Recently,Valve quietly removed a batch of adult-oriented games from the Steam platform on a large scale, attracted widespread attention. According to a statement released by Valve to multiple media outlets, the move was primarily due to pressure from payment providers on "rules and standards."
Payment channel intervention, Steam was forced to adjust policies
A few days ago, reports surfaced that Steam was taking "cleanup action" against certain adult games, mainly involving games that violated payment processor rules. Valve later released more detailed instructions to media outlets including GamingOnLinux, Rock Paper Shotgun, and PC Gamer.
Valve said: "We have recently been notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set by our payment processors and their associated credit card networks and banks. Therefore, we are removing these games from the Steam store. Once the payment channel is lost, users will be unable to purchase other games and content on Steam."
Valve admitted frankly that this delisting action was not an independent choice, but a passive response due to restrictions on payment channels. In other words, if Steam does not cooperate, it may face the risk of credit card networks such as Visa and Mastercard cutting off payment services. Even Steam, the world's largest PC gaming platform, can hardly compete directly with the payment giant.
More than 100 games have been removed from the shelves, with themes focusing on adult content
According to SteamDB data, more than 100 games have been marked as "Retired" in just two days, many of which involve adult-restricted content. The delisting operation is still ongoing, and some works were even removed within minutes of the announcement.
Although Valve has not disclosed the specific list, some players have noticed that many of the games removed this time contain highly controversial sexual themes, such as "LL" and other themes. Although there are still some similar adult games on Steam, it is likely that such sensitive themes are the main reason for the dissatisfaction of payment processors.
This incident once again exposed the fragility of digital content purchases. Both game developers and players seem to have to face a reality: in the field of digital payments, the review standards of payment channels may be more dominant than the rules of the platform itself.