PayPal, once a popular payment method for buying games on Steam, is no longer usable for those in certain countries. Some users had noted that PayPal was not showing up as a payment method on the storefront, with a small message from Valve explaining as to why:

In early July 2025, PayPal notified Valve that their acquiring bank for payment transactions in certain currencies was immediately terminating the processing of any transactions related to Steam. This affects Steam purchases using PayPal in currencies other than EUR, CAD, GBP, JPY, AUD, and USD. We hope to offer PayPal as an option for these currencies in the future but the timeline is uncertain. We are also evaluating additional payment methods on Steam for the customers affected by this. In the meantime, please use one of our other current payment methods during checkout. If you can't use any of the available options, you can consider using a Steam Wallet code to add funds to your account.

There is no official reason given by Valve as to why this change has occurred. Speculation points towards the recent wave of adult games that have been delisted off of Steam's platform, but for now, there is no correlation between the two incidents.

Source

 

[ihaveahax]

I honestly feel like Value needs to move to crypto and gift cards. The internet is being bullied by “activists” and companies are caving. Crypto is the only safe option

Steam used to accept Bitcoin from April 2016 to December 2017, so it is highly unlikely they will attempt again.

 

[YoureALoser]

Pretty sure this is disinformation/misinformation. You'll not have the PayPal option on Steam but can probably still use your physical/virtual PayPal card.

 

[The Catboy]

Steam used to accept Bitcoin from April 2016 to December 2017, so it is highly unlikely they will attempt again.

Consider the following
2016

 

[ihaveahax]

Consider the following
2016

Were the issues with bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, brought up in the 2017 post, resolved in the time since then?

 

[The Catboy]

Were the issues with bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, brought up in the 2017 post, resolved in the time since then?

I actually do not know, that's out of my paygrade. So I will give you the point there.

 

[Exnor]

Well, f**k PayPal.

I bet Steam will find out other ways for people to pay them.

 

[tech3475]

I honestly feel like Value needs to move to crypto and gift cards.

Valve already has gift cards, in fact we have to question/restrict them at my retail job because of scams.

 

[HarveyHouston]

I wasn't aware that there were still currencies other than what was mentioned, of which the ones mentioned covers most of the world population anyway.

Also, why pull your payment method from a platform because Steam has delisted the games requested by credit card companies? That makes absolutely no sense.

 

[ChaosEternal]

Were the issues with bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, brought up in the 2017 post, resolved in the time since then?

It was due to increasing transaction fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1464096684955433613

 

[Wolfy]

Between all the payment processer shenanigans happening recently, it's going to be real funny if in the next 10 years it gets to a point that to buy a Steam game you need to mail physical money to Valve in order for them to add the game to your library.

I would honestly be happy to return to such a time; I'm reminded of a story that I heard about Amazon during its earlier days, that a man from another country put in an order not through the computer, but sending the money, order ID, items requested and other info, and although it was not something they normally saw they took the payment and sent the books/goods to him as requested.

Especially with all the artificial intelligence, online help desks, and other non-human interactions that are always a headache, I'd take small-scale or any sort of no-nonsense transactions where I produce the money and what I would like to buy, and that's it.

 

[Xzi]

You know, this all started (at least in the USA) with the deplatforming of Alex Jones. It really hit what I believed to be its peak when Twitter, Facebook, etc. deplatformed a sitting president and everyone cheered. Now it's finally affecting the common man and the outrage is pure pottery. Anyone and everyone whom I've ever warned about this over the past decade is finally getting a taste of their own medicine. I hate that we all live in a technocracy, but to all the people who ever told me (even here on gba) that censorship was necessary: you reap what you sow!

Completely irrelevant and unrelated. Visa and Mastercard didn't cancel Alex Jones and Donald Trump, the former deservedly lost a lawsuit for defamation of Sandy Hook victims' parents, and the latter refused to follow any of the rules he agreed to when he signed up for those (free) social media platforms. Far-right Karens trying to get all pornography outlawed isn't technocracy, it's an attempt to establish authoritarian theocracy, and it's far from the first time we've gone through something similar.

