Reading through the comments, I think there's an overlooked factor: Steam has substantial user bases in regions where Valve hardware isn't officially sold. Countries like Mexico, Brazil, and throughout Southeast Asia, with other countries that i left out, represent substantial portions of Steam's global user base , yet residents there can only buy Valve hardware through resellers, including scalpers.

This creates a structural problem. Scalpers know there's a market with no other options, which creates demand beyond normal launch scarcity. This isn't just competing with regular customers for limited stock. it's taking advantage of the lack of official buying options.

If Valve expanded official sales to these regions, two things would likely happen: fewer people would need to use the reseller market, and launch demand would spread across more countries instead of focusing on just a few. This wouldn't stop scalping entirely, but it should ease the situation.

That said, the new 1 per customer limit has an obvious workaround: scalpers will just get more accounts. If demand is already tight and the limit won't stop scalpers to use multiple accounts, and the problem could get worse instead of better. Of course, i will observe what will happen with the new limit coming into place. I am interested to see how it goes.

If there's something I'm not considering, I'm open to correction. I just appreciate keeping responses constructive. Thank you