Imagine a world where your credit card company decides what games you can buy on Steam. That unthinkable future just arrived. Valve, known for its handsoff approach, has added a new rule that would change PC gaming forever. Not by law, but by the powers of payment processors like Visa and Mastercard. Starting today, Valve updated its what you shouldn’t publish on Steam section to include content that may violate the rules set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks or internet network providers, in particular certain kinds of adult content. This seemingly vague line has already been used as Steam DB has reported the removal of a bunch of games, mainly the ones with incest themes. While Valve hasn’t explicitly named the names of the reason for this happening, unconfirmed reports and industry patterns strongly point to major players like PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard, the most popular payment methods on Steam. There were even unconfirmed rumors about PayPal’s temporary unavailability on Steam pointing to this, but I couldn’t find anything that confirmed this was directly tied to PayPal. One group, Collective Shout, a campaign for women, seems to be the ones mainly responsible, having released several articles and open letters to these payment processors making claims about the games on Steam just within the last few days. So, as these companies took note of this letter and told Valve they were going to leave the platform, Valve was left with adding this rule and giving these payment companies a bunch of power over Steam. This new rule is important because it’s not just a small tweak. It’s a fundamental change to Steam. As now these payment processors or other companies like internet providers have direct influence on Steam and what games are allowed on the platform. For many, this is a big worry. If payment companies can decide what adult content is allowed, people are asking what stops them from deciding about other things next. This is where we get into a slippery slope where one small change could lead to much bigger unwanted changes down the road. Now, it’s important to understand that Valve is likely left with very few choices in this situation as not listening to the payment processors would have led to them removing their services from the platform, which is what many have reported happened already by PayPal shortly before this rule was added. Now, to truly understand how big this change is, we need to look at Steam’s past. This isn’t about the specific adult games taken down. It’s about a complete reversal of Valve’s long-standing hands-off approach to moderation. Before, Steam allowed a lot of games on the platform as long as it wasn’t outright illegal. The main times Valve would take down a game where if it had some malware inside, broke one of the very few Valve rules, or a specific government requested to get it removed. Vel’s position with moderation and the relaxed rules led to Steam having a large number of adult games and sometimes other controversial content. This position Valve had brought them a bunch of complaints. In 2018, Steam faced criticism for a hate group problem due to lacks enforcement against hate speech. Now, this wasn’t a game, but it shows how Valve generally handled moderating across the entire platform. In December 2022, US Senator Maggie Hassan even questioned Valve’s efforts regarding Nazism, white supremacy and misogyny on the platform. In late 2024, ADO made a report about how Steam had an extremism and anti-semitism problem, which led to another US senator, Mark Warner, asking Valve to do something or face further scrutiny by the US government. But Valve usually just ignored these complaints and requests for stronger moderation as long as nothing was outright illegal or broke their existing rules. They generally wouldn’t intervene with the content on their platform. So now payment processors are no longer just handling your transactions. They’re becoming content gatekeepers with massive power over what can be bought and sold online. The thing is, this isn’t just a Steam issue. This is happening all over, showing a clear pattern. We’ve seen major hits in Japan’s anime and manga market. For example, platforms like Suruga and manga library Z were forced to remove adult content or even shut down because payment processors demanded it. Another Japanese platform DL site even tried to fight back, temporarily blocking Visa and Mastercard to keep its adult content available. Just this year, payment processors in Japan started holding back money from adult game creators on Steam. This was such a big deal that it led to an official investigation by the Japanese government into these payment companies and their practices. It’s not just Japan either. Only Fans in 2021 famously announced that they would ban all sexual content because of pressure from their payment processors until they reversed the decision. Patreon 2 has faced similar issues in the past. So, as we’re seeing with Steam’s new rule, this isn’t just Valve’s problem. It’s a widespread issue showing how these powerful payment companies like Visa and Mastercard are deciding what gets sold and what doesn’t across the internet. The thing is now we’re seeing this first step. If payment processors can now influence certain kinds of adultly content, the real question is where does it stop? This is the big concern for many people. If these powerful companies can block one type of content today, what prevents them from moving on to other types tomorrow? Could it be games that talk about different political topics? What about games that tell stories some people might find controversial or challenging? Could they even push for changes on games that don’t fit certain beliefs, even if they’re perfectly legal? The door is now wide open. Before Steam decided, but with Valve’s new rule, these payment processing companies and others like internet providers now have a huge say for what’s allowed on Steam. This means they could in the future decide what games you buy, not based on laws, but on their rules. This is a big deal because it takes away control from Valve and gives it to these companies whose main job isn’t about games or art, but about money and transactions. Now, I’ve already seen a few different suggestions from different Steam users, including exploring different payment options, like maybe crypto, or even the possibility of Valve developing its own payment system. Think of a Valve Pay to get around these restrictions entirely. Velv’s new rule, which is directly influenced by powerful payment processors, card companies, banks, and internet providers, marks a big moment for the platform. What do you think Velv should do? Should payment processors have this much