In short, Valve is discontinuing physical Steam Gift Cards. They already stopped producing them and they expect the stock will run out at the end of 2026. I assume they talk about their own stock, so your shop may still have some even next year. One of the best things of Steam comes to an end… Edit: Reduced noise.
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.
As Steam Gift Cards run out of stock at retail locations, we will not be restocking them. We expect all retailers to be out of stock by the end of 2026. Though we will no longer be selling physical gift cards, you will still have the ability to use your existing gift cards on Steam whenever you choose, subject to local laws.
We also continue to offer Steam Digital Gift Cards, and are working to make this an even better experience. Guest checkout, which we added last year, is another way for family members and friends to gift Steam users with a digital card anytime.
They’ve since improved their gifting stuff you can give people things without needing to know their account name or anything so it’s kind of whatever. So much scammed money goes through gift cards so I get it
It’s not whatever. Buying cards in a shop without having a bank account or credit card usage is a big deal. This was and currently is my main way of buying games in Steam. It is whatever to you maybe, but not to me.
My lemming on the internet, prepaid debit cards have been a thing for multiple decades and are perfect for anonymous purchases online at any storefront. You don’t need explicitly Valve-endorsed cards.
Pre-paid debit cards aren’t a solution for many people. Not only they depend on your bank or a third party service that may even charge for them, but they’re more traceable than buying stuff on a store. Some people don’t even have a bank account, like kids, who now will need to ask their parents to pay for every game individually (or have unrestricted access to their parents card)
The retail pre-paid debit cards can be bought with cash at various convenience stores, at least in the US. Growing up I used to use them before I had a bank account.
There is no name attached. Just the payment method at initial purchase (which can be done with cash).
Those aren’t available everywhere and require you to show your ID in a lot of places. They’re not a direct replacement of steam gift cards, even though, as you said, they may work in some places.
Steam still lets you download games you bought that are not even on sale anymore, they never delete them even a decade after delisting from the store.
Hosting this content costs real money.
What makes you think they’d invalidate codes that cost them basically nothing?
What they are trying to say is Steam gift cards might not be able to be activated by physical stores (e.g. convenience market) at some point in time. Physical stores might stop selling them even if they still have them. Almost any stores will run out of cards way before this happens.
Edit: Valve might still support activating them, but the stores software might drop support after a few years (or months, idk).
As you said: Once activated gift cards will likely be able to be activated for a few years, at the very least (legal requirement), likely longer.
Edit 2: Obviously there’s no real reason to care about this. If you need physical gift cards, buy them now.
I guess the codes on these physical gift cards will remain active, but just no new ones will be produced and distributed?
In short, Valve is discontinuing physical Steam Gift Cards. They already stopped producing them and they expect the stock will run out at the end of 2026. I assume they talk about their own stock, so your shop may still have some even next year. One of the best things of Steam comes to an end… Edit: Reduced noise.
More information directly from Valve: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/78E3-7431-1E88-AD59#retailers
Can I purchase Steam Gift Cards at retailers?
They’ve since improved their gifting stuff you can give people things without needing to know their account name or anything so it’s kind of whatever. So much scammed money goes through gift cards so I get it
It’s not whatever. Buying cards in a shop without having a bank account or credit card usage is a big deal. This was and currently is my main way of buying games in Steam. It is whatever to you maybe, but not to me.
My lemming on the internet, prepaid debit cards have been a thing for multiple decades and are perfect for anonymous purchases online at any storefront. You don’t need explicitly Valve-endorsed cards.
Pre-paid debit cards aren’t a solution for many people. Not only they depend on your bank or a third party service that may even charge for them, but they’re more traceable than buying stuff on a store. Some people don’t even have a bank account, like kids, who now will need to ask their parents to pay for every game individually (or have unrestricted access to their parents card)
You can still buy your kids a digital steam gift card like you’ve always been able to for years. https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/669497052089025105
The retail pre-paid debit cards can be bought with cash at various convenience stores, at least in the US. Growing up I used to use them before I had a bank account.
There is no name attached. Just the payment method at initial purchase (which can be done with cash).
Those aren’t available everywhere and require you to show your ID in a lot of places. They’re not a direct replacement of steam gift cards, even though, as you said, they may work in some places.
I don’t think this is your decision what I need. I don’t need your endorsement to use what I want.
Huh. I was wondering what this was about. Guess I’m out of the loop.
They’re just slips of paper worth nothing until activated, so I don’t expect them to keep thee service alive for too long.
There’s nothing to keep alive. It’s just a limited quantity of codes to keep track of.
If you buy a Steam game key it’ll activate without issues even years later.
The codes don’t expire once activated, but they can drop activation of unsold cards.
Steam still lets you download games you bought that are not even on sale anymore, they never delete them even a decade after delisting from the store.
Hosting this content costs real money.
What makes you think they’d invalidate codes that cost them basically nothing?
What they are trying to say is Steam gift cards might not be able to be activated by physical stores (e.g. convenience market) at some point in time. Physical stores might stop selling them even if they still have them. Almost any stores will run out of cards way before this happens.
Edit: Valve might still support activating them, but the stores software might drop support after a few years (or months, idk).
As you said: Once activated gift cards will likely be able to be activated for a few years, at the very least (legal requirement), likely longer.
Edit 2: Obviously there’s no real reason to care about this. If you need physical gift cards, buy them now.