Steam users can now send and receive digital gift cards

Online gaming hub Steam has unveiled a new way for gamers to send gifts to fellow Steam users.

Previously, physical gift cards or the purchase of digital games that were then “sent” to a friend’s account were the only ways to provide gifts on Steam. However, the company’s new Digital Gift Cards will allow Steam users to send funds directly to the Steam wallets of their friends – should they be feeling generous!

“Now you can directly contribute to a friend or family member’s Steam wallet online,” Steam explain on their store. “Simply log into Steam, select a Steam Friend and a gift amount, and we’ll do all the rest.”

The innovation appears to be well timed. Steam’s Halloween Sale is just around the corner, with Black Friday and the Christmas period to follow soon afterwards. In short, there will be plenty of opportunities to send digital gift cards in the next few months and, with bargains aplenty, they will surely be gratefully received.

There are, however, a few limitations to Steam’s new system. “For starters,” Trusted Reviews note, “you can only gift set amounts of loot. In the UK, these are £4, £10, £25, £50 and £100.”

If the subject of your gift lives in another country Steam will automatically translate your gift into their home currency. For example if someone in the UK gifts £10 to a friend in the US it will appear in the friend’s Steam wallet as the relevant amount in dollars.

Users will also have to be friends with someone on Steam for a period of at least three days before gifts can be sent and will not be able to pay for gifts from their own Steam wallet. Any gifted amounts will have to be paid for by either PayPal, credit card or Bitcoin.

However, once the funds are gifted to a friend they can be spent in any area of Steam.

Need to buy a gift for a friend on Steam? Your Christmas shopping may have become a whole lot easier!