Valve countered Mastercard: "He was the one who asked me to do this."

The controversy over the removal of adult games caused by the anti-pornography organization Collective Shout has intensified. Major companies and organizations have stepped down to join the war. Recently, Mastercard, the payment processor at the center of the controversy, tried to distance itself from the controversy, claiming that it did not restrict "any activity on game creator websites and platforms" like Steam and Itch.io. But Valve said, “He was the one who asked me to do this.”

Valve (Steam's parent company) responded with a statement refuting Mastercard's claims. Valve said it was told it needed to remove games that "posed a risk to the Mastercard brand," which includes any content the company "deems unacceptable."

"Mastercard has not communicated directly with Valve, despite our requests to do so," a Valve spokesperson said. "Mastercard was in communication with the payment processor and its acquirer. The payment processor informed Valve of the matter, and we responded outlining the policy that Steam has had in place since 2018 to attempt to distribute games that allow legal distribution. The payment processor rejected this position, specifically citing Mastercard Rule 5.12.7 and the risk to the Mastercard brand."

This rule is extremely broad and clearly states that companies using Mastercard services have a responsibility not to host and sell any content that could damage their reputation. And, as Steam hinted at the start of this dispute, the rule gives Mastercard and payment processors the power to remove any material they object to.

The rules state that "the sale of products or services (including images) that are patently offensive and lack serious artistic merit, or any material that the Company deems otherwise unacceptable for sale in connection with the trademarks is prohibited." This "offensive" is highly subjective, after all, games like That Game 5 and Detroit: Become Human have also been targeted by Collective Shout for this reason.

Now we don’t know when this turmoil will stop, but players and platforms have taken action. On the one hand, Itch.io has re-indexed the free-to-play adult games on its website and is working hard to bring more such games back online. On the one hand, players have also united to launch a joint petition to boycott censorship and call for the withdrawal of the new adult content regulations.