Originally posted by D. Flame:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/07/valve-gets-pressured-by-payment-processors-with-a-new-rule-for-game-devs-and-various-adult-games-removed/

Valve have added a new rule to the Onboarding guide for game developers, noting that payment processors get a say in what stays on Steam.

On Steamworks the new rule is noted under the "What you shouldn’t publish on Steam" heading:

it's mostly to remove underage content.

Originally posted by LoveAndPeace:

-snip-

No, it just gives payment processors free reign to censor whatever the hell they want.

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Originally posted by LoveAndPeace:

-snip-

No, it just gives payment processors free reign to censor whatever the hell they want.

Interesting thing to be in support of... Usually that gets you on a list...

No its because steam needs to control everything or its too bad for you, i'm surprised people still use steam with the amount of take always they do and all the control they want. I do not know whats worse that or the horrible appearance they forced everyone to use when there was nothing wrong with the other version, shows how not smart they are morons

I'm curious if Witcher 3 will be banned and if GOG will get hit next.

Originally posted by Bromius:

No its because steam needs to control everything or its too bad for you, i'm surprised people still use steam with the amount of take always they do and all the control they want. I do not know whats worse that or the horrible appearance they forced everyone to use when there was nothing wrong with the other version, shows how not smart they are morons

And we all know that the laws andc regulations in the USA make it possible for everyone to sue everyone whenerve and for whatever reason with no questions asked...

Hence, erveryone and their dog will totally sue Valve out of existance...

In other more civilized contries we need to ask for permission to sue somebody first... IE to see if our claims are worthy to even be tried in a court...

This is what happens when you elect authoritarians.

Geez, and so Mr Newell has given Steam up to the Big Banks?

Shocking

Originally posted by Mr. Smiles:

Originally posted by D. Flame:

No, it just gives payment processors free reign to censor whatever the hell they want.

Interesting thing to be in support of... Usually that gets you on a list...

1.) the type of content you are referring to is already not allowed on Steam, so if that was their intent, there would be zero reason for a policy change

2.) the policy change clearly gives the payment processors free reign. If they decide M-rated, violent video games (DOOM, Cyberpunk, Elden Ring, etc.) are """"not in line with their standards,"" then Steam can remove all of those from sale as well.

Originally posted by LoveAndPeace:

it's mostly to remove underage content.

Its really not since that has not been allowed by Steam since they introduced adult games.
If you look at the games that have been removed from the store since this policy came out yesterday its 99% incest related porn games.
Porn games with "incest" or "family" in the title or in the description.

To be precise, it seems more about the description then the actual content, some games have simply changed the name of their game and removed references to incest or families and the games continues to be sold, even if the content has not changed at all, just the name/description.

Also some games had their "adult patch DLC" removed, for example " Love Ribbon" a yuri incest visual novel about the relationship of 2 sisters from 2017.
The game itself is still on Steam and the story remains unchanged but Steam removed the "18+ DLC" you could buy for the game to have uncensored sex scenes.

So to summarize, for the moment it seems to be aimed at "incest" themed adult games, but only if those games are pornographic and/or have incest or family in the title of the game or the description.

All in all a pretty halfassed measurement.

damn...

Originally posted by Daring Dragoon:

This is what happens when you elect authoritarians.

You don't elect Visa and Mastercard execs. They've been doing this to Japanese platforms for a while now and now it's expanding to others.

Originally posted by Ogami:

Originally posted by LoveAndPeace:

it's mostly to remove underage content.

Its really not since that has not been allowed by Steam since they introduced adult games.
If you look at the games that have been removed from the store since this policy came out yesterday its 99% incest related porn games.
Porn games with "incest" or "family" in the title or in the description.

To be precise, it seems more about the description then the actual content, some games have simply changed the name of their game and removed references to incest or families and the games continues to be sold, even if the content has not changed at all, just the name/description.

Also some games had their "adult patch DLC" removed, for example " Love Ribbon" a yuri incest visual novel about the relationship of 2 sisters.
The game itself is still on Steam and the story remains unchanged but Steam removed the "18+ DLC" you could buy for the game to have uncensored sex scenes.

So to summarize, for the moment it seems to be aimed at "incest" themed adult games, but only if those games are pornographic and or have incest or family in the title of the game or the description.

All in all a pretty halfassed measurement.

Yeah, but the main issue is that it is a slippery slope. Start with the niche, then start making bolder and bolder demands.

Instead of removing games from Steam and further expanding what types of content are banned, why doesn't Valve make all games with adult content purchasable only from a Steam Wallet?

Add two buttons to the cart menu; 1. "add this amount to my Steam Wallet," and 2. "purchase using my Steam Wallet" - and voilà, third-party payment processors are no longer an issue.

Certainly this is an oversimplification, but I'm sure the folks at Valve could come up with a similar solution.

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Yeah, but the main issue is that it is a slippery slope. Start with the niche, then start making bolder and bolder demands.

Oh i completely agree, its stupid and Valve should not cater to the payment providers.
They have been pulling this nonsense for a few years now on many sites.
Especially Valve with their monopolistic position could easily fight against this because i doubt those payment providers would want to miss out on the profit a platform like Steam generates.
But like usual Steam goes the way of least resistance where they have to get involved as little as possible.
Thats just typicial Valve philosophy and i doubt it will ever change.