Steam games no longer purchasable with PayPal in most countries — Valve offers no timeline for a potential fix

Steam’s payment system just hit another serious speed bump. Millions of players worldwide are discovering that PayPal is no longer an option at checkout, unless they pay in Euros, British Pounds, Japanese Yen, Australian dollars, Canadian dollars, or U.S. dollars. For everyone else, that convenient one-click PayPal option has vanished with no telling when it will be back.

This change first appeared in early July 2025, initially thought to be a maintenance issue, but it’s only now that Valve has confirmed what’s going on. According to the company, one of PayPal’s acquiring banks decided to stop processing any Steam transactions for certain currencies. The result is a considerable chunk of Steam’s global audience from most countries suddenly restricted to alternative payment methods. Steam itself is suggesting users turn to other payment options or load funds via Steam Wallet codes.

The scale of the disruption is staggering. Brazil alone has nearly five million Steam users, all of whom can no longer use PayPal. Other affected regions include Poland, Norway, Mexico, Switzerland, and a host of smaller markets, adding millions more. Even EU countries that don’t use the Euro, like Poland with its złoty, are impacted. Previous payment disruptions on Steam have generally been localized or temporary, making this one of the broadest interruptions in years.

Many players initially speculated that the PayPal issue stems from Steam’s recent controversy over adult content, where Mastercard and Visa pressured Valve to remove or de-index certain games. Valve, however, clarified that the problem is currency-specific, not content-specific, in this case. While major currencies remain functional, the majority of the world’s users are left without PayPal.

The immediate impact is clear because users now have to rely on Steam Wallet codes or other payment methods, which can be cumbersome for those accustomed to one-click PayPal checkout. The company has promised to explore restoring PayPal support in the future, but emphasized that the "timeline is uncertain."

This disruption is emblematic of how gaming platforms depend on financial networks, and how changes from a single bank can ripple across millions of players globally. Steam has navigated payment hiccups before, but the sheer scale of this latest restriction highlights just how interconnected the platform's user base and payment systems have become.

For now, players in affected regions are left to adapt, hoping Valve can restore a smooth, global checkout experience — because for most, paying with anything other than PayPal is far from effortless. Given the ongoing vitriol surrounding payment processors and Steam, only time will tell whether Valve can listen to community feedback and move forward with viable solutions that can work for everyone.

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