Valve Launches Steam Wallet Beta Test

[mjc0961]

Compared to Microsoft Points while the PSN Wallet is jumping up and down on its desk screaming "PICK ME PICK ME!"

Honestly I think I'm missing something though. How is this helpful on Steam? From what I saw in trying to buy $5 to put in my wallet just to look at payment options, it's the same thing as if you just wanted to buy a game directly. Please enter your credit card/paypal/etc here and you can put $5 in your steam wallet. Or I could just buy the game directly like always and skip the extra step.

So unless they're going to sell redeemable cards in stores, this seems a bit pointless to use yourself. I guess it would be nice if it lets you gift the money to someone else though (I didn't go far enough in to see), but to just buy a game for yourself, seems like an unneeded extra step.

EDIT: Okay, more people posted while I was typing. Good deal for Valve I guess if people use it, but I'm not seeing how it's any benefit to me personally when I can just skip that step and buy a game right away.

 

[Jared]

Pretty good idea - Makes them mre flexiable at least

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Why do I need that when I have PayPal?

 

[Diligent]

That will totally boost their sales. Where once people may have got a game for a birthday present, now somebody can give them these points and they can get multiple games.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Sweet.
this sounds like a good idea to me.
I recently downloaded steam and have been wanting to try out a few games...but im deathly worried that my Graphics card is obsolete...
I can run games like Age of empires 2 and Touhou no problem.
But even if i play Halo 2 on the lowest Settings its still pretty laggy.
Oh well, once i get everything sorted out this looks like a pretty cool idea.
and it opens up options for Gifts for my friends who basically use only Steam.

 

[DaxStrife]

I can see how it would be useful, but I hope it's just an option you can choose in place of just using credit/debit cards because I ain't touching any points. Points are the reason I don't buy anything on the X-Box; you can't just pay the direct cost of the game, you have to buy a set amount of points which always leaves you with leftovers; those points represent wasted money just sitting there.

 

[archvile93]

I fail to see how it's more convenient that PayPal or Click&Buy...

Indeed by having to buy points in the first place all it really does is add/replace a step in the transaction.

Unless you can give points as a present. Then birthdays just got a whole lot easier for gamers.

Or you could just give them cash, which can work everywhere instead of just steam.

 

[KSarty]

This is a good payment option.

It's something that makes XBLA so appealing too.

I am 17 so I can't own a credit card. And I refuse to use my Debit Card anywhere online as if it gets breached and I lose money, it isn't covered.

I love the idea of buying cards in advance and being able to buy something later on.

Forcing every transaction to be made online definitely makes me less likely to buy things.

The great thing about Steam is that you don't have to save your credit card info. I primarily use my check card, and I never allow Steam to save the details. It can get annoying putting the info in every time I buy something, but it protects my money.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Oh god!

NO DEVIL! YOU WON'T HAVE MY MONEY!

 

[Asehujiko]

I fail to see how it's more convenient that PayPal or Click&Buy...

Read the minecraft story about why anything is more convenient than paypal.

"You had a lot of money, so it's ours now".

 

[Something Amyss]

I remember when Steam fans were mocking Ecks Blah for the "funny money."

Now, I'm sure, it will be a brilliant idea.

 

[Irridium]

And here I was trying to save money...

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I fail to see how it's more convenient that PayPal or Click&Buy...

Indeed by having to buy points in the first place all it really does is add/replace a step in the transaction.

Unless you can give points as a present. Then birthdays just got a whole lot easier for gamers.

Or you could just give them cash, which can work everywhere instead of just steam.

What if you know they use Steam a lot and they live a long way away? I'm not trusting postman with money.

 

[Abedeus]

Now if only the prices weren't higher by at least 25-50% compared to retail prices.

 

[Irridium]

I fail to see how it's more convenient that PayPal or Click&Buy...

Because quite a few people don't like doing transactions online. Which is understandable. Hell for Steam I've been using pre-paid credit cards.

 

[Playbahnosh]

Huh. It may be a good impulse buy bait for terminally lazy people, but I fail to see how is it any better than conventional wire transfers, since you can already save your credit card details on Steam, and all you have to do is "click" and everything else is taken care of for you through the saved details. Unless, it comes with some nifty bonuses on it's own, like even more price cuts and extras (free DLC?), that are not available on the other payment options. Sure, it could come in handy for kids and people on other countries who can't pay with credit/debit cards, but again, you somehow need to put money on that Wallet thing too, and unless they sell top-up cards in shops like for pre-paid phones, I don't know how else you can put money on that thing other than wire transfer...

Since I do my yearly game shopping spree around the Steam Holiday Sales (stupidly low game prices, I mean 70-90% off? WTF, Valve?), I don't think I'll be using this option.

 

[mad825]

I fail to see how it's more convenient that PayPal

PayPal should be avoided at all cost when using Steam! If at any time Paypal suspends your account while buying a Steam game, the money will be refuted and thus your Steam account will be blocked..permanently

Still not good enough imo, I want to be able to buy top-up cards in retail shops.

 

[archvile93]

I fail to see how it's more convenient that PayPal or Click&Buy...

Indeed by having to buy points in the first place all it really does is add/replace a step in the transaction.

Unless you can give points as a present. Then birthdays just got a whole lot easier for gamers.

Or you could just give them cash, which can work everywhere instead of just steam.

What if you know they use Steam a lot and they live a long way away? I'm not trusting postman with money.

Then send a check, or wire the money.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

The great thing about Steam is that you don't have to save your credit card info. I primarily use my check card, and I never allow Steam to save the details. It can get annoying putting the info in every time I buy something, but it protects my money.

Saving the info or not makes no difference to me. I will not type my debit card details on a computer.

I don't trust that it is secure. I will only buy with cash or make my dad use his work laptop.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

wire the money.

I'm not a Bond villain, y'know!