Can PC games be downloaded from one PC to another?

[TruenoICE]

Hello, everyone. I'm new to PC gaming and will be getting my PC up and running sometime in the week or next week. My family has another PC that we have been using and I have download some games on there. I just want to ask if it's possible to download the game from the same disk onto a different computer as well? For example, I have hard disk copy of Amnesia and Rise of Nations and I have downloaded and played them on that PC. Would I be able to download and play them on the PC I'm getting, or would I need to get another disk copy and download them from there?

 

[Vynavill]

Are we talking about legally bought games? You know...forum rules; gotta make sure of that...

[Off-topic] It's like the 10th time I try to answer this, as I keep getting 404 errors >_> Sorry if any multi-post pops up, I'll try editing it ASAP should that happen.

 

[dominirican3351]

If you installed through steam you can download games on any comp that you sign into with steam

 

[TruenoICE]

Yes, as in I bought a hard copy of the games from a store(Office Depot to be exact) and I just suddenly had the 404 error issue as well, and thanks for answering, was starting to think no one would. And I'm thinking of using Steam, just don't know exactly how as I'm new to all this.

 

[Vynavill]

Ok then.

Basicly, you can think of Steam as a personal game library. Any game, software or content registered on your account, be it a digital or a physical retail purchase, is available on any PC you use, as long as you have the Steam client installed and you're logged in on your account.
This comes with the downside that anything registered on your account is bound to that specific account, thus it becomes yours forever and can be neither sold, lent or given in as a second hand for discounts.

That said, it doesn't work with games which use a proprietary DRM engine/platform. A game key on Steam, for example, for Valve to offer all the above to you, is unique; there's no one else having the same one and no one else can use it once you did.

Most retail (boxed) games, nowadays, come with one/multiple disc/s containing the bulk of the installation and a Steam key, which will make you register the game on your account and let you download the rest. Since they didn't ask that (you get to download and install Steam during the game's installation process), one can only assume they're not using Steam as their DRM platform; in this case you need to check your games' policies on that on your own, as different games have different mechanisms.

In the end, best case scenario, you would just have to install all of them again as you did the first time and be done with it (which is mainly what happens with games not using Steam or Origin platforms, so you might be in luck); worst case scenario, you would have to buy a new copy of each game :/

 

[TruenoICE]

I don't understand much of that, but I did look through the properties. I guess I can try downloading them again from the same disk on the other PC and see if it will work. If it doesn't, as you said for worst case senario, I won't sweat it as I only paid $11-12 for Amnesia and Rise of Nations.

 

[Vynavill]

It's not that hard to understand, but not being natively English, I tend to explain myself quite badly, and for someone like you who seems to have never used Steam, it's even harder; sorry about that

 

[TruenoICE]

Actually after rereading it again, it makes more sense, and don't worry about your English, it's actually really good. I didn't notice anything wrong with it. Also it was just me not knowing very much about this kind of stuff(I'm new to all this). Also thank you again for the help.