How to run a free invitation giveaway: a general guide for creators

This is general information, not legal advice. If you are in the creators programme, you get 10 invitation codes per wave of the closed alpha to give to your audience, and many creators do it as a giveaway. You are the organiser: you write the rules and you follow the law of your country and the rules of your platform. COLONIZED only supplies the codes. This guide gathers what to do and where the law changes. The Spanish points come from our own reading of official texts on 26 October 2026, and it is not a lawyer’s opinion.

What a code is, and what it is not

A code reserves one place in one wave of the closed alpha, which is a Steam Playtest by invitation. It is not a Steam key: the winner enters it on the closed alpha page with their own account, and the personal Steam key arrives after a short review. A code works once, expires when its wave closes and has no market value, because access to the alpha is free.

The five rules that do not change

1. Free to enter. No purchase, no payment, no paid subscription.
2. Adults only. The closed alpha is for people aged 18 and over, and your rules should say so.
3. No sale, trade or auction. Codes are never for sale. Valve forbids selling Playtest keys, and the programme withdraws codes from anyone who does.
4. No forced opinions. Do not make a review, a wishlist or a positive comment a condition.
5. Fewer than 100 codes per giveaway. Valve asks that giveaways of keys above that size are opened with them. We use it as a ceiling.

What your rules should contain

Write them before you announce, and link to them in the post. A usual list:

1. Organiser: who you are and how to contact you.
2. Prize and its nature: an invitation to the closed alpha, with no economic value and not exchangeable for money.
3. Period: start and end date.
4. Free entry: exactly what people must do, such as following the account or leaving a comment.
5. Requirements: age 18 or over and the countries you open it to.
6. Draw: random and verifiable, with how you record it.
7. Winner: how and when you publish the winner and the substitutes.
8. Data: what you keep, for how long and how people can ask you to delete it.
9. Platform: a line saying the platform does not sponsor or run the giveaway.
10. Applicable law.

What changes by country

• Spain. In our reading, Law 13/2011 leaves random combinations with advertising or promotional purposes outside the gambling regime when entry is free. Charging to enter would make it a game that needs authorisation. A tax on gambling activities also covers promotional draws and is based on the market value of the prizes. A code has no market value, so the base is zero. A notary deposit is not a general obligation.
• Other countries. Some regulate or restrict giveaways, and some have specific rules for sweepstakes. The law is that of your country and your participants. Open the giveaway only to countries whose rules you know. COLONIZED does not check this.
• Your platform. YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok and Twitch each have their own giveaway rules. Read them before you publish.

If you add other prizes, such as money, hardware or merchandise, you are outside this guide and outside the programme. Get advice first, because tax and rules change with the value of the prize.

Step by step

1. Read the programme page and your terms.
2. Write the rules and publish them.
3. Announce the giveaway with a clear collaboration label. The label is explained in how to label a collaboration.
4. Draw at random on the date you said, and record it.
5. Publish the winner and contact them.
6. Send the code. The winner redeems it on the alpha page.

COLONIZED does not receive your list of participants. It only records which code was redeemed and whose it was, and you cannot see who redeemed it. If you are a player looking for a place, read how to get a place in the closed alpha.