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.

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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

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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.
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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.
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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”


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."
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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.'"
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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.
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GamingOnLinux: Valve gets pressured by payment processors with a new rule for game devs and various adult games removed (archive)
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If they weren't already threatening with de-banking this could just be there attempt to skirt by, since most of the games removed from steam can be uploaded or already are on itch.io, but if Visa/MC have them in their sights it's over for these porn peddling retards.
I really love that payment processors have more power and less accountability than any government on the planet.
 
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Terrifik said:
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Rate me optimistic, but I feel like the de-banking issue is going to resolved mostly fixed before Trump leaves office. More and more things are being taken down strictly because Visa or Stripe tells them to, and the normies are definitely starting to notice.

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Not too long ago, the tranny shit seemed unstoppable, but then troons started beating natal women in women's boxing matches, or shilling Bud Light, and practically over night the momentum shifted. It stopped being a thing only people on the internet had to deal with, and became an issue for everyone.

The transgenderism movement isn't dead, but it has been dealt some serious blows and is currently bleeding out.

Nobody gives a shit when Josh loses every transaction known to man, but they will start caring when things they want to buy start being taken away. Now de-banking is becoming a thing that everyone has to care about, and Trump is the best president in a long while to actually do something about it.
 
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gata said:
It does make me bitter that it took pornography games or art getting fucked over by payment processors for niggercattle to give a shit about freeze peach while political or people (like Null) the academics/elites don't like were getting raped by the banks for years.
(:_(
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It could get more bitter if Nothing Happens in response to the cattle being riled up, or if there is a backroom informal agreement to resolve it in favor of porn while doing nothing for political dissidents.

https://bsky.app/profile/acvalens.net/post/3luonyfburc23 (archive)
OnlyFans hits reverse, now says it will not ban explicit content (archive)
 
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gata said:
It does make me bitter that it took pornography games or art getting fucked over by payment processors for niggercattle to give a shit about freeze peach while political or people (like Null) the academics/elites don't like were getting raped by the banks for years.
(:_(
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Porn is tangible to the niggercattle, while freeze peach is above their comprehension.
 
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fur fag said:
shit. finding fagslop VNs just got a lot harder (:_(
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It's what's surprising me, the reputation of the entire site is literally just low quality gay visual novels, porn games, porn parody games and buried deep down if you search hard enough some effort games

This feels like another Tumblr moment, where they're killing themselves whilst the user base moves on to gayer pastures.
 
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I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but the Collective Shout open letter, while having "Steam" in the title, was specifically targeting Steam and itch.io in the text:

Open letter to payment processors profiting from rape, incest + child abuse games on Steam (archive)
However we have since discovered hundreds of other games featuring rape, incest and child sexual abuse on both Steam and Itch.io. Our research has shown many of these games would breach Australian classification laws. Most of the content found within the games, including the graphics and the developers descriptions, are too distressing for us to make public.
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We request that you demonstrate corporate social responsibility and immediately cease processing payments on Steam and Itch.io and any other platforms hosting similar games.
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Another thing of note is that the heavy default Cloudflare protection they have set up since they became a big target is effectively preventing any service from archiving their site. The big four all failed on this article:

Child protection experts backing our campaign speak out on games normalising sexual abuse

Oh, itch.io put out an official statement about an hour ago:
https://itch.io/updates/update-on-nsfw-content (archive) (ghost) (mega) (wayback)
We have “deindexed” all adult NSFW content from our browse and search pages. We understand this action is sudden and disruptive, and we are truly sorry for the frustration and confusion caused by this change.

Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted on itch.io. Due to a game titled No Mercy, which was temporarily available on itch.io before being banned back in April, the organization Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and itch.io, directing concerns to our payment processors about the nature of certain content found on both platforms.

Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform. To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.

This is a time critical moment for itch.io. The situation developed rapidly, and we had to act urgently to protect the platform’s core payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, this meant it was not realistic to provide creators with advance notice before making this change. We know this is not ideal, and we apologize for the abruptness of this change.

We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of content to ensure we can meet the requirements of our payment processors. Pages will remain deindexed as we complete our review. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures. For NSFW pages, this will include a new step where creators must confirm that their content is allowable under the policies of the respective payment processors linked to their account.

Part of this review will see some pages being permanently removed from itch.io. Affected accounts will be notified via their account’s email address from our support address. You can reply to that email if you have any follow up questions.

We ask for your patience and understanding as we navigate this challenging period. I’m sorry we can not share more at this time as we are still getting a full understanding of the situation ourselves. We will post a follow up on our blog if the situation changes.

Thank you.
TL;DR they deindexed everything while they audit all the games, and decide which ones will be permanently removed. Everyone with a NSFW page will also be forced to check a box saying that the payment processors own their souls.
 
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