but you can launch it from Steam and therefore join in games from it?

[Jimbo]

Tried that, went to the add non-steam game, went to add CoD4, then it goes to a page saying place your registration code that came with the box.  Since this is a free version they only included the dvd and code to activate, I can't add the game.  I was going to email and ask if they could send me a registration code, but when I was digging around the FAQ's on Activision's site, they mentioned the statement of, "if you didn't buy it on Steam, you can't use our product on Steam."  Seems a bit harsh, but then if they gave out a lot of the games when you buy graphic cards (I think XFX and EVGA have specials with them too), maybe Activision doesn't want to mess with it.  I'll send an email to Activision anyway, doesn't hurt not to ask, but I was under the impression that you had, that we could add games we own to Steam.

[schild]

Welcome to the only Support page I keep bookmarked at home:

Retail CD Keys @ Steampowered.com.

[Jimbo]

Thanks schild, Activision is not on that list, so might as well not send the email.  I'm able to add it to Steam as a non-Steam game and still play it, that worked fine.