Windows Central Insider
This news came as a bit of a surprise this morning, but upon further inspection, it was probably only a matter of time.
Today, Valve confirmed (via SteamDB) that it will no longer offer new stocks of Steam Gift Cards at a retail level. Digital Gift Cards sold directly by Valve will still be available, however.
Valve suggested it is doing this due to how physical gift cards in general are being used to facilitate scams across the world, particularly targeting the vulnerable.
"Can I purchase Steam Gift Cards at retailers?" The help site reads, "Yes, but only for a limited time."
"We introduced Steam Gift Cards to retail stores back in 2012, and added the digital program in 2017. Unfortunately, scammers use gift cards from major brands like Steam to take advantage of all people all over the world.
We’ve responded to gift card scams over the years by taking a number of actions to protect customers, including: Working with retailers, working with law enforcement, making changes to the cards, including adding a prominent scam warning, limiting redemption to be in the currency of your Steam wallet, limiting availability of cards, removing cards from sale when we observed abnormal activity.
As we have continued to put more and more restrictions in place, scammers have adapted. They continue to have an impact on Steam customers and other unsuspecting individuals. So we've made the difficult decision to end the Steam Gift Card program at retail stores."
Valve confirmed that any existing Steam Gift Cards out there will continue to be honored, but they will no longer be restocked once the current allocation is sold through. However, Valve says it will continue to sell Digital Gift Cards, as they are less susceptible to these types of scams.
You might've seen viral clips of scammers being scammed from the likes of Kitboga and others. These scammers typically target and exploit elderly and vulnerable victims into buying up and sharing gift card codes from all types of retailers. Gift card codes can be incredibly difficult to trace, and can in fact be used for all types of money laundering, particularly when they're attached to retailers as versatile as Amazon, for example.
Valve is likely to be the first of many to phase out these types of cards as a result of the scams. I've reached out to Microsoft to see if it, too, will be exploring removing these cards from sale.
Valve says it expects stocks of its Steam Gift Cards to remain through towards the end of 2026, but after that, they'll be gone forever.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.
