Valve has changed its gifting system for certain games, especially the ones that have VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) and Game Ban anti-cheat protection.
Steam users used to be able to buy unlimited copies of any one game, stack them in their inventory, and gift them later to friends or other users. This feature is absolutely key in many Steam communities, where players buy games they don’t want on sale and then trade them for games they want is a common practice.
From now on, as part of the new restrictions, the process will not work with any VAC and Game Ban game, such as Counter-Strike. Now, you can only buy these games for yourself, or gift them to someone immediately. Hoarding VAC or Game Ban games is no longer allowed.
In addition, if you gift one of these games to a player who receives a permanent ban, that particular game is unable to be gifted to anyone ever again.
Valve is doing this in order to combat hackers and cheaters who hold multiple accounts, one of which is full of, for example, unclaimed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gifts. When these hackers are caught, their accounts are banned, but they can create new accounts and gift themselves those hoarded copies, and thus continue to cheat.
“We understand that the restrictions on buying to inventory may be inconvenient for some legitimate users, but we believe that these steps will reduce the number of cheaters you’ll play against. And that’s important in having an online gaming experience that’s fair and enjoyable for everyone.” Valve has stated.
