A wave of removals hit the Steam Store, recently, as Valve revealed certain types of video games would no longer be sold on their storefront. A glance at SteamDB shows that the affected games are of a very particular variety featuring adult content. Valve issued a statement on the delistings, explaining that they were due to potential violations with "payment processors", and in order to continue taking payments for non-adult content, they would be removing those title that do not meet "rules and standards" put forth by companies such as Mastercard, PayPal, etc.

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. 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.

While all of the affected games are of a controversial variety, it has unnerved some, as the newly implemented "rules and standards" that led to the delisting of these titles is vague.

Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content.

Source

 

[Oakmontowls]

So none of the games removed are going to be missed as they were some pretty awful games. However, the issue is that payment processors are able to do this in the first place. It's not really the place of a payment processor to decide what someone can buy or sell on a platform they don't own and them extorting platforms to conform to what they want is just wrong and definitely needs to get regulated. In addition these rules and standards that steam references aren't publicly available anywhere from what I can tell. The closest thing I can find is where visa requires merchants that sell adult goods and services to be marked as a "high integrity risk" and require special oversight to prevent illegal activity but nothing specifically stopping what can be bought or sold with their service beyond nothing illegal. The incredible vagueness of all of this just gives the payment processors far too much power for censorship. In my opinion, payment processors have become too big and should be regulated similarly to public utilities so they are more closely monitored.

 

[Localhorst86]

personally, I am not one to purchase most of these "Adult only" games. In fact, being from Germany, Steam already doesn't allow me to access or purchase these games (due to German law requiring a storefront to properly verify a users age, and that is too much effort on valve's side, apparently).

While Steam removing adult-only games alltogether wouldn't fuss me too much (after all, valve should be free to judge what they want to sell themselves), the fact that they are being forced by their payment processor to remove specific titles, is concerning, and I hope they will be able to find a way to continue selling these games going forward.

A payment processor should not be able to dictate what a storefront is selling, as long as it legal.

 

[NinStar]

Unless there are illegal stuff, they shouldn't be able to do this and I hope it gets address someday.

Then don't be a payment processor. The solution isn't censorship.

1. The things I mentioned are pretty much illegal in a lot of places in the context in which they are presented, even if fictional.
2. Unless the decision behind this had the involvement of some government, I wouldn't call it censorship.

 

[Bladexdsl]

about time I'm tired of seeing it full of waifu, hentai GARBAGE and other FAP games

 

[Axido]

Payment processors don't mind the depiction of acts that would lead to the end of a human life if performed in a real-world setting, but they do mind the depiction of acts that could lead to the creation of one.

What a clown world we live in.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

View attachment 517644​

A wave of removals hit the Steam Store, recently, as Valve revealed certain types of video games would no longer be sold on their storefront. A glance at SteamDB shows that the affected games are of a very particular variety featuring adult content. Valve issued a statement on the delistings, explaining that they were due to potential violations with "payment processors", and in order to continue taking payments for non-adult content, they would be removing those title that do not meet "rules and standards" put forth by companies such as Mastercard, PayPal, etc.



While all of the affected games are of a controversial variety, it has unnerved some, as the newly implemented "rules and standards" that led to the delisting of these titles is vague.



Source

I don't particularly care about any of the stuff delisted but god I hate that this wasn't even Valve's choice. Payment processors just straight up get to dictate what stores are allowed to sell. There are lots of websites even on the other sides of the world who are forced to change things they sell entirely due to some foreign payment processor disagreeing.

 

[K3Nv4]

For those who forgot the ESRB rating system is still very much required in the gaming world. Mature isn't the only level of gaming.

 

[KingVamp]

The censorship of entertainment doesn't stop. Eventually they are going to once again, try to go after games that we actually care about.

1. The things I mentioned are pretty much illegal in a lot of places in the context in which they are presented, even if fictional.
2. Unless the decision behind this had the involvement of some government, I wouldn't call it censorship.

Sorry, I was thinking in the context of just laws. Should have said, as long as things stay fictional, they shouldn't be able to do anything about.

It is censorship, no matter who is doing it.

 

[SDA]

It's alright for me. There are some games that I particularly dislike due to their AO-rated content.

Post automatically merged: Jul 20, 2025

For those who forgot the ESRB rating system is still very much required in the gaming world. Mature isn't the only level of gaming.

Same with PEGI, CERO and all the other game rating systems you can find.

 

[Kraken_X]

Payment processors being puritanical, what else is new?

This is new. This is not normal. The Trump administration is pressuring Mastercard and Visa to censor pornographic content worldwide. Already, Japanese porn sites, fully in compliance with Japanese law, have had to close due to this. Yoko Taro (the creator of Nier) warns that “It’s a security hole that endangers democracy itself.”

About credit card payment companies refusing to process payments for legal adult content.

Publishing and similar fields have always faced regulations that go beyond the law, but the fact that a payment processor, which is involved in the entire infrastructure of content distribution, can do such things at its own discretion seems to me to be dangerous on a whole new level.

It implies that by controlling payment processing companies, you can even censor another country’s free speech.

It's not just games, it's not just Steam.

It's easy to write this off as just a bunch of deviants being upset, but this is how it starts. Trump and his cronies know the public won't defend nasty content publicly, so that's where they start. But then it will expand to other types of porn (likely LGBTQ+ is next), then non-porn speech, and by the time he is blocking political donations to his opponents and payments to companies that refuse to kiss the ring, this kind of censorship will all be normalized and legalized.

