Valve has announced the end of physical Steam Gift Cards after 13 years of service. The company expects stocks to dry by the end of 2026, leaving digital gift cards as the main alternative.
The company quietly updated its FAQ regarding Steam Gift Cards, indicating that there will be no further restocks of physical cards in retail stores, adding that the remaining inventory should empty by year’s end. According to Valve, this decision is a response to scammers who continue using gift cards in nefarious ways.
These scams are well known among retail workers, with one former WH Smith (now TG Jones) employee explaining to us that their branch ended up being limited to selling Steam cards with a maximum value of £20 as a result. Scammers would email Steam account holders, posing as Valve employees, saying that they needed to verify their accounts. This ‘verification’ process would involve the users buying high-value physical gift cards from stores, and then sending the redemption codes to the scammers.
While Valve says it’s adopted multiple countermeasures to stop scammers, such as working with retailers and law enforcement, limiting availability and cards’ redemption based on currency, and going as far as printing scam warnings on the cards, scammers continued to find new ways to circumvent these rules. Taking Steam Gift Cards from retail seems to be a last-ditch effort to deal with this problem.
That said, I wonder if this is also an attempt to squash VPN users who create accounts in regions where games are cheaper, and then use such gift cards to replenish their wallets, as foreign credit cards wouldn’t systematically work.
Regardless of the reason, Steam gift cards, which have been with us since 2012, are living their last days, at least in physical form. Digital Steam Gift Cards, introduced in 2017, will continue to be available through the Steam store, but there is no word regarding those sold by third parties. I also wonder whether receipt-printed Steam Wallet codes will continue to exist. These can be obtained from kiosks and stores such as 7-Eleven, where you pay and receive the code by SMS.
Overall, this decision will mainly impact teenagers without credit cards and people who prefer cash, as they will be forced to opt for the digital code variant. Anyone wanting to buy a physical PC game gift for someone’s birthday or Christmas gift will also notice the absence of Steam gift cards, which may represent a non-negligible loss for Valve.
The most important takeaway here is that existing gift cards will remain valid, so if you still own one or you’ve found one in a store, you will be able to redeem it as usual. There is no need to rush; keep your code for when you need it.
