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:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.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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That should make some friends of mine happy who prefer it that way.
Wonder how the cards got that bad they were nice to grab quickly when I happen to have cash on hand but I guess we don't really need them.
I do like to exchange gamestop giftcards for steam wallet codes though when I get gifted one during a steam sale so as long as I can still do that sometimes I'm good.
Can always be creative and get a wallet code on a receipt then put it into a hallmark card with a bit of tape for a simple physical gift.
Heck get dvd cases print out the game you want the giftee to get then ibclude the receipt inside and a qr code to the game's store page would work fine too and feel like a physical gane gift.
I will miss the cards a bit though but we'll live.
Quoting: SlaxerBut it can't. I can't walk into a store and use crypto as money. And again, there was a time when it looked like that might become a thing, it was sort of starting to, but it did not happen, and not for lack of heavy players trying to push it.Quoting: Purple Library Guybut it has become increasingly clear that the money is money and the crypto is a thingie that can be traded for money.Not because it can't be used as money on its own, but because people just choose not to use it.
Also, say I'm middle to lower middle class, let alone poor. I need to know how much money I have in the bank to pay the bills with. I would be amazingly stupid to have my basic bank account in crypto, because I wouldn't know whether next week I'll have enough money to pay those bills. Maybe I'll have extra, but that's just a perk, while not having enough is a much bigger deal; ordinary people need stability for their actual money. There are other reasons nobody does that, but that is one of them. Crypto is a speculative investment vehicle, not money.
Quoting: HighballNot really. You know, I had a significantly higher opinion of cryptocurrencies when they were new, before I knew much about them. Now I do know quite a bit about them, and I have come to the very considered opinion that they suck.Quoting: Purple Library GuySure, there's tools to make it easy to exchange for money, but it has become increasingly clear that the money is money and the crypto is a thingie that can be traded for money.Today it seems that way. It's all still very new.
Some technologies I'm an early adopter, some technologies I resist because I conclude they are lousy but I know they will succeed whether I like them or not, and some technologies seem like they will go somewhere, but turn out to be a dead end. Newness does not guarantee future adoption. Neither does ingenuity. So for instance, I own an electric car, bought in 2018. Quite a few years ago, my Canadian province of British Columbia had a highly touted company that was about building fuel cells for like hydrogen powered vehicles. It was innovative and lots of people thought it could become pretty important. It didn't. Back then I thought maybe fuel cells had a significant future. I have come to the realization that they don't--burning hydrogen that you generated with electricity is massively less efficient than just using the electricity directly in the vehicle. There may be a few special cases, but basically it's a dead end technology. So is crypto. Like private equity finance cannibalizing previously profitable firms, it's a symptom of our current economic moment. The fact that significant ingenuity has been dedicated to trying to make it work does not change its fundamental inappropriateness to the task of being money.
Crypto ultimately comes out of a particular politics, a politics of big-L Libertarianism. It can't work because big-L Libertarianism is bunk that only spreads because it is useful to some of the very wealthy people picking our pockets.
[https://duniter.org/](https://duniter.org/)
Quoting: Purple Library GuyBut it can't. I can't walk into a store and use crypto as money. And again, there was a time when it looked like that might become a thing, it was sort of starting to, but it did not happen, and not for lack of heavy players trying to push it.Other than volatility, why do you suppose businesses choose not to take it as payment? Not debating here, just picking your brain.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuite a few years ago, my Canadian province of British ColumbiaHola.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyIt can't work because big-L Libertarianism is bunk that only spreads because it is useful to some of the very wealthy people picking our pockets.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyAlso, say I'm middle to lower middle class, let alone poor. I need to know how much money I have in the bank to pay the bills with. I would be amazingly stupid to have my basic bank account in crypto, because I wouldn't know whether next week I'll have enough money to pay those bills.It's funny you mention that. Canada's in debt $1.3ish Trillion (capital T), so the money sitting in your bank account is increasingly becoming more and more worthless by the day - and that's on top of the fact that you're also being taxed more on it than they did in the past. So you're losing money on two fronts, inflation, and taxes - which is something that can be entirely blamed on one group of people. Take a guess who? In theory, Bitcoin could fix half of that problem.
And btw, I would be considered "wealthy" by the government's standards... which is why HALF of my sweat blood and tears goes to the government - only to be squandered and spent in ways that only benefit themselves, and not the country. Trust me, people like me aren't the ones stealing from you. But anyway... let's bring it back to those gift cards eh? lol
Last edited by Slaxer on 12 Jun 2026 at 4:10 am UTC
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