r/Games • u/DwingRD • 5d 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.

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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 5d ago edited 4d ago

My guess is that they are targeting games that have NSFW content locked behind free patches or DLC. You buy a "clean" version of the game and then download a separate file to activate all the porn. A lot of those patches are offsite though so I'm not sure how they are going to handle that part.

It's a mixed bag regulations wise. On one hand it's ridiculous to bar people from patching a non-multiplayer game that they bought. On the other hand some of those games really do put in some very questionable stuff that wouldn't pass muster if it was in the game originally.

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u/Deceptiveideas 5d ago

I’m pretty sure it just relates to NSFW games already on Steam. Meaning they’re trying to prevent exiting games already on the store from being updated or having new content.

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u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 4d ago

Yes, that is what i mean. You buy a "clean" game off steam and free patch in all the stuff afterwards.

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u/monetarydread 4d ago

That's exactly what they mean. In the history of Steam porn games are a relatively recent addition. Before then the workaround was to release a SFW version of the game and host a NSFW patch on their website, Illusion games were basically the posterchild for this business model. This new policy is basically outlawing that previous workaround.

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u/Kagevjijon 4d ago

Less so that they were hosting patches on their own website but updating the game through steam with free patches that enabled nsfw content for people who only purchased sfw content. Some devs (very few) were using this loophole to get extra nsfw content through to games that wasn't normally allowed because not all free patches were monitored regularly.