Steam Users Are Mad at Valve for Banning Adult-Only Games off Its Platform

In a recent policy update to Steam, Valve has banned adult-only games that upset guidelines set by payment processors and banks. This has resulted in the gaming platform purging thousands of titles off its platform. However, many Steam users are angry with the decision and claim it sets a dangerous precedent.

Steam Users Claim Adult-Only Ban Is Bad For the Platform

On July 16, Steam updated its store policy, which effectively banned adult-only games off the platform. The new change specifically was added as ‘Rule 15’ on the SteamWorks Rules & Guidelines page: “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.”

It’s unclear what triggered this change. However, Valve had recently come under fire for allowing publishers to sell adult-only games that featured sexual assault. While many Steam users are glad to see these particular games gone, they are also angry at Valve for what they claim is a bad precedent. Specifically, users are upset that Steam is now allowing banks and payment processors to determine which games can and can’t be sold on the platform.

Over on the Steam subreddit, many posters reacted negatively to the policy update. “I don’t care about the games removed, I care about the precedent it sets. THIS is the problem with Steam’s monopoly. If an entity can bully Valve enough, we all just HAVE to roll over. What’s next? No more guns allowed on Steam? No more scary words?” one user wrote. Another commenter argued, “Next they will target normal adult games. Then they will target combat games that have ‘too much gore.’ It will then be games with any kind of killing, etc., cause that’s how the slippery slope works.”

Valve Begins Purging Thousands Of Adult-Only Games

According to SteamDB, Valve has already begun acting quickly on its new policy update. Within just a few hours of Rule 15 going into effect, thousands of games have been mass-deleted off the platform. The tracking site also posted an image on X showing a list of titles that have already been purged.

Interestingly, SteamDB also theorizes that the Steam adult-only ban might be tied to PayPal. In a follow-up post, the account revealed that several countries had been unable to use the payment platform on Steam in the week leading up to the policy update. “This is possibly related to PayPal. People in certain regions have not been able to use it to pay on Steam for the past five days.”

If you want to see a full list of every game being removed on Steam in real time, you can see that here. As I said earlier, Valve has not made a statement about what triggered the policy update. Regardless, it seems like adult-centered content has seen its last days on the Valve-owned platform.