Steam's tired of gift card scams, so it's killing them off for good

As the world’s progressively trended harder towards an all-digital future, my Millennial self has only clinged to the physical harder. Old PS2 games. A 2006 iPod Nano; the list of relics of a bygone era that populate my house is ever-growing. At Christmas, I would be gassed to see a Steam gift card slip out of a card, but even that tangible good is going away, with Valve announcing it will no longer restock them. However, as the firm points out, it’s for good reason, as scammers continue to adapt to its preventative measures.

“As we have continued to put more and more restrictions in place, scammers have adapted,” Valve states in its revised FAQ. “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.”

Gift cards are pretty much untraceable, which makes them the perfect payment method for scammers eliciting funds from vulnerable targets. A quick phone call from ‘tech support’ to granny, and suddenly she’s down the store loading up cards with thousands of dollars to pay them for their ‘services.’ In the FAQ, Valve lists all of the measures it’s progressively taken since introducing the cards back in 2012, including adding specific scam warnings, but, alas, the problem persists.

“As Steam gift cards run out of stock at retail locations, we will not be restocking them,” Valve continues. By its estimations, Steam gift cards will exit circulation “by the end of 2026,” though you’ll still be able to use unredeemed ones beyond that point. It’s a massive shame to see them go, but I don’t blame Valve for going to this extreme.

By the time 2027 rolls around, then, expect to see Steam gift cards held up as collector’s items with the mark-ups to boot. I can’t imagine there’ll be a large market for it, but scarcity breeds opportunity. At the very least, your family will be able to use Steam’s guest checkout to get you your annual top-up, but seeing a redemption code scrawled in the card just isn’t going to hit the same.