Business Steam rules updated to prohibit content that violates rules set forth by payment processors and banks - Valve's rules regarding what developers "shouldn't publish on Steam" have a new clause regarding standards set forth by payment processors.

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/steam-rules-updated-to-prohibit-content-that-violates-rules-set-forth-by-payment-processors-and-banks/

https://archive.ph/NXq04

Valve's rules regarding what developers "shouldn't publish on Steam" have a new clause regarding standards set forth by payment processors.

2025-07-16 17:17
Amber V



Valve has updated its rules regarding content that developers aren’t allowed to publish on Steam (as reported by Game*Spark [archive]). The “Rules and Guidelines” section of Steamworks Documentation now has an extra clause, and it suggests that publishers are required to comply with rules and standards set forth by various third parties involved in processing electronic payments. The rule seems to be predominantly related to adult content.

What you shouldn’t publish on Steam:
15. 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.

Prior to the update, the list included 14 clauses, prohibiting things like hate speech, malware, sexual content depicting real people and any form of exploitation of children. The new 15th clause suggests that Steam may additionally have to crack down on specific types of adult content in response to the requirements of payment processors and banks. There are currently no specific examples of what this may entail.

Update (2025/07/15 at 18:30 JST): According to SteamDB [wayback], a large number of games has been removed from the platform in the past 16 hours. Judging rom the list, it appears “sex simulator” type games with keywords such as “incest” and “slavery” make up the majority. There are some confusing cases like the removal of the Ace Attorney-inspired investigation game Trails of Innocence, although this could be a coincidental deletion.

On a related note, various video game and manga hosting platforms in Japan have in recent years run into trouble with payment processors and credit card networks. Due to certain content on the platforms going against the (often undisclosed) rules and standards of third parties handling payments, the platforms ended up without support for credit card payment. This has led to loss of revenue and even the closure of platforms like Manga Library Z. It is possible that Steam’s new rule is a means to prevent such complications from arising, however, as the specific “rules and standards” of the payment processors are also unclear, publishers might need to be extra cautious with releasing their games on the platform.

Related articles: “It’s a security hole that endangers democracy itself.” NieR creator speaks out against payment processors pressuring Japanese adult content platforms

Visa Japan’s CEO says disabling card payment for legal adult content is “necessary to protect the brand”

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Niche Gamer: Steam updates rules to comply with payment processor censorship (archive)
Wccftech: Steam Publishing Guidelines Updated With Clause Prohibiting Content That Violates Payment Processor and Bank Rules (archive)

Rock Paper Shotgun: Valve change Steam's rules to let banks and credit card firms prohibit "certain kinds of adult only content" (archive)

In particular, this could lead to a stifling of games that are in any way non-conforming, particularly given the current climate of repression in Valve's home country, the USA. I know about the rule change thanks to Youtuber and self-described former game developer NoahFuel Gaming, who has posted on Bluesky about the potential fallout for projects the banks and financial corporations consider "adult" because they deviate from reactionary framings of sex and gender. As the Youtuber writes: "Queer content gets flagged as 'explicit' even when it's PG. A trans dev making a personal story? 'Too controversial.' A surreal queer VN? 'Sexualized.' Financial deplatforming in action."

GamesRadar: Steam now prohibits games that violate the "rules and standards" of payment processors, banks, and more, and users are worried it might affect more than just "certain kinds of adult-only content" (archive)

"Yeah... this is something that looks innocuous at first glance but it's a trojan horse," another believes. "LGBTQ+ has a habit of being mysteriously flagged as 'adult only.'" On ResetEra, similar points are being shared, as one writes: "Today it's porn games, tomorrow any game with LGBTQ+ content because it ends up labelled as 'adult.'"

Notebookcheck: Steam tightens adult content rules after pressure from payment giants (archive)

As spotted [archive] by TheGamer, this triggered a mini-purge according to the Steam Database, with many problematic games such as "Incest Tales", "Wolf on Rail", "Sex Village", "Slave of the Police Officer", and many more, being delisted from the storefront.

GamingOnLinux: Valve gets pressured by payment processors with a new rule for game devs and various adult games removed (archive)

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

I think they're bad because their messaging around this is shitty and their unwillingness to even do a token show of public protest is spineless.

Putting it in writing that "anything payment processors don't like is banned" is the best they will do.

GamingOnLinux (updated archive)

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

People saying that this is no big deal must be newfags, as we had a thread in A+N just a few months ago about Japanese content creators been shut down because of payment processers.
Now they're attacking Steam.

 

[Do Not Touch Me Pls]

Unironically might be looking at the beginning of the end for Steam here. It enjoys overwhelming support mostly based on its reputation and this shit is absolutely tanking that.

