Saw a news story and confirmed it via the Steam site. https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/78E3-7431-1E88-AD59#retailers Just a heads-up for those who use them.
That is not good news. Doesn’t seem to affect Apple, Amazon and all the other companies who sell gift cards in the supermarket.
Thinking further on this overnight, the biggest loser potentially is the developers and publishers. Sure I’m not the only one who buys the cards to keep from wife/partner the amount I spend on gaming. She would probably do her nut if she knew I’d just spent £33 on a route for TSW then in a couple of weeks time another £33 in all likelihood on Preston to Crewe. Anyhow, practical solutions… It looks like the cards are not going away overnight but will be removed from stores by the end of the year. So in the short term, buy as many as possible and bank the credit. Birthdays, Christmas and other special occasions will always be there, “I’d like to put £40 on Steam, dear.” When it comes to purchases, be far more discerning, no more Day One full price leaps, waiting for a sale - “There’s a train sim add on I want for £15”, sounds better than chinging £30 out of the bank. Just don’t buy every single release, which is a mantra I’ve already adopted to some extent. I mean, to be brutally honest the content I’ve got in TSW, TSC, Run 8 and all the other games transport and non transport will probably last me until I shuffle off the mortal coil, if I never buy a new game or add on again. It does seem a bit of a knee jerk reaction from Steam/Valve, in punishing the many who legitimately use the gift cards to fund their gaming for the few who defraud the system. It’s like caning the whole class because one person threw something at the teacher but didn’t own up.
It's surprising they've lasted this long. I haven't seen them in my region for over 10 years. Offline stores and entire shopping malls are disappearing, and everything is moving online with home delivery Or go to the nearest marketplace pickup point. I can't remember the last time I used cash. And Steam top-up cards are still active here. Interesting.
Here in Switzerland, these Steam gift cards are very common, and you can buy them in lots of shops or at newsagents. I used to top up my Steam credit using PayPal, but then I accidentally blocked a provider in PayPal because it wasn’t Steam that was listed there, but some other provider. So I started buying these Steam gift cards again, and as long as they’re still available, I’ll keep doing so. After that, I’ll just top up my Steam credit online using my debit card.
vodka#2734 Yes, here in Switzerland you can really get these Steam cards everywhere you look. Every shop sells them – from various newsagents and station shops to Müller, the Post Office and petrol stations, as well as many other places.
Same here in Southern Germany, you can find Steam gift cards along with other gift cards at newsagents, small stores and most of the bigger supermarket chains like Edeka, Lidl, Aldi and so on. Funny enough, our Müller stores here do not have them Honestly I don't care much for the gift cards myself, have been using my debit card for Steam purchases ever since. But I know some friends of mine occasionally buy them as... well, a gift.
If I couldn't find a specific gift card when I was in the UK, I would just get a preloaded MasterCard usually available in the same stores. Then people can buy what they want and aren't tied to a specific store. No idea if they even exist now. I didn't have a credit card back then, so used to them myself for buying things online. Can confirm though Steam gift cards are still very easy to find here in Switzerland. Though I only ever bought one as there was a 10% off offer a couple of years ago and as there steam exchange rate was really bad until a month ago, it made purchases a little less painful. Useless and slightly off topic fact. When I moved to Switzerland in 2009, you had to top up steam in USD as they didn't handle Swiss Francs at all + they still don't officially sell the Steam deck here.
I was talking about newsagencies. They've almost disappeared here, except probably at train stations (not to mention that paper versions of newspapers and magazines are also disappearing in favor of going online).Post offices are also closing, and those that remain may work two days a week, for example, until lunch. All of them fit poorly into the digital world.
