Valve enforces new restrictions on adult content after pressure from credit card companies
Steam has introduced new guidelines prohibiting content that may violate the rules of its payment processors, card networks, banks, or internet providers. As a result, the platform has begun removing titles with explicit sexual themes, especially those referencing incest. Valve said it was notified by payment processors that certain games breached their standards, prompting these removals.
In response, Valve is contacting affected developers and offering app credits to submit other titles that meet the new requirements. The policy has raised concerns among users and developers about the influence of financial institutions over what content is allowed on Steam, with some warning this could extend beyond adult games.
Community members have pointed out that queer content is sometimes flagged as inappropriate, even when not explicit, fueling criticism over potential bias in enforcement. While the removals coincide with the guideline update, SteamDB does not list the new rule as the official reason. Valve has not clarified what content payment processors deem unacceptable.
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- Free • Proprietary
Related news
External links
- SteamDB's Thread on X@SteamDB on X • Official source
- Valve gets pressured by payment processors with a new rule for game devs and various adult games removedGamingOnLinux
- Steam cracks down on some sex games to appease payment processorsArs Technica
- Valve Pulls 'Adult Only' Games From Steam as It Tightens Rules to Appease Payment PartnersIGN
- Valve confirms credit card companies pressured it to delist certain adult games from SteamPC Gamer
Comments
Only possible solution at source is suing the Morality in Media / NCOSE who has been issuing legal threats against companies to manipulate them and to reverse FOSTA-SESTA which was a counterproductive law. The other option would be if companies started using something like GNU Taker for payments assuming if it works without the approval of payment processors with a specific company.. It anonymizes purchases on client side but keeps record of anonymous purchase on the business side making it compatible with laws for money record keeping so they don't risk getting audited.
Sorry typo. I meant GNU Taler.
We gotta start boycoting Valve as well because they let it happen too, they could have done something before it came to this, they 100% knew.
As someone refered, make your own payment gateway, I know it is easier said than done however they are bilionares, they can figure it out :P
Petitions against this: https://action.aclu.org/petition/mastercard-sex-work-work-end-your-unjust-policy (US Only)
https://www.change.org/p/tell-mastercard-visa-activist-groups-stop-controlling-what-we-can-watch-read-or-play (Global)
And the group behind this will lobby against it using money they obtained 20 years ago in a government grant and their wealthy financial backers. See my main post for details. Not that I think there should not be an all fronts move against these measures going after every step of control at the same time. Lawsuits, pushing for laws against processing discimination, and pushing for alternative payment methods.
Valve should make their own payment processing service.
That would be nice.
And this is the reason why alternatives came to exist in the first place: to avoid this kind of bullshit.
I know it's sad to see the companies we all used and trust for so long becoming increasingly shitty and evil, like Google saying "don't be evil" to later become devil itself, but don't feel bad for them, instead use oportunities like this one to send them a clear message: we don't want your bullshit.
For ero-game devs: move to Nutaku or some other adult games store. Porn sells by itself, so you only need a hosting platform.
For players: look for alternatives when any product you use starts with the enshittification process, starts pushing their fake moral and/or putting income over their user. Google? DuckDuckGo. Firefox? Librewolf. Discord? Element. Steam (for adult games)? Nutaku. See? There's always alternatives, you just need to look for them. Visa and Mastercard are no exception.
So don't lower your head when these things happens, you as a customer just need to speak with your money and time. Look for an alternative and move on.
Hell, even Twitch is getting worse everyday and everyone is migrating to Kick slowly. xD We can make a change, guys. But we need the will to do so and patience, because a multi-billionaire company will not crumble to pieces in seconds, it's a looooong and agonizing death.
100% x10
DuckDuckGo is a for profit American company so they are subject to US data collection. Once more people use Nutaku the same will happen. See my main post for explanation. There is no alternative I know of American Express has done the same before and I do not recall off my head the rest but there is more. The more used they become the more they become a target.
Must be nice to be able to make any company bend to you on a whim.