Valve says that MasterCard’s payment expressed concerns with the platform’s adult content and rejected Steam’s existing guidelines.
The abrupt removal of NSFW video games on Steam and itch.io in recent weeks sparked intense debates about censorship as it relates to adult content in entertainment. With Valve and itch.io putting the blame on pressure from credit card companies, MasterCard released a statement to deny putting any restrictions on gaming platforms. Now, Valve has pushed back against that claim, stating that there was indeed pressure, but from MasterCard’s payment processing partners.
Steam creator Valve issued a statement to Kotaku in response to a statement put out by MasterCard last week. While MasterCard stated it “has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms,” Valve said that’s not entirely true.
Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so. Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks. Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steam’s policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution. Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.
The initial removal of adult games from Steam and itch.io came after activist group Collective Shout, which claims to be “against the objectification of women and sexualization of girls,” began to target the CEOs of payment and credit card companies over their enabling of the distribution of NSFW games. The matter prompted a condemning statement from the IGDA. itchi.io has returned free delisted games to the platform, and says that conversations over paid titles are still ongoing.
Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom’s desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_
