Have all Target stores stopped carrying Steam gift cards?

[magelord01]

At the one I go to, it hasn't had any Steam gift cards available since at least mid-December of last year. So, I'm starting to fear that all Target stores have stopped carrying these cards for some reason. And, I fear that the reason might be that Target's corporate has caught wind of Steam's adult game section.

[Aachen]

Haven’t seen physical Steam gift cards for sale in any nearby retail since sometime early in 2022, IIRC.

[magelord01]

Then in the near future, I'm afraid that the ONLY way for us to pad our Steam wallets will be via credit card or PayPal.

[magelord01]

I have a feeling that the unavailability of physical Steam gift cards at my local Target AND my local Best Buy is God delivering to me the following message:

GET A JOB!
GET A LIFE!!
GET A WIFE!!!
SIRE LOTS OF CHILDREN WITH HER!!!!
NO MORE VIDEO GAMES!!!!!

-- God

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Origineel geplaatst door magelord01:

At the one I go to, it hasn't had any Steam gift cards available since at least mid-December of last year. So, I'm starting to fear that all Target stores have stopped carrying these cards for some reason. And, I fear that the reason might be that Target's corporate has caught wind of Steam's adult game section.

I have them in the Target near me.

It basically depends on if the stores want to keep carrying them or not, per district or region.

Just get a digital one from GameStop...

https://www.gamestop.com/gift-cards/products/valve-steam-wallet-card-20/215593.html

[wuddih]

Target stores have partially control over their own inventory. so availability of many items depends on the specific store.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

Origineel geplaatst door magelord01:

Origineel geplaatst door Ice Mountain:

I haven't seen Steam gift cards at any stores around my city, city of my work, and my mom's city, which is all in the Wasatch front of Utah ( Salt Lake City, and cities upto Brigham down to Provo). Used to be able to get them at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, 7-11, Smiths Grocery store, and Gamestop. They all disappeared around or before mid 2022.

I fear that I know EXACTLY why Steam gift cards disappeared from the Wasatch front of Utah: the owners of all of those stores in that area are Mormons; and these Mormons all caught wind of Steam's adult games section; and they have thus stopped carrying Steam gift cards due to their very strong religious convictions. They regard the selling of Steam gift cards to be a sin simply because they could potentially be used to buy outright porno games.

this is very interesting.... gaming gift cards being a gateway to pornography...

when you put it like that....

- if i was a parent i would feel inclined to support this information regardless of religion...

[magelord01]

Origineel geplaatst door Ice Mountain:

I haven't seen Steam gift cards at any stores around my city, city of my work, and my mom's city, which is all in the Wasatch front of Utah ( Salt Lake City, and cities upto Brigham down to Provo). Used to be able to get them at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, 7-11, Smiths Grocery store, and Gamestop. They all disappeared around or before mid 2022.

Then I suppose that for the people in the Wasatch front of Utah, the ONLY ways to add funds to one's Steam wallet are through credit card, or through PayPal. Could there be a Mormon factor as to why Steam gift cards disappeared from that region? I do know that the state of Utah is a Mormon stronghold.

[magelord01]

Origineel geplaatst door magelord01:

Origineel geplaatst door Ice Mountain:

I haven't seen Steam gift cards at any stores around my city, city of my work, and my mom's city, which is all in the Wasatch front of Utah ( Salt Lake City, and cities upto Brigham down to Provo). Used to be able to get them at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, 7-11, Smiths Grocery store, and Gamestop. They all disappeared around or before mid 2022.

Then I suppose that for the people in the Wasatch front of Utah, the ONLY ways to add funds to one's Steam wallet are through credit card, or through PayPal. Could there be a Mormon factor as to why Steam gift cards disappeared from that region? I do know that the state of Utah is a Mormon stronghold.

