After 14 Years, Valve Stops Releasing Physical Steam Wallet Cards Due to Scammers

Collectors still have time to get their hands on the cards.

For 14 years, Valve distributed physical Steam Wallet gift cards in retail stores. Over the years, the system was expanded to include digital versions of these cards.

Some scammers carried out schemes related to these cards. Valve stated that it had taken various measures to combat them:

• worked with retailers;
• worked with law enforcement agencies;
• modified the gift cards themselves and added a prominent fraud warning;
• introduced a restriction allowing card activation only in the Steam Wallet currency;
• limited card availability;
• began removing cards from sale upon detection of anomalous activity associated with them.

However, it was ultimately decided to discontinue the sale of physical Steam cards, as scammers constantly found new ways to deceive:

Valve will no longer replenish stocks of physical Steam gift cards. The company expects the remaining circulation to be sold out by the end of 2026. Electronic gift cards will continue to be sold.