Steam, not being a banking institution doesn't really have the infrastructure for that. Especially when it comes to say purchases using fraudulent or temporary funds.

Plus, in certain countries even minors can have their own bank accounts. I opened my first at 16 here in the US, with my guardian at the time as a cosigner.

Originally posted by ุ:

Steam, not being a banking institution doesn't really have the infrastructure for that. Especially when it comes to say purchases using fraudulent or temporary funds.

Plus, in certain countries even minors can have their own bank accounts. I opened my first at 16 here in the US, with my guardian at the time as a cosigner.

Not to mention with how people treat basic cybersecurity these days(Like it's not even a consideration) a lot of people that do this will get their accounts completely zeroed out.

Originally posted by Amaterasu:

Originally posted by ุ:

Steam, not being a banking institution doesn't really have the infrastructure for that. Especially when it comes to say purchases using fraudulent or temporary funds.

Plus, in certain countries even minors can have their own bank accounts. I opened my first at 16 here in the US, with my guardian at the time as a cosigner.

Not to mention with how people treat basic cybersecurity these days(Like it's not even a consideration) a lot of people that do this will get their accounts completely zeroed out.

Yup, it'd be another means to basically directly access a user's funds. (albeit having paypal or your card linked to Steam still allows them to do that)

Originally posted by Mendax:

https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_adds_pay_by_bank_option_to_their_payment_gateway/

You realise Revolut is just another payment processor, right?

Steam users are too stupid to trust them to add bank account details to their profile. They would hand it over to the first scammer who said "Hello, im valve admin and need ur credentials, thx."

Accepting direct bank wires at Steam’s scale is a heavy lift (bank relationships in many countries, strict compliance, expensive fees, slow settlement, tough reconciliation). A DeFi/stablecoin rail can be piloted with a regulated processor and a clear protection layer, which is often an easier first step for optional, censorship-resistant payments. If your ask is strictly a request for bank transfer to Steam, as much as I’d love for them to explore that route, I’m skeptical of the hurdles regarding regulation. However, if your core goal is just alternatives around cards, Future-Proof Payments & Parallel Rails is maybe relevant to your ask.

Originally posted by matt:

Steam users are too stupid to trust them to add bank account details to their profile. They would hand it over to the first scammer who said "Hello, im valve admin and need ur credentials, thx."

To be fair though, this same phishing risk exists for cards, PayPal, and everything else. The issue isn’t user IQ, it’s product design and guardrails.

Scammers go after whatever has value, from brokerage logins to email accounts. The answer has never been “users are too stupid,” it’s to assume phishing exists and build layered protections. Writing off an entire feature because social engineering is possible isn’t a principled argument; building it with proper controls is.

Originally posted by matt:

Steam users are too stupid to trust them to add bank account details to their profile. They would hand it over to the first scammer who said "Hello, im valve admin and need ur credentials, thx."

You don't add your ban account. You choose to pay this way, a pop up opens and you go to your bank site or app and agree to pay.

Originally posted by Mendax:

Originally posted by matt:

Steam users are too stupid to trust them to add bank account details to their profile. They would hand it over to the first scammer who said "Hello, im valve admin and need ur credentials, thx."

You don't add your ban account. You choose to pay this way, a pop up opens and you go to your bank site or app and agree to pay.

After reviewing your link, I find this to be a valid and good suggestion. I misinterpreted the function of the method you suggested. I can’t see a reason why not, unless someone more familiar with the downside can convince me otherwise. I’m assuming they are negligible, considering the first issue in people’s minds didn’t apply. Mine included.

+1

Your suggestion unfortunately proves that you don't know how internet based stores operate.

Payment processors like Visa or Mastercard guarantee that payment is on available for the purchase. So the store can release your purchase to you immediately.

Bank transfers carry must higher fees for both the receiver and the sender compared to credit and debit cards. Secondly the credit or debit card allows the store to directly associate your payment with your order. That's not possible when you make a bank-to-bank transfer. Someone in accounting has to connect those dots.

And international bank transfers take multiple work days to clear. So if someone in Germany wants to play a game from Steam based in the US, you're asking that person to not only pay much higher fees, you're also asking that prices on the store must be higher - to compensate for the store having to pay higher fees - and you're also expecting that customer in Germany to sit patiently waiting something like 4 business days before the bank payment makes it to the US then to sit waiting for someone in accounting to manually register that he has in fact paid for his game. Only then would he be given access to his game.

Your suggestion means that prices would be higher and that customers would have to wait multiple business days before being able to be allowed playing the games they buy. People outside of the US would no doubt have to wait more than one week.

So that's not going to happen.

OP linked to a UK bank. Not that I expect anyone bothered to click the link. Bank transfers in the UK are fee free and (usually) instant for both sender and receiver.

Pay by bank essentially generates an encoded link that is opened by your online banking app/website with the details filled in and uneditable. You just need to authorise it. The website you are paying doesn't need to know anything other than if you did or did not completed the payment.

I think the OP is confusing pay by bank with open banking, which is not the same thing.

Originally posted by Mendax:

https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_adds_pay_by_bank_option_to_their_payment_gateway/

The issue is that the majority of people won't use it and use CC. The problem is that Visa/MC don't care what payment method you use. Even if you paid via paypal, or with steam wallet, they were going to drop Valve from being able to process CC payments unless they removed specific games.

So even if they add that option they'd still have to remove the games they did to keep Visa and MC as payment options, so you couldn't buy those games no matter what.

Originally posted by jason:

I think the OP is confusing pay by bank with open banking, which is not the same thing.

Revolut is just another payment processor. Not much different of VISA or Paypal.

So if we all went and adopted that, it'll put Revolut in the same position of power VISA or Paypal have now.

Originally posted by Brian9824:

Originally posted by Mendax:

https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_adds_pay_by_bank_option_to_their_payment_gateway/

The issue is that the majority of people won't use it and use CC. The problem is that Visa/MC don't care what payment method you use. Even if you paid via paypal, or with steam wallet, they were going to drop Valve from being able to process CC payments unless they removed specific games.

So even if they add that option they'd still have to remove the games they did to keep Visa and MC as payment options, so you couldn't buy those games no matter what.

Don't see how adult verification would work with Revolut. Minors can have Revolut cards. I know 9 kids under 13 that have Revolut cards. Parents use them to get kids used to having and managing their own money. Parent load their pocket money, birthday and xmas money on to their revolut cards

Originally posted by Brian9824:

Even if you paid via paypal, or with steam wallet, they were going to drop Valve from being able to process CC payments unless they removed specific games.

So thats it? Sunset of Steam with games being removed becuase of Visa?