EDIT: I should clarify that I don't think Steam is bad for bowing to pressure from payment processors. I think they're bad because their messaging around this is shitty and their unwillingness to even do a token show of public protest is spineless.

Unfortunately there is no real way to stop this without bowing down or make things impossibly difficult (for now). Look at all of the AI art generation sites and Pixiv Fanbox and this is the same situation Steam is in. This is 5 sites total in 3 years and the globalized state of the internet means you do not have a choice. You either need a change of morals in society (have to wait out for 30+ years though) or Steam exclusively takes Crypto which is even worse. Hard to see that we get out of this before the gaming industry and the NSFW art industry is annihilated.

This is the reason why you don't let corporations team up with international globalist organizations and you do not let people surrender your biggest assets for free speech to globalists.

 

[sono chi no sadame]

People saying that this is no big deal must be newfags, as we had a thread in A+N just a few months ago about Japanese content creators been shut down because of payment processers.
Now they're attacking Steam.

Out of touch people who don't care until the issue arrives at their doorstep or simply can't (won't) understand the larger play.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Hard to see that we get out of this before the gaming industry and the NSFW art industry is annihilated.

The whole $200-300 billion per year global gaming industry won't be annihilated by payment processors and feminists.

If NSFW art, adult games, AI gooner dominated platforms (I'm thinking Civitai), etc. are decimated, that will leave a hole waiting to be filled by whoever is willing to provide crypto-only payments. Otherwise money is left on the table. This market will be shrunken for as long as people are skittish of crypto, but maybe the geniuses talking up stablecoins are onto something. And true addicts will learn the crypto to get their fix.

As an aside, here's Ars Technica's reporting on the stablecoin bill:

Trump to sign stablecoin bill that may make it easier to bribe the president (archive)

 

[Susan-O]

People saying that this is no big deal must be newfags, as we had a thread in A+N just a few months ago about Japanese content creators been shut down because of payment processers.
Now they're attacking Steam.

Which Japanese creators got shut down?

 

[Endless Torment]

how much does it cost to create a virtual game distribution platform?

they seem to make gangbusters and the three major ones are kikes, chinks, and slavs

When will you retards understand the issue is not the storefront, but the payment processors?
Unless you are going to make a digital platform that only deals with crypto you aren't going to be safe and even then banks don't have to even allow people to buy crypto.

 

[Do Not Touch Me Pls]

Which Japanese creators got shut down?

It has not happened yet, but what do you think about Senran Kagura and Gunvolt? Or any anime game with a semi-indecent setting?

When will you retards understand the issue is not the storefront, but the payment processors?

It's the unelected global government that these Payment Processors are a part of.

The whole $200-300 billion per year global gaming industry won't be annihilated by payment processors and feminists.

If NSFW art, adult games, AI gooner dominated platforms (I'm thinking Civitai), etc. are decimated, that will leave a hole waiting to be filled by whoever is willing to provide crypto-only payments. Otherwise money is left on the table. This market will be shrunken for as long as people are skittish of crypto, but maybe the geniuses talking up stablecoins are onto something. And true addicts will learn the crypto to get their fix.

As an aside, here's Ars Technica's reporting on the stablecoin bill:

Trump to sign stablecoin bill that may make it easier to bribe the president (archive)

All games in general beyond Crypto "Games" heavily rely on common people who know jack shit about Crypto . Telling the NSFW game makers to move to a crypto site is like telling everyone who wants to publish Holocaust Denial memes to go to Odysee where nobody will see them. Crypto does not save the industry, but a full-blown wake up call back to conscience will. The industry might regenerate like 5 years after the arc ends (and might come back quicker than comic books at that) but 30+ years is still a lot and as long as the trend stays and the elites don't move onto something else it's utterly fucked.

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I forgot one very important non-Japanese game that also technically breaks the rules and it's this one. It's infested with parental incest metaphors. Make no mistake it's not written in a positive light at ALL but as the We Happy Few ban in New Zealand has shown they do not care.

 

[Susan-O]

It has not happened yet, but what do you think about Senran Kagura and Gunvolt? Or any anime game with a semi-indecent setting?

I can't stand Japanese games with literal children in it, so personally, I wouldn't care too much about it. And from how I understand it, the indecent setting really just applies to actual sex games/WEGs that depicture the mentioned tags of like Insect, rape, and so on.
Not my cup of tea either. However, I do recognize the slippery-slope that such actions will bring with them, and I fully condemn any form of censorship of art.

 

[WickyWickyWoW]

Remember it took 30+ years, probably even 40 to 50 years for the Comics Code Authority bullshit arc to end completely. DC Comics is one of the very few Comic Book companies that are still following it until 2011 (from the 60s by the way). We are only like 5 years into this arc.

I'll be surprised if this ends within a decade or ends without totally annihilating the video game and NSFW art industry.

