Valve to no longer offer physical gift cards due to scammers

Valve updated a help article recently, noting that they will no longer be supplying physical Steam gift cards due to scammers.

Since 2012, you could go into certain stores and pick up a Steam Wallet gift card, which could then be used to redeem the code and add funds directly into your Steam account for use later. They did make quite nice gifts for people, but sadly once the current stock is gone, Valve will not be supplying retailers with any more. Valve continues to offer the digital version, so you can still e-send someone a gift card for use on Steam, just no physical cards when they're all used up.

As spotted by SteamDB, the help page now notes:

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.