Valve Adds Six Month Expiry To Steam Wallet Funds In Japan
The clause likely exists to keep Valve outside the prepaid instrument deposit obligation that would otherwise require reserving half of unused balances above a 10 million yen threshold.
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
Valve revised the Steam Subscriber Agreement for Japan on April 20, adding a clause that funds added to the Steam Wallet expire if unused within 6 months of the date of addition. The change appears tied to Japanese prepaid payment rules that exempt instruments with a 6 month expiration. Credits are sold from 500 yen, and it is unclear whether existing balances are covered or when the display will appear.
The agreement text as of October 9 states the expiry under a section titled "Customers located in Japan." Valve has not said whether credits charged before the April 20 revision are covered, or whether the six months runs from the charge date or from the revision date. The agreement says the expiry and balance can be checked from the Steam Wallet in a Steam account, but the display could not be found at present. If the revision date is the reference point, affected balances would begin expiring on the 20th of this month.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.