Valve has added a new rule to its Steam platform policy that prohibits «content that may violate the rules and standards set by Steam’s payment systems.» Some adult games have already begun to disappear from the platform.
Valve has added a new rule to its Steam platform policy that prohibits «content that may violate the rules and standards set by Steam’s payment systems.» Some adult games have already begun to disappear from the platform.
As Ars Technica notes, the new rule also applies to content that may violate the rules of card networks, banks, or internet service providers. In particular, «certain types of content intended only for adults.
The rule is vague, with no details on which of the many types of «adult-only content» fall into the «certain» subset banned by these unnamed payment systems and ISPs. However, analytics service SteamDB noted that the publication of the new rule coincides with the removal of dozens of Steam games whose titles contain references to incest, as well as several sex games that contain images of «slaves» or «prisoners.»
«This may be related to PayPal, as people in certain regions have been unable to use it to pay on Steam for the past five days,» SteamDB added.
Valve is likely being forced to implement a new rule regarding in-game content under pressure from external payment systems, rather than based on its own interpretation of free speech laws or acceptable social norms. Avoiding the use of third-party payment systems is nearly impossible for a large company like Valve, which stopped accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment in 2017 due to the extreme volatility of the cryptocurrency’s value.
The removal of several incest games isn’t a problem for most Steam players, but some gamers were concerned that Valve was forced to obey content guidelines set by other companies rather than following its own vision.
