Valve Confirms Payment Processor Pressure Behind Adult Game Removals on Steam

Image Credit: Steam/Visa/Mastercard

Valve has officially confirmed what many suspected: recent removals of adult-themed games from Steam were triggered by pressure from credit card companies. In a statement sent to PC Gamer, the company revealed that payment processors flagged certain games as violations of their content standards, prompting Valve to delist them to avoid larger disruptions to its platform.

“We were recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks,” Valve said. “As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store.”

The admission adds significant clarity to the wave of takedowns that began shortly after a quiet policy update on July 16. The updated rule banned any content that could potentially violate the guidelines of financial service providers, though Valve initially did not disclose the extent or reasoning behind the removals. Now, it’s clear that the company was acting under external pressure.

Valve emphasized that it’s reaching out to affected developers and offering app credits, allowing them to potentially launch other games on the platform in the future—assuming those new games don’t violate the same opaque standards.

The company noted that delisting the games was necessary because losing access to payment methods would prevent users from purchasing any games or content on the platform—not just the adult ones. In other words, Steam’s hand was forced: either comply or risk breaking the entire storefront’s ability to function.

The specifics of which titles were removed haven’t been shared by Valve. However, it doesn’t take much sleuthing to connect the dots. As SteamDB noted earlier, a noticeable number of adult games featuring themes like incest, non-consensual scenarios, and hypnosis vanished from Steam around the time of the policy change. These themes have historically made payment processors uneasy, particularly following past controversies involving adult platforms.

In the past, platforms like Pornhub saw their payment options pulled after serious allegations of hosting non-consensual material surfaced. Since then, payment processors have enforced stricter oversight, often erring on the side of caution—even when the content in question is animated or entirely fictional, as is the case with most adult games on Steam.

Still, many in the community see this as a troubling precedent. Critics argue that Valve is effectively handing over control of its content policies to corporations that aren’t accountable to developers or consumers.

And that’s really the heart of the issue. While some of the removed games may fall under questionable taste or quality, the concern lies in who gets to decide what’s acceptable. With vague guidelines, no public list of banned titles, and little recourse for developers, Steam’s adult content scene now exists under a cloud of uncertainty.

Whether this pressure will extend further—perhaps even affecting non-explicit, queer, or otherwise unconventional titles—remains to be seen. But for now, it’s clear that payment processors are holding the reins, and Valve is doing what it must to keep the engine running.