Mastercard Denies Censorship Role in Steam Crackdown — But Valve Says There’s More to the Story

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After a week of heated controversy over adult game removals from Steam and Itch.io, Mastercard has finally spoken up — and it’s not exactly taking the blame.

In a statement published on August 1, the credit card giant insisted it hasn’t ordered any games to be banned or evaluated titles itself. But Valve’s side of the story suggests that the influence may have come through a more roundabout route — and the fallout is still unfolding.

“Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations,” the company wrote. “We allow all lawful purchases on our network… [but] require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content.”

This is Mastercard’s first public response since accusations began flying that payment companies were behind the recent purge of NSFW games — including visual novels and indie erotica — from major platforms. It came shortly after anti-porn group Collective Shout claimed a “victory” in its campaign pressuring Visa and Mastercard to stop what they called the monetization of “violent pornography.”

But in a follow-up statement shared with Kotaku, Valve pushed back on Mastercard’s narrative. While the company confirmed it didn’t get any messages directly from Mastercard, the influence was still very real — just passed down through payment processors and banking intermediaries.

“Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” a Valve rep told Kotaku. “Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks… [then] Payment processors communicated this with Valve… Payment processors rejected [our policies], and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.”

That rule — Rule 5.12.7 — allows Mastercard to flag and penalize any transaction it deems illegal or potentially damaging to its brand image. It explicitly mentions banning the sale of materials considered “patently offensive” and lacking “serious artistic value,” including content involving "nonconsensual sexual behavior, sexual exploitation of a minor, nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part, and bestiality" or any material the company deems unacceptable.

So while Mastercard claims it’s just following standard procedures and only targeting “illegal adult content,” the way platforms interpret and act on those rules tells a different story. According to Valve, even though they outlined their 2018's content policy that avoids illegal material, their approach wasn’t enough to satisfy payment processors — who feared breaching Mastercard's standards.

This development mirrors what happened just days ago with Itch.io, where dozens of adult games were delisted out of caution. After backlash, the storefront began restoring some of the free NSFW content, but paid titles remain in limbo as the platform continues talks with payment processors.

All this leaves developers stuck in a frustrating limbo — with games vanishing, store policies tightening, and little clarity on who’s really pulling the strings. Mastercard may not be sending takedown emails, but the threat of financial penalties clearly has weight, and platforms seem to be adjusting preemptively to avoid the risk.