Was in Sainsbury’s the other day and noticed there were no Steam Gift Cards on display for sale. Did our weekly shopping at Tesco this morning and whereas last week there were loads of varying denomination on the rack, this morning they were gone. Finally, popped down to Asda on the premise of having a bike ride (!); the other day they had quite a few £10 ones on the rack (which are quite ideal for steady saving) to find they have also vanished off the shelf. So, in the famous words- “What the hell’s going on?!”
Have you asked in shops why they no longer stock Steam cards? I recently had problems buying Steam cards at the station kiosk in Switzerland. So I asked why they no longer had any for sale. They told me that there had been several break-ins at the kiosk, and each time all the Steam cards had been stolen. That's why they've now removed them from their product range for good. But I was able to buy one at another station kiosk.
Didn't get the chance, unfortunately. Also in UK supermarkets you end up queuing for customer service behind all the people buying cigarettes/vapes, taking something back for a refund or with the £1 coin (deposit) stuck in their shopping trolley. Hopefully the cards will reappear in a week or two.
It's amazing that these cards still exist. To me, they're as much of an anachronism as mobile phone top-up cards.
Not really. There are all sorts of gift cards on sale ranging from Roblox to Marks and Spencer. X Box/MSN, Playstation and Apple. Ideal as a present or in my case for sneaking a bit of credit on my Steam account out of "pocket money" without the wife finding out exactly what I spend on this "hobby"!
I often see gift cards for stores or marketplaces. I've also seen ones for consoles in stores. But the last time I saw Steam top-up cards was probably 15 years ago. Perhaps this is a feature of our market. It never even occurred to me that cards still existed. For the last 15 years, I've only purchased games on Steam with a regular bank card, and I've gifted games to friends a few times... It's just interesting to see a top-up card now, when I haven't even held a bank card in a long time; it's all through my phone. Getting home is a key card emulator via phone. The car starts via a phone, and its security tag is also shaped like a phone. The lights turn on via a phone, the air conditioner via a phone. And there's also something else that doesn't require a phone.
They make sense as something to buy as a gift for someone, plus when I was younger I used to buy Nintendo eShop gift cards for myself when I didn't have a bank card. But as an adult, if I see something on Xbox or Switch I want, I'll just buy it with my bank card, much easier.