This has been a secondary concern for me regarding modern media censorship. A neo Hayes code. I have an underlying disdain for moralistic censorship and the Hayes code disgusted me to no end when I discovered it existed, especially considering how innovative the wild wild West of Hollywood was before just to have oppressive censorship forced upon it. Currently the nature of the Internet means indie and small developers could sell their games on alternate platforms and the entire games storefront market isn't fully consolidated (for now), however as we learned with social media and streaming the network effect is a motherfucker. The groundwork for deplatforming easily could turn into a Hayes code, look at that that nigger jack Thompson or the ongoing Lawfare against Activision by the uvalde parents for making cawadoody. In the odd chance they get their way with legal precedent it means hordes of faggot NGOs can demand whatever they want delisted.

 

[X Prime]

It does very little. Countries that ban porn games like S. Korea and India treat women like garbage and have literal rape cultures. If anything, porn being legal correlates with women being treated better in a society.

This sure is an argument that leaves out that the subjects in question are bugmen.

 

[God of Nothing]

When will you retards understand the issue is not the storefront, but the payment processors?
Unless you are going to make a digital platform that only deals with crypto you aren't going to be safe and even then banks don't have to even allow people to buy crypto.

your reading comprehension and memory are both trash

 

[Endless Torment]

your reading comprehension and memory are both trash

Wow the Chinks and Russians who aren't part of the main banking system aren't going to have the same issues shocking.

I think the people focusing on porn or the storefront themselves are simply not focusing on the actual issue which is it can happen to any product/service and it can happen to any store/business/person. Even crying about the feminists is a waste of time because it can always be a different group targeting a different thing because payment processors have an unreasonable amount of power and people will want to abuse this.

 

[Do Not Touch Me Pls]

slippery-slope

It is already happening in Discord. There are NSFW boards that will ban based on Canon Age and bodytype and anything even if it's one year under the age of 18 is banned. Doesn't matter the context, it's 1 year under 18 and you're not posting that character. For obvious reasons 100 year old lolis aren't exempt.

This has been a secondary concern for me regarding modern media censorship. A neo Hayes code. I have an underlying disdain for moralistic censorship and the Hayes code disgusted me to no end when I discovered it existed, especially considering how innovative the wild wild West of Hollywood was before just to have oppressive censorship forced upon it.

The film Industry recovered from the Hayes Code very quickly though. In fact classics like the first three Star Wars movies and Pennywise are after the Hayes Code. Under the Hayes Code these won't even exist in the first place.

Currently the nature of the Internet means indie and small developers could sell their games on alternate platforms and the entire games storefront market isn't fully consolidated (for now), however as we learned with social media and streaming the network effect is a motherfucker.

Not true. It's mostly consolidated less than 4 or 5 platforms and if they aren't they're likely only downloadable or purchase-able by the Japanese especially with all the credit card companies enforcing for unelected global government. Most of them don't even let you put explicit NSFW games. And good luck finding a way to put the real insane stuff in, Itch.io deleted Megachud before.

How does an obscure Australian feminist NGO with less than ten employees that no one has ever heard of have the pull to order billion dollar companies around and influence payment processors?

It's a disguised United Nations Front ran by unelected bureaucrats.

 

[Jace on ice]

How does an obscure Australian feminist NGO with less than ten employees that no one has ever heard of have the pull to order billion dollar companies around and influence payment processors?

 

[X Prime]

It is already happening in Discord. There are NSFW boards that will ban based on Canon Age and bodytype and anything even if it's one year under the age of 18 is banned. Doesn't matter the context, it's 1 year under 18 and you're not posting that character. For obvious reasons 100 year old lolis aren't exempt.

What the fuck do no name Discord gooner servers not allowing lolicon have to do with payment processors? Chances are that's just the server runners not liking the content.

 

[Forsaken Wanderer]

How does an obscure Australian feminist NGO with less than ten employees that no one has ever heard of have the pull to order billion dollar companies around and influence payment processors?

Think of it like an anglerfish, the pretend activist or small organization is the little light dangling in front of the massive Jewish leviathan that lurks in the dark behind it.


Very shortly they will demand Steam bans users for (((hate speech))), which will mean that many people will lose access to the games they have purchased.

 

[MrJokerRager]

Im seeing people on X blame some feminists from Australia known as Collective Shout for this?

Who are they and what kind of leftoid jews are backing them?

 

[Terrifik]

How does an obscure Australian feminist NGO with less than ten employees that no one has ever heard of have the pull to order billion dollar companies around and influence payment processors?

More global than just 10 figure heads .
It's a optic check organization accelerating the nanny state agenda.
Whole point you will have lose mostly everything if your going to fight against the group. It's a losing slippery slope due being labeled sympathizer for xyz bad group even when you know it's not going to stop.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

We love our banks, our law enforcement,
They process payments, they're important