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)

 

[Do Not Touch Me Pls]

It is rather frightening though that organizations like Collective Shout and the other signatories have this much sway over the payment processing companies to be able spike the stories.

It's not a real NGO, it's the Australian Government itself and they have more than enough power to. This isn't completely new, it's just the new form of a 30+ year problem.

Then again, I have heard that it's a byproduct of FOSTA/SESTA's vague wording on what defines 'Trafficking' and 'prostitution', because this is scarily reminiscent of what happened to Onlyfans a few years back.

Actually it's based on the United Nations definitions of child prostitution where they recently extended it to include fictional characters. This is 100% deliberate to be easily trespassable with the slightest of implications.

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Also amazing that this entire thing got the attention of Mainstream Outlets to actually speak out how insane it is. When Vice says you are insane then you need to stop. It needs to be fanned up as big as possible before something notable bites the dust over the most petty of reasons possible.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Also amazing that this entire thing got the attention of Mainstream Outlets to actually speak out how insane it is. When Vice says you are insane then you need to stop. It needs to be fanned up as big as possible before something notable bites the dust over the most petty of reasons possible.

Vice is a shrunken husk of what it used to be. The issue got the attention of their resident gooner tranny vtuber lolcow contributor who got paid $30 an article. Vice's legal department didn't like the Googly implications of the articles and had two of them pulled. acvalens and two others "quit" (it's recurring freelance), possibly leaving Vice's Waypoint with half or less of the usual writers. Luckily, this may be fanning the flames even further, although PC Gamer is the biggest coverage the Waypoint collapse will see for tonight. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

The overall issue is probably getting more eyes from a few YouTubers than the gaming/tech news outlets that covered it.

 

[Serbian Peacekeepers]

I'm guessing this must be an obscure vtuber.

It's off topic, but EmberTalks (I am not linking any of "her" socials for a very good reason.) is a "lewdtuber", who specializes in Vore and Fart fetish stuff at a very, very quick glance at their twitter. Ember has barely over 5000 followers. A incredibly niche nobody, and probably a close personal friend of Valens given their shared fetish interests.

 

[Do Not Touch Me Pls]

Vice is a shrunken husk of what it used to be. The issue got the attention of their resident gooner tranny vtuber lolcow contributor who got paid $30 an article. Vice's legal department didn't like the Googly implications of the articles and had two of them pulled. acvalens and two others "quit" (it's recurring freelance), possibly leaving Vice's Waypoint with half or less of the usual writers. Luckily, this may be fanning the flames even further, although PC Gamer is the biggest coverage the Waypoint collapse will see for tonight. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

The overall issue is probably getting more eyes from a few YouTubers than the gaming/tech news outlets that covered it.

I thought Vice was one of those leftist propaganda fronts from the get-go?

 

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Collective Shout, the group weaponizing payment processors, is pure insanity I haven’t seen since the days of SOPA or Metallica suing Napster. They’re going as far as to take down articles and fire journalists

The fact that Ana Valens, who literally wrote articles about putting Bluetooth enabled sex toys up her ass and playing video games with unsuspecting children, about how "queer liberation" is not achieved until she can masturbate in front of your children at the park and you can't stop the trannies and homosexuals doing it, about how she supposedly got bored one day at work and started masturbating on a zoom call because her coworkers were too terrified of HR to stop her, how she wants to take women and put them into "petting zoos" so trannies can rape them when they get horny... got fired IMMEDIATELY after mentioning Collective Shout should tell you something.

We've got a third rail here. They were willing to fire one of the beautiful ones, the neo-nobility, INSTANTLY, for just speaking out against this group. GamerGate 3.0, lets fucking go!

 

[Inspector Rex]

I mean, social networks usually don't allow outright porn (or at least try to remove it), why should a gaming platform should get a pass? Steam shouldn't have allowed it in the first place (and it didn't until 2018 or something). Put this shit in some separate place.

However, these Australian fags need to be roundhouse kicked into the concrete.

 

[Coldsteel the Hedgehog]

Seen this making some rounds, so I'm posting it here for U.S users.

Did my part for what it's worth, sent emails tonight and will likely mail physical letters next time I'm in town to drop them at the post office.

 

[Apustajan apustaja]

Payment processors should not me moral guardians. I don't play video games, but they also don't process payment for cannabis seeds, not that I would ever grow a plant that is illegal either, of course. And I don't want to buy prostitutes even if I could put them on my credit card.

 

[Kivotos strongest Sensei]

GamerGate 3.0, lets fucking go!

Let's not make the mistake the original GamerGate did in trying to appease these lunatics. Meeting them halfway is still appeasing them and adopting their framework.

 

[HTTP Error 404]

I mean, social networks usually don't allow outright porn (or at least try to remove it), why should a gaming platform should get a pass? Steam shouldn't have allowed it in the first place (and it didn't until 2018 or something). Put this shit in some separate place.

However, these Australian fags need to be roundhouse kicked into the concrete.

"A pass." That's certainly a take I guess. X is full of porn. ALL social media sites are full of porn. They block searches for it. That's all. And I bet you money these Collective Shout cunts come for Elon soon, especially given how much hell the GamerGate/Anti-SJW types are raising. They're digging into this group's past and finding embarrassing things like them supporting Cuties (you know, the movie about preteens rubbing their crotches for the camera doing stripper dances) and getting funding by some other Soros-connected org as part of the greater subversion/culture war on the west. If MasterCard feels like they have set up enough precedent and have enough moles in the Trump admin to prevent anyone from stopping them to go after the largest, by far, digital content store online, then they'll ABSOLUTELY go after X, especially since Elon is a nazichudfascistrepublicancapitalist, and thus fair game for targeting.

