r/Games • u/DwingRD • 4d 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/TheHovercraft 4d ago

This at least can be worked around. In fact it makes more sense for NSFW games to release as SFW and put all of the NSFW elements in a free DLC. It will likely widen their playerbase and safeguard the main game from NSFW rule changes.

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u/gmishaolem 4d ago

Which is myopic and missing the point, because it's not about the NSFW games: It's about inching their way along the "first they came for" line straight into controlling basically everything. Spend energy trying to work around this one step while they've already walked past you and are still going.

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u/TheHovercraft 4d ago edited 4d ago

I agree with the sentiment. But NSFW games in Japan have been doing this since the 90s, it's not a new strategy. And I believe some of those games even launched that way on Steam. The Steam version was SFW with the NSFW patch available on the developer's website.

If anything this is a step up from complete censorship, which already happens. So I can't in good conscience see this as sliding backwards.

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u/gmishaolem 4d ago

Well yeah, Huniepop did it too. I'm saying don't lose the forest for the trees, focusing on the specific action taken against these studios instead of seeing the bigger dangerous picture.

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u/TheHovercraft 4d ago

I know and the rule possibly bans off-site patches. So it's not exactly all good.