Comment on A rare steam gift cards are still in the wild

Koenig2005@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• thingsiplay@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  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…

  More information directly from Valve:

  help.steampowered.com/en/…/78E3-7431-1E88-AD59#re…

  Can I purchase Steam Gift Cards at retailers?

  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.

  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.

  You can learn more about gift card scams here.

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  • Chronographs@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    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

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    • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      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.

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      • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        My lemming on the internet, prepaid debit cards have been a thing for multiple decades and are perfect for anonymous purchases online at any store. You don’t need explicitly Valve-endorsed cards.

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  • a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Huh. I was wondering what this was about. Guess I’m out of the loop.

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• markz@suppo.fi ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  They’re just a bunch of paper slips worth nothing until activated, so I don’t expect them to keep the service alive for too long.

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  • sanpo@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    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.

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    • markz@suppo.fi ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The codes don’t expire once activated, but they can drop activation of unsold cards.

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      • sanpo@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        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?

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