Paypal was created by self-avowed nazis Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, so this idiocy is hardly surprising. Since Steam can now position itself in direct opposition to that, it stays winning.

 

[kuro0628neko]

Completely irrelevant and unrelated.

Wrong, didn't read past this. A glowie post through and through. That, or you are genuinely brainwashed to believe censorship is okay.

 

[Xzi]

Wrong, didn't read past this. A glowie post through and through. That, or you are genuinely brainwashed to believe censorship is okay.

Censorship on a large scale like this with Steam is unequivocally wrong. Society however, in whole or in part, as well as an objective legal system, making judgments against people individually, is not the same as censorship. If you or I were the ones loudly and publicly defaming the victims of mass shootings, or Jeffrey Epstein's best friend for 15+ years, then we'd be judged just as harshly, and rightly fucking so.

 

[Taleweaver]

I hate this. PayPal is my preferred (only) method of paying for online games. Yes, I'm in a region where it's still available, but no I won't keep using it.
Other methods might be more elegant, even, but I DON'T want that. The jumping through hoops helps against impulse buying. But that's obviously a minor thing.

Edit: a lot of uncertainties, but still wonder...
*are third party resellers (eg humble store) affected?
* could this be related to the global trade war? (it's not unlikely currencies will shift strongly against each other... But would this be a response?)
* why is valve silent? It's perhaps early, but it didn't take long for a response with visa/mastercard

 

[PatrickD85]

PayPal protection isn't great, I've personally had occasions where they've just completed denied a valid claim.

Also, you don't technically get protection from both your card and PayPal

Like noted only had to use it once, and then just went to my credit card company (ICS) and while it took some time that worked out. In regard to protection, it's more the fact two big companies are clearly involved.

As for cards like Revolut etc. never liked the virtual like cards, but that is just personal preference I guess.

 

[sroemr]

Screw PayPal

Always have been worthless

 

[ChiefReginod]

Tin foil hat, but I'm starting to wonder if all of this is just part of the larger trend of trying to get young men to reengage with society, with the idea being that if you take away their games they'll go out and get a job. Also, lol if so.

 

[Xzi]

Tin foil hat, but I'm starting to wonder if all of this is just part of the larger trend of trying to get young men to reengage with society, with the idea being that if you take away their games they'll go out and get a job. Also, lol if so.

It's spelled out as a part of project 2025, they think they can force people to have more kids by outlawing all pornography and contraceptives. But yes, eventually they will go after all video games too, as they want kids working the assembly line or on the front lines of war instead of engaging with any form of entertainment.

 

[ChaosEternal]

Censorship on a large scale like this with Steam is unequivocally wrong. Society however, in whole or in part, as well as an objective legal system, making judgments against people individually, is not the same as censorship. If you or I were the ones loudly and publicly defaming the victims of mass shootings, or Jeffrey Epstein's best friend for 15+ years, then we'd be judged just as harshly, and rightly fucking so.

Censorship is censorship, regardless of whether it's against one person or one million. We can argue about whether the censorship is justified, but that doesn't make it not censorship. Genuine CSAM being removed from the internet is censorship too, but few would argue that that is unjustified!

 

[Xzi]

Censorship is censorship, regardless of whether it's against one person or one million. We can argue about whether the censorship is justified, but that doesn't make it not censorship. Genuine CSAM being removed from the internet is censorship too, but few would argue that that is unjustified!

Think about what you're saying. If individuals aren't allowed to make their own assessments/judgments of others, then that in itself is an extreme form of censorship; you're accusing people of wrongthink. Society's collective initial judgments of people aren't always fair, but it's practically an impossible task to make everybody hate you. After all, the people we're talking about in these examples built their entire personalities and careers around their image as pariahs. Being a piece of shit can be very lucrative if you just put all your effort toward appealing to other pieces of shit.