It's also important to mention how this damages the USA on a global scale. When the rest of the world consented to using Mastercard and Visa, they didn't expect them to enact censorship at the request of the US government in their countries as well. The result will be an alternative payment system bypassing the USA. Maybe Crypto based, maybe based in Europe or unique to each country or region. But it won't be the dollar at the core anymore. The dollar has lost 15% of it's value since Trump took office and will be practically worthless by the time he leaves.

 

[Noctosphere]

Like what

We found him. That's the guy spamming facebook anime pages always asking for sauce

Post automatically merged: Jul 20, 2025

This is new. This is not normal. The Trump administration is pressuring Mastercard and Visa to censor pornographic content worldwide. Already, Japanese porn sites, fully in compliance with Japanese law, have had to close due to this. Yoko Taro (the creator of Nier) warns that “It’s a security hole that endangers democracy itself.”

It's not just games, it's not just Steam. It's easy to write this off as just a bunch of deviants being upset, but this is how it starts. Trump and his cronies know the public won't defend nasty content publicly, so that's where they start. But then it will expand to other types of porn (likely LGBTQ+ is next), then non-porn speech, and by the time he is blocking political donations to his opponents and companies that refuse to kiss the ring, this kind of censorship will all be normalized and legalized.

It's also important to mention how this damages the USA on a global scale. When the rest of the world consented to using Mastercard and Visa, they didn't expect them to enact censorship at the request of the US government in their countries as well. The result will be an alternative payment system bypassing the USA. Maybe Crypto based, maybe based in Europe or unique to each country or region. But it won't be the dollar at the core anymore. The dollar has lost 15% of it's value since Trump took office and will be practically worthless by the time he leaves.

are they gonna censor onlyfans? Because that's probably the only good thing that can come out of this

 

[Taleweaver]

Tough position here. On one hand, I'm not going to defend the right to incest innuendo. The problem with adult games is that they're almost always banking on this one and single aspect. It's like "guys... We have Boobies... And absolutely nothing else".

On the other hand: what is it with these weird morals?
"our game is about beating up other people" okay!
"our game shows two people loving each other" nnnnnooooooo!!!
Games can be a form of art, and as such should be able to show al aspects of life.

Edit: forgot to mention: another game showed a picture of 'ladykiller in a bind'. It's the sort of waifu innuendo with bdsm tones. I hope it's not removed from my backlog.

 

[ChibiMofo]

OMG! What will the entitled incel gamerboys do???

Well, they will attack everyone involved, of course, and raise non-issues like "free speech" as if that applies to private corporations or EVER did (or to the rest of the world outside the US, for that matter). Ignorance is bliss and not in sport supply around here.

 

[yakuku]

So I was right. It's not only just porn games. Wished some people take a minute to learn the future consequences on why this is bad and not "That's a great thing. porn/hentai games is bad on Steam" instead of being dense.

 

[JaNDeRPeiCH]

So puritans want to block all porn but also games like blasphemous and fear&hunger games.I will not support them because their mindset its so medieval and destroy any kind of creativity expression game even if that game allows nsfw or gore like the two games i mention in my post.

 

[ChibiMofo]

This is why I am against Puritans. They will stop at nothing once they start their purity spiral. It starts with porn games, and it will go to games like GTA next. This has been their goal for decades no,w and people are bending the knee

Decades? Have you no sense of history? Look up that term "puritans" you used. They've been trying to force their degenerate morality on everyone else for a very long time, often with the accompanying threat of torture and/or death. Want to talk censorship? I'll get banned here if I so much as mention the specific cult that has been doing this and more for over a millennia and question their right to continue to exist, but as a giant hint: they are the largest organized pedophile ring in human history and operate with impunity in all Western countries.

I have no issue with Valve or the payment processors. They are private companies and can "censor" "free speech" all they want because it is perfectly legal for them to do so, as it should be. But the collective cult scum for the last several thousand years that have been systematically going after the rest of us (and each other) and who now say things like "politically correct" or "woke" every time we stop them? Fck all of them. Has nothing whatsoever to do with the payment processors or companies like Valve. If you don't like their decisions, your remedy -- your only remedy -- is to boycott them.
As if that ever works.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

For those who forgot the ESRB rating system is still very much required in the gaming world. Mature isn't the only level of gaming. View attachment 517657

ESRB does not apply to PC releases in most cases.

 

[K3Nv4]

ESRB does not apply to PC releases in most cases.

Odd confusion: No, Steam does not mandate ESRB ratings for games sold on its platform. While Steam displays ESRB ratings when available, they are not required for games to be listed on the platform. The ESRB rating system is voluntary, and Steam primarily uses its own questionnaire system to determine content descriptors.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

Odd confusion: No, Steam does not mandate ESRB ratings for games sold on its platform. While Steam displays ESRB ratings when available, they are not required for games to be listed on the platform. The ESRB rating system is voluntary, and Steam primarily uses its own questionnaire system to determine content descriptors.

Correct yes. Unlike the console market getting the ESRB to rate PC titles is technically optional.

 

[retrospect]

So puritans want to block all porn but also games like blasphemous and fear&hunger games.I will not support them because their mindset its so medieval and destroy any kind of creativity expression game even if that game allows nsfw or gore like the two games i mention in my post.

As always, the issue is not the issue. The issue is setting precedent with permission.