Steam has added a new rule to its list of guidelines outlining what developers are allowed to publish on it, which it says will affect "certain kinds of adult-only content."
As reported by Automaton, adding to the clauses covering bans on hate speech, sexually explicit images of real people, malware, and more, Steam now states that "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" is not allowed. It adds: "In particular, certain kinds of adult-only content."
It might sound like a bit of an unusual one at first, but recent years have seen certain payment providers take a stance against adult content, initially as a response to allegations in 2020 of Pornhub hosting videos of child abuse and rape. In 2020, Mastercard and Visa blocked the use of their cards on Pornhub, while in 2021, Mastercard announced it was extending its "Specialty Merchant Registration requirements," adding: "The banks that connect merchants to our network will need to certify that the seller of adult content has effective controls in place to monitor, block and, where necessary, take down all illegal content."
Looking at SteamDB, a lot of games have been pulled off the platform in the last day with obvious sexual themes, notably many with the word "incest" in their titles. It's not stated that this is due to the new rule, but the timing does align, and they'd certainly fall under the "adult-only content" umbrella.
However, some Steam users feel that the rule change feeds into the "quiet normalization of financial censorship," with some concerned that it might end up affecting more than just adult content on the platform. "Queer content gets flagged as 'explicit' even when it's PG," one writes, worried about what's to come. "A trans dev making a personal story? 'Too controversial.' A surreal queer [visual novel]? 'Sexualized.' Financial deplatforming in action."
"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.'"
It's early days right now, so we can't currently see the full impact of this rule right now. We'll just have to watch this space and look out for any other games being pulled off the platform.
In the meantime, you can take a look at our list of the best PC games.
