Valve bans donations of anti-cheat-protected games because of cheaters

Players may no longer purchase Valve Anti-Cheat protected Steam games in bulk and transfer them to other accounts at a later date. Cheaters would use this to easily continue playing on another account after being caught cheating.

Valve explains the new rules for donations on Steam on a support page. Players can now only buy certain games for themselves or immediately buy for someone else; saving multiple copies in the inventory is no longer an option. In addition, the company reports that if a consumer gifts a game to another and the recipient is banned, the sender of the game can never give that specific game as a gift again.

The new rule applies to both VAC games and games that support Game Ban. The latter includes multiplayer games where the developer has been given the authority to completely ban a cheater from a game. Currently, 98 games support VAC, including CS:GO, DayZ, and Rust. It is unknown how many Steam games support Game Ban.

Valve says it “understands that restrictions on Steam gifts can be a nuisance to players who don’t mean any harm,” but the company is clearly prioritizing counterfeit play in this case. “We believe these steps will reduce the number of cheaters you encounter online.”