• Ricky Rigatoni@piefed.zipEnglish
      3 hours

      Yeah. Few months ago they put out a thingy about how steam gift cards were used too much for scamming rather than legitimate use.

  • Koenig2005@feddit.orgEnglish
    5 hours

    I guess the codes on these physical gift cards will remain active, but just no new ones will be produced and distributed?

    • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
      3 hours

      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?

      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.

      • Chronographs@lemmy.zipEnglish
        2 hours

        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

        • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
          2 hours

          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.

    • Mark with a Z@suppo.fi
      4 hours

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

      • sanpo@sopuli.xyz
        4 hours

        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.

        • Mark with a Z@suppo.fi
          4 hours

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

          • sanpo@sopuli.xyz
            2 hours

            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?

            • Chewy@discuss.tchncs.de
              45 minutes

              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.

  • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
    4 hours

    Here in Berlin, Germany they aren’t rare yet. Currently I’m purchasing them from time to time before they completely vanish.