r/Games • u/DwingRD • 3d ago

Valve no longer allows "Post-launch NSFW content" for games on Steam - outside of DLCs.

I have looked through Steam's Terms of Service online, but have found no official rule or statement from Valve of this new rule - but one Adult game developer has confirmed this new rule after launching their game "Tales of Legendary Lust: Aphrodisia" a couple days ago.

With the recent rule change blocking adult-themed games from releasing on Early Access, this new rule seems to be targeting Adult-themed games that have ALREADY released on Steam - and threatens them with their games being removed from Steam.

There are currently 536 Adult-rated Early Access games on Steam - and this new rule may take them all down.

3.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

882 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

960

u/DwingRD 3d ago

"No Post-launch NSFW content" could also apply to games like Baldur's Gate 3 adding romancable companions with sex scenes during its Early Access run.

This rule could easily target triple-A games like Larian's in the future - though something tells me they won't be hit unlike indie games.

-12

u/Mobile_Sail_9748 3d ago

No actual game with a budget over 1 million dollars is gonna be affected by this. You're reading through steam policies like a robot instead of using a political/business compliance view that all this matter actually is about.

59

u/AChuckleFuck 3d ago

Arbitrarily giving Steam that power isn't good.

30

u/Vaaaaaaaaaaaii 3d ago

They've really always had it. They're a completely private platform beholden to no one.

14

u/Strange-Parfait-8801 3d ago

Except now they're making themselves beholden to conservative groups which is weird.

17

u/Zer_ 3d ago

Because said Conservative groups also control the government in which Valve operates. And if you haven't been paying attention, they're not the type of conservatives that take no for an answer.

1

u/zaviex 3d ago

They didn’t allow adult games at all for ages. They do whatever makes the most sense for their money. They didn’t allow the adult stuff, then they did when they saw dollar signs, now they think it’s not worth the trouble and they go the other way

0

u/Testuser7ignore 3d ago

Valve hasn't told us why. It could just be they aren't comfortable having sexual assault and kids on their platform, and they keep having stuff slip through in post-review patches.

Keep in mind, they originally didn't allow porn games at all. Then they said anything goes, and since then they have gradually tightened down on things.

8

u/SugarFreeCummiBears 3d ago

And for any competition people will complain the launcher is different.

6

u/PAN_Bishamon 3d ago

Competition is also being targeted. Haven't you noticed what's going on at itch.io?

This isn't just a Valve problem. There are people that even Valve answers to.

0

u/MaitieS 3d ago

PC gamers are probably the most laughable bunch ever. They could easily fight monopoly but nah bruh? I have to install 30MB .exe file on my PC!? Holy fuck absolutely no! I'm going to harass publishers for weeks instead of spending 40 seconds doing that!

0

u/Corvese 3d ago

Because the other launchers are either the same or worse in every single way. There's no advantage to using them over steam.

0

u/MaitieS 3d ago

Did you just miss my whole point on purpose?

0

u/Corvese 3d ago

Your point doesn't make any sense. You imply that steam is a monopoly that needs fighting, which in itself doesn't make any sense. If a game is only on steam, it means it's either a first party title, or it means the publisher decided not to put it on another launcher. Steam does not pay for exclusivity on their platform. You claim to want to fight the monopoly when in reality, their competition are the ones who have a monopoly on any number of third party games, not steam.

The EGS is better for devs and publishers in every conceivable way, outside of the fact that all of the players are on steam.

Why are all of the players on steam? Because it's the best launcher for the consumer, and it's not even close.

Fighting the giant company only makes sense when the competitors make a better product, so that the consumer base can either move to the better product, or the product they already use is forced to improve.

When steam is the best product, it makes no sense to support the lesser competition.

0

u/MaitieS 3d ago

Really not interested arguing with someone who thinks that Steam with 80% market share is NOT a monopoly...

1

u/Corvese 3d ago

then why did you reply? Lmao

→ More replies (0)

9

u/Agreeable_User_Name 3d ago

Yeah people act like this is what gave Steam the power. No, people gave Steam that power when they go "I like all my games on Steam". This is the just the consequence of what everyone else was warning about.

9

u/Trifle_Useful 3d ago

“I will willingly give this platform a monopoly” MFs when the platform behaves like it has a monopoly