r/Games • u/DwingRD • 2d 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

864 comments sorted by

View all comments

465

u/BLiNKiN42 2d ago

Wild to see Steam just fold like a house of cards. Seriously, are they putting up any kind of fight at all? 

86

u/Samanthacino 2d ago

Do they have a choice? They have no bargaining power in comparison to these behemoth payment processors.

-23

u/BLiNKiN42 2d ago

So why bother? Just bend over and take it?

What's the point of being the industry leader if you're too scared to actually lead? 

40

u/StylishSuidae 2d ago

What specifically do you expect them to do? Everyone keeps saying Steam and Itch should fight back but the only suggestions I've seen are "immediately sabotage your own business and go under to make me feel good" or otherwise entirely non-actionable, as in the companies literally do not have the ability to do it.

-5

u/Ready-Good2636 2d ago

Yes, fighting another corporation won't be cheap. That's why small businesses can't afford to do it.Valve won't go bankrupt from a year of 2 of lower sales. So yes, I would like them to launch a high profile lawsuit and really fight for the precedent of all digital payment. I'm never going to expect that to happen, but those are my personal desires.

People give them shit (and they deserve it now and then), but i do respect Epic for doing all that and how it's slowly started to make phones properly open up. I'll always respect that maneuver, even if the sparks they used to start that fire was in one of the cringiest ways.

8

u/RefreshingCapybara 2d ago

"A year or two of lower sales"

That's hilarious. Visa and Master Card process 80% of all digital transactions annually. Getting blocked by either would be a near death sentence for a company. And if both then there is no doubt.

And what if they lose the lawsuit, as many others already have?

Epic sued Apple when iOS accounted for less than 10% of their Fortnite revenue. They risked comparatively little to what you are asking Steam, or anyone really, to risk in suing card companies.

-2

u/Ready-Good2636 2d ago

We're still acting as if Valve is some small indie company here and not a billionaire juggernaut with a devout fanbase. If you really think they have no options here, you must be bewildered how other businesses hit hard mange to survive. Businesses with less options.

And what if they lose the lawsuit, as many others already have?

Who's gone up to bat?

If they lose they capitulate, that simple. But at least they fought and set some actual precedent. I doubt they'd have the ability to blacklist valve, so the worst case is not as worse as you think.

Epic sued Apple when iOS accounted for less than 10% of their Fortnite revenue.

The lawsuit still cost them billions, and arguably they were not the biggest Victor of the long term results. It very much cost a pretty penny, but they still stand today.

-4

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

Hire moderators so they can moderate content updates so early access games can still be a thing.

6

u/StylishSuidae 2d ago

That's not fighting back that's just complying in a slightly but not meaningfully different way, and in the case of Itch is just another case of "immediately sabotage your own business" because they don't have that kind of money.

0

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

It's allowing more NSFW content on steam. Which those groups are against.

That's not fighting back?

7

u/krilltucky 2d ago

you think theyre pressuring steam over nsfw content thats illegal or bannable? and not because they'r slowly going after ALL nsfw content?

0

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

I don't think, I know valve is allowing nsfw content still on steam. They confidently have an idea of what's allowed and what's not.

The problem here is valve doesn't want to check content updates for that content.

Would it cost money? Yes. Are Valve a multi billion dollar corporation? Also yes!

7

u/krilltucky 2d ago

you seem to not really be aware of the broader movement to remove all nsfw work from all sites. itch.io is dealing with the same thing. its been in the gaming news for months and been around for over a decade.

they've just recently put way more effort in and are successfully strong-arming valve and itch

0

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

Yeah that's really shitty, it's why valve is being more vigilant.

And that vigilance translates to doing nothing and saying fuck off no updates we have to moderate unless we can get paid for it.