Valve have begun removing a variety of sex games from Steam in line with their recent updating of the platform’s rules and regulations to allow banks and credit card companies to essentially forbid certain kinds of “adult content”. In a statement to RPS, a company representative confirmed that games are being delisted as a result of the rules change, adding that the developers in question are being given Steam app credits as compensation. The alternative, Valve suggest, is that banks and card companies might pull the plug on all transactions, and users in general would lose the ability to buy stuff on Steam.
“We were recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks,” the statement reads. “As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store, because loss of payment methods would prevent customers from being able to purchase other titles and game content on Steam.
“We are directly notifying developers of these games, and issuing app credits should they have another game they’d like to distribute on Steam in the future,” it concludes. For context, app credits cost $100 and are required to publish games on Steam. $100 is not a lot in terms of game sales: Valve don’t appear to be compensating the devs concerned for the loss of future revenue.
Valve don’t specify which payment processors, card networks and banks they’re referring to in their statement, or which games have been removed. But a quick trip to Steam Tracker reveals that a number of games have been delisted this month. (You can find them by typing “sex” and so forth into the search box and organising them by date. I know, my methods are pretty forensic.) There are also scattered reports of delistings on Bluesky and other social media platforms.
I’m not going to go through the specifics of the games removed from Steam this month, mostly because there are scores of them and I can’t confirm which were delisted for breaking the new rules. I will say that I find some of them repulsive, and that we should challenge, if not bury games that actively contribute to a culture of abuse. As in much of life, I do not think massive unaccountable finance corporations should get to decide where those goal posts stand.
Sexuality is as vast and miscellaneous as a skyful of constellations. Providing they are doing no harm, people should be able to explore and get their rocks off however they choose. I have played plenty of games that look at sex in ways I consider “unconventional”, and yet not damaging, that I can well imagine the likes of Mastercard and Visa deeming beyond the pale.
Kaile Hultner of noescapevg.com was kind enough to quote my piece on Valve’s revised “adult content” policy yesterday in their commentary article, which brings in more context about the political climate in the USA, and expands on the point that banks and finance firms have long sought to play moral censor, disallowing the transaction of “adult” material or services they find objectionable.
