Valve kills its retail gift card program due to scammers
Summary
Valve is ending the physical Steam gift card program due to scammers exploiting gift cards, effectively removing the last major brick-and-mortar channel for Steam funds. The piece outlines how scammers instruct victims to purchase gift cards, share PINs, and resell codes on gray-market sites, and notes Valve's steps to slow fraud before deciding to discontinue new retail cards by end of 2026. Existing cards will still be redeemable, and digital options remain available.