Valve has made a slight but not insignificant change to how you can buy games on Steam. The physical pre-paid Steam gift cards that you may have seen in your local retail shops will be no more, as the company decides to discontinue the cards due to an uptick in scammers using Steam cards (and the gift cards of other major brands) to run various schemes and scam people out of their money.
The notice quietly came as a part of the support page for Steam Gift cards (spotted by user SteamDB on Twitter), where the FAQ explains that you can still find the gift cards at your local retailer, but not for much longer. If you find one out in the wild and purchase it, the card will still work, to be clear, but you'll have bought one of the final cards in circulation. Valve states that it expects all stock currently in stores to run out by the end of 2026.
This might not be the biggest wrinkle for several players, but it does cut off an established revenue source that has been around for over a decade. Players who've grown up within the last two decades playing games on either PC or consoles know how easy and meaningful it can be to be able to point someone in your life who's looking to get you a gift in the direction of a physical gift card they can find at their local Walmart, for instance.
Of course, the digital versions of the gift cards aren't going anywhere, but if you've appreciated an annual gift card from your less-than-tech-savvy uncle, aunt, parent, grandparent or otherwise, getting them to figure out how to get you that gift card now just got a little more complicated.
"We introduced Steam Gift Cards to retail stores back in 2012, and added the digital program in 2017," Steam's FAQ reads. "Unfortunately, scammers use gift cards from major brands like Steam to take advantage of all people all over the world."
"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."
It's unfortunate to see an element of the gift card program end for no reason other than Valve trying to cut off a way for scammers to take advantage of people. The FAQ page adds that Valve has tried several methods to keep the cards in stock at retailers in the hopes of curbing or outright stopping scammers from being able to use Steam gift cards, though it's unfortunately been a fruitless endeavor.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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