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Valve now require UK Steam users to verify their ages with a credit card, thanks to the Online Safety Act
(www.rockpapershotgun.com)
why not use a gift card.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
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Could you buy premium games from Steam in the UK without a debit card or credit card before this change?
Don't know what Steam is going to do, but most sites don't do age verification themselves. They have a 3rd party company that takes your card details and verifies your age.
It says in the article(/the linked Steam page) as long as you have ever made a purchase, you're assumed to be over 18, since being over 18 is a requirement to having a card. The third party verification is for sites that only ask for ID or vibes-check photo of your face.
I imagine they have steam cards in the UK.
The age check is only with credit cards though. Debit cards won't verify your age.
They force you to open a line of credit if you can't verify your age via the other methods they have.
What are Steam cards? It says in the article that debit cards are valid.
Top paragraph:
According to reports, debit cards are acceptable too.
Ah I was going off what I heard from people living in the UK. They might have been wrong.
But steam cards are just steam gift cards
Steam cards are prepaid cards you can get in numerous stores(at least in the US) that have certain amounts of money on them for you to redeem, you usually can get a choice between $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, and $500, which is the highest I've seen. It was extremely useful to me when I was a youngin with no credit card or debit card.
If you keep them after redeeming them, they can also be used as proof of account ownership in case your account gets hacked and stolen.