This "we just don't talk about it" thing that all social media -- imgur, reddit, twitter, all of them -- do is what caused the Tumblr Porn Armageddon and the great containment breach. They were just ignoring the fact that oh, 98% of their site's content was porn. This was fine until the MAPs started convincing idiot teenage girls to start uploading self made CSAM, and idiot teenagers decided to "invade" the "totally innocent" 18+ LGBT spaces. (Read: There was a huge fucking gay grooming subculture on Tumblr.) Then you had some sneaky git at CNet (old web 1.0 tech site) doing an expose on Twitter's CSAM culture and all hell broke loose when they asked Apple/Google for a comment about why it was allowed on their app store.

 

[teriyakiburns]

Nobody cares about Australia dude.

But Australia cares about you and wants to ensure that you never see anything that might traumatise your poor little eyeballs again.

They're using that as cover. They've started, like SJWs do, with hitting what they feel many would support getting rid of. Games with incest, rape, violence and sexual violence against women and children.

And this thread is proof that their strategy works.

Andrea Dworkin was saying that all sex with men was rape back in the 1970s. This is a mainstream viewpoint amongst the radical feminists that conservatives have been allying themselves with.

It's not. It's an extremist position that gets amplified by being loud and visible in very particular situations, but you have to remember that the media (both legacy and social) isn't real life and the sort of feminists that the ant-trans movement is siding with aren't the crazy fringe radfems like Chanty Binx, but mainstream feminists like Rowling. Besides which, Dworkin was pro-trans. She overtly and vociferously defended transgenderism and the right to transgender surgery.

 

[MAAAD]

You can always just pirate the removed videogames or buy them via GOG/Epic Store if they're multiplayer. Move on.

 

[StMaryPiper]

You can always just pirate the removed videogames or buy them via GOG/Epic Store if they're multiplayer. Move on.
View attachment 7672249

Tim for the last fucking time I am not downloading your Chinese Fortnite failed storefront

 

[BlastMonk]

Of course these Collective Shout cunts are Australian's. It always fucking boomers from my country calling for censorship the loudest. We also had a senator call for the outlawing of manga a few years ago, as always these calls are always shielded by the claim of the 'safety and wellbeing of children'. Going through collective shouts twitter they want to outlaw sex dolls, ban any game that has any violence towards any women or child NPC and also criminalise sex work in Australia. Which for non Australians is a very right wing postion here since it is entirely decriminalsied for most of the country and left wing orgs support decrim.
These moral busy bodies also want to control what people do while having sex and games you can play. This is the twenty first century version of the satanic panic around Doom. Instead of killing demons making you a satanic mass shooter, its that playing sex games will make you rape and beat women in real life.

 

[Bloodrage]

These fucking creatures were part of the Cuties Defense Force. It just gets worse

 

[ClackAlAcka]

Of course these Collective Shout cunts are Australian's. It always fucking boomers from my country calling for censorship the loudest. We also had a senator call for the outlawing of manga a few years ago, as always these calls are always shielded by the claim of the 'safety and wellbeing of children'. Going through collective shouts twitter they want to outlaw sex dolls, ban any game that has any violence towards any women or child NPC and also criminalise sex work in Australia. Which for non Australians is a very right wing postion here since it is entirely decriminalsied for most of the country and left wing orgs support decrim.
These moral busy bodies also want to control what people do while having sex and games you can play. This is the twenty first century version of the satanic panic around Doom. Instead of killing demons making you a satanic mass shooter, its that playing sex games will make you rape and beat women in real life.

I'm tired of the ABC inviting these cunts on their man bashing segments all the time.

 

[regalterry]

but mainstream feminists like Rowling

Just because Rowling is against trannies, doesn't make her an ally. She's only against troons because they threaten the pedestal women in the West have nagged for themselves, not out of any worry for what trannies are doing to children.

Arguing "this feminist" or "that feminist" is better/worse is like trying to explain which type of furry is the worst, instead of acknowledging they all belong in the oven.

Feminists have been making everyone's lives miserable since their very inception, and anyone that pretends otherwise is merely deluding themselves. I'm tired of hearing niggercattle say "first wave feminists were the good ones."

They're all shit, fuck them.

 

[God of Nothing]

Just because Rowling is against trannies, doesn't make her an ally. She's only against troons because they threaten the pedestal women in the West have nagged for themselves, not out of any worry for what trannies are doing to children.

Arguing "this feminist" or "that feminist" is better/worse is like trying to explain which type of furry is the worst, instead of acknowledging they all belong in the oven.

Feminists have been making everyone's lives miserable since their very inception, and anyone that pretends otherwise is merely deluding themselves. I'm tired of hearing niggercattle say "first wave feminists were the good ones."

They're all shit, fuck them.

niggers really forgot she was pro rapefugee just because she believes in biological facts

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

niggers really forgot she was pro rapefugee just because she believes in biological facts

Being a pro-rapefugee lefty in the UK/Europe is like pissing into an ocean of piss. That's why the rapefugees are flooding in like an ocean of piss.

 

[Big Brown Schlub]

The fact that insane sex pest and tranny (basically part of the brahmin caste in modern Western society) "Ana" Valens got shitcanned over exposing them but not for any of the insane screeds he has written in the past is very telling. It always starts with weird gooner material that nobody of sane mind would defend but the slippery slope is in overdrive with cases like this where payment processors and NGOs get involved, after a few years to half a decade if your historical game set in medieval Yurop (or, as we've seen recently, East Asia) doesn't have a population of 50% nogs and muzzies, it's gonna get banned from every storefront.