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)
That’s why you should be buying those games from itch / Patreon/ SubscribeStar, banking on a single game store is a loosing game.
That is why EU has the DMA That is why a market is only healthy if you participate in it
E.g. when buying coffee (except for Starbucks) I’ll go to any café that sells it, if it looks too corporate or dirty I’ll go somewhere else.
The problem with that is that all of these platforms also use the same big payment providers, meaning they’re just as likely to be forced to remove these sorts of games.
True. A number of Patreon folk had to go for SubscribeStar or elsewhere because they decided to ban several types of