Just in time for its blockbuster Halloween Sale, popular PC gaming platform Steam has unveiled a much sought-after new service – Steam Digital Gift Cards.
Previously, Steam aficionados could only treat each other to physical vouchers or gift individual games online. The new feature, however, lets users deposit money directly into the Steam Wallets of their digital friends.
Buying and sending a Steam Digital Gift Card is pretty straightforward. Simply head over to Steam’s dedicated Digital Gift Cards page, select an amount and who you want to give it to, and settle up at the virtual till. You can also add a personalised message, but that’s all there is to it.
As the funds are added direct to your Steam Wallet, they can be used to purchase anything available on Steam, including games and in-game purchases, hardware, and even stuff from the Steam Community Market.
However, there are a handful of caveats to Steam’s new online gift card scheme.
For starters, you can only gift set amounts of loot. In the UK, these are £4, £10, £25, £50 and £100. Should the lucky recipient live in another country, Steam says it will localise it to the appropriate currency, so some gifts will be subject to economic fluctuations.
Additionally, you can only give Digital Gift Cards to people you have been friends with on Steam for at least three days. This isn’t a problem in and of itself, but it does mean that non-Steam users are still tied to physical gift cards.
Lastly, you can’t use funds from your own Steam Wallet to pay for Digital Gift Cards – not exactly shocking, but still a bit mean. PayPal, Bitcoin, and traditional credit/debit card are the payment methods accepted.
Enough nitpicking. The move is a very welcome (if slightly overdue) one on Valve’s part – happy gifting, PC gamers!
Related: Steam Halloween Sale
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
