Valve has decided to completely discontinue the sale of physical Steam gift cards.
Physical Steam gift cards have been a convenient way for older relatives to delight the family's teenagers on birthdays and other special occasions.
Going forward, all Steam gift cards will be digital, meaning they will be purchased directly through the Steam online store and received only as a digital code.
Unfortunately, the background to this is financial crime, as gift cards are globally one of the easiest ways to launder money. Their resale value is quite high compared to the purchase price, and they could be bought anonymously - making them perfect if money from dubious sources needed to be converted into "clean" money. For those interested in the topic, we recommend an excellent Bits About Money article (and the entire blog, for that matter).
Gift cards are also widely used in scams, where a victim is tricked into buying gift cards and sharing the codes found on them with the scammer. In such cases, money is not transferred in any traceable form; instead, the scammer can sell the codes on online marketplaces and obtain "clean" money that cannot be linked to the scam.
According to Valve, existing gift cards in stores will be sold out and will function as usual. However, no new gift cards will be supplied to stores.
Going forward, all Steam gift cards will be digital, meaning they will be purchased directly through the Steam online store and received only as a digital code.
Unfortunately, the background to this is financial crime, as gift cards are globally one of the easiest ways to launder money. Their resale value is quite high compared to the purchase price, and they could be bought anonymously - making them perfect if money from dubious sources needed to be converted into "clean" money. For those interested in the topic, we recommend an excellent Bits About Money article (and the entire blog, for that matter).
Gift cards are also widely used in scams, where a victim is tricked into buying gift cards and sharing the codes found on them with the scammer. In such cases, money is not transferred in any traceable form; instead, the scammer can sell the codes on online marketplaces and obtain "clean" money that cannot be linked to the scam.
According to Valve, existing gift cards in stores will be sold out and will function as usual. However, no new gift cards will be supplied to stores.