Things might get even WORSE for PC gamers in Utah who are on Steam: one of these days, the Utah legislature could pass some law that requires a VERY robust age verification for ALL online adult entertainment, including for Steam's own adult games section. Louisiana has already passed one such law back in June of 2022; it has gone into effect in January of 2023. I don't know about Steam itself, but I do know that all of the adult websites that are run by Mindgeek now require robust age verification for users in Lousiana, one that includes an image of your government-issued photo ID (most commonly a driver's license) and another image of a selfie of you holding up that ID.

[magelord01]

Origineel geplaatst door Ice Mountain:

Origineel geplaatst door magelord01:

Things might get even WORSE for PC gamers in Utah who are on Steam: one of these days, the Utah legislature could pass some law that requires a VERY robust age verification for ALL online adult entertainment, including for Steam's own adult games section. Louisiana has already passed one such law back in June of 2022; it has gone into effect in January of 2023. I don't know about Steam itself, but I do know that all of the adult websites that are run by Mindgeek now require robust age verification for users in Lousiana, one that includes an image of your government-issued photo ID (most commonly a driver's license) and another image of a selfie of you holding up that ID.

Maybe? The most recent law in regards to adult sites is one where mobile device manufactures have to enable adult site blocking by default, but the user can turn it off if they wish too. But that law only goes into effect if 5 other states create the same kind of law by 2031, if not the law gets canceled. 5 states have not done that yet, so the law isn't in activated yet.

If there IS, indeed, the Mormon factor as to why Steam gift cards are no longer available in your area (Utah is, after all, a Mormon stronghold), then that would set a VERY SCARY precedent: it means that, for example, a Muslim supermarket franchisee can theoretically stop featuring foods that are NOT halal ("halal" means, "clean by Islamic standards").

[magelord01]

Origineel geplaatst door Ice Mountain:

I haven't seen Steam gift cards at any stores around my city, city of my work, and my mom's city, which is all in the Wasatch front of Utah ( Salt Lake City, and cities upto Brigham down to Provo). Used to be able to get them at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, 7-11, Smiths Grocery store, and Gamestop. They all disappeared around or before mid 2022.

You might want to ask the employees of those stores why they don't carry Steam gift cards anymore. Please do so, so that we can shed some light as to the reason.

[magelord01]

I wonder if the reason the Steam gift cards are missing in the Wasatch region of Utah is because, maybe, there has been a rash of scams involving the use of Steam gift cards. And, until the perpetrator(s) are caught, your region's stores either won't be selling those cards, or perhaps they're just simply keeping said cards in their backrooms instead of putting them out on display. In that case, you'll need to ask a store employee to give you some Steam gift cards to buy.

[magelord01]

As for the adult games section, people, including children, can't accidentally run across any of the adult games in this digital storefront!

1. You must be signed into Steam; and
2. You have to have opted-in to the adult games section in order to even *SEE* those games!

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Origineel geplaatst door Ice Mountain:

Origineel geplaatst door magelord01:

I wonder if the reason the Steam gift cards are missing in the Wasatch region of Utah is because, maybe, there has been a rash of scams involving the use of Steam gift cards. And, until the perpetrator(s) are caught, your region's stores either won't be selling those cards, or perhaps they're just simply keeping said cards in their backrooms instead of putting them out on display. In that case, you'll need to ask a store employee to give you some Steam gift cards to buy.

I highly doubt that's the issue. Most likely Valve has been removing gift cards from areas where it's not worth it either due to the lack of sales or the other payment methods availability is sufficient for the region.

Valve doesn't distribute or even manufacture the cards. They only supply the codes to the 3rd party company that manufacturers and distributes the cards to retail locations.

Fastcard is one of them that does it in the US.

[PocketYoda]

They are still selling them here in Australia i saw some a day ago at the mall near me.

[SLG]

Origineel geplaatst door magelord01:

At the one I go to, it hasn't had any Steam gift cards available since at least mid-December of last year. So, I'm starting to fear that all Target stores have stopped carrying these cards for some reason. And, I fear that the reason might be that Target's corporate has caught wind of Steam's adult game section.

Have you asked at the Target?