Valve have added a new rule to the Onboarding guide for game developers, noting that payment processors get a say in what stays on Steam.
Newly added rule is:
Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content.
Diff of the new terms https://github.com/SteamDatabase/SteamworksDocumentation/commit/fddd59b5395cc3c1c74574650dbf5784612d0521
:/ payment processors strike again (slippery slope etc)
I really hope the EU will step in to stop this, it’s a despicable practice, and it makes me sad that Valve doesn’t stand their ground. They’re big enough that they should be able to exert pressure on Visa and MC, who seemingly push this forward the most.
I think you’re seriously underestimating how big VISA and Mastercard are. Valve is estimated to be worth around 8 billion, Visa made 4.5 billion in profits Q2 of 2025. VISA makes more money annually than Valve is even worth. Furthermore if we exclude China, Visa and MC make up 90% of all online payments. Steam’s entire business depends on online purchases. Steam would be thoroughly fucked if Visa and MC dropped Valve.
What Visa and MC are doing is despicable and something should be done about them, but Valve is not in a position to do anything but bend over and spread the cheeks.
They can’t do anything about two foreign private parties doing their own thing. But I do hope they ditch visa and mastercard
The EU will sooner ban all adult games from Steam. Seriously, check out any porn game on steamdb.info and look for “restricted_countries” in the Metadata section. Notice a certain large EU country there?