Valve Pulls 'Adult Only' Games From Steam as It Tightens Rules to Appease Payment Partners - IGN

Valve Pulls 'Adult Only' Games From Steam as It Tightens Rules to Appease Payment Partners - IGN

Valve is tightening its guidelines around 'adult only' content to satisfy rules set by Steam's payment processing partners, with dozens of sexually explicit games removed from the platform throughout the week.

ign.com

Valve just quietly slapped a new “no-no” on its Steam rules: any “adult only” content that might run afoul of its payment processors and card networks is out. Over the past week, dozens of sexually explicit games—many of them straight-up pornographic—have vanished from the store, and SteamDB logs show Valve updating its policy with a fresh clause explicitly banning anything that could trigger a bank or PayPal ban.

This crack-down comes hot on the heels of public backlash (and even a UK minister’s ire) over a visual novel featuring non-consensual sexual content. While Valve’s trying to keep banks happy, some devs and gamers worry this vague new language is just a thinly veiled excuse for broader censorship.