Steam, the world’s largest digital distribution platform for PC games, has quietly removed several adult-oriented titles over the past few months. At first glance, it might look like a content moderation decision. But that’s not what happened. These removals weren’t the result of user complaints or community standards. They were driven by the financial back end — specifically, Visa and Mastercard.

 

It’s not the first time private financial infrastructure has exerted behind-the-scenes influence over digital platforms. But in this case, the target isn’t illegal content or financial fraud. It’s games with fictional depictions of taboo or sexually explicit scenarios — many of which were clearly marked, age-restricted, and entirely legal in the countries where they were sold. That didn’t matter.

Game developers who received removal notices from Valve (Steam’s parent company) were told their titles violated unspecified “payment processor guidelines.” No clear criteria. No published standards. In follow-up conversations, some developers were told their games couldn't be sold on Steam unless they complied with stricter rules set by the payment providers themselves — rules that went far beyond Steam’s own policies.

 

And those rules? They're opaque by design. There’s no transparent appeals process. No published framework. Just a vague, shifting understanding that if your game includes certain themes — non-consensual scenarios, incest (even when fictional and clearly disclosed), or anything that might seem too provocative — your payments won’t be processed. And if Steam can’t process payments, Steam can’t host the game. Simple as that.

Developers aren’t being banned outright. They’re being demonetized — and in a commercial ecosystem, that’s a quieter, far more effective form of censorship.

 

It’s worth noting that Valve didn’t make these decisions out of moral panic. In fact, the company has historically prided itself on a hands-off approach to content, trusting its users to make informed choices and relying on robust tagging, content warnings, and opt-in filters. In 2018, Valve made headlines when it announced it would “allow everything” on Steam so long as it wasn’t illegal or “straight-up trolling.”

 

But principles don’t hold up well against a financial ultimatum. When your business model relies on card payments — and those card companies threaten to pull out — even the most permissive content policies collapse.

What’s changed isn’t Valve’s attitude toward expression. It’s their leverage. Steam didn’t rewrite its rules. It got financially coerced into outsourcing them to Visa and Mastercard.

 

We’ve seen this playbook before. In 2020, Visa and Mastercard cut ties with Pornhub following a New York Times article highlighting deeply serious concerns over abuse and unverified content. The site removed millions of videos and revamped its moderation policies overnight — but the financial damage was done. In 2021, OnlyFans announced a brief ban on explicit content, citing pressure from banks and payment providers. The ban was reversed days later, but the message was clear: the people who control the money control the medium.

 

Now, that same financial leverage is being used not just to target real-world exploitation, but to suppress controversial fiction. Stories that explore morally gray areas, power imbalances, or taboo subjects — even within safe, clearly labeled digital spaces — are being shut down. Not by courts. Not by customers. But by two private companies with no public oversight.

The result is a new form of gatekeeping, enforced not by regulators, but by risk managers and legal departments terrified of headlines. There's no due process. No consistency. Just quiet decisions made in boardrooms, affecting creators halfway around the world.

 

Developers are scrambling. Some have moved to alternative platforms like itch.io. Others are exploring decentralized hosting or cryptocurrency-based payments to avoid the card networks altogether. But none of those options offer the visibility, traffic, or commercial viability of Steam. For many, the choice is stark: self-censor, or lose your livelihood.

This isn’t about morality. It’s about control — financial control that masquerades as corporate responsibility. Visa and Mastercard may not make games, but they’re shaping what games can exist. What stories can be told. What art is allowed to survive.

And like all powerful editors, they never have to explain their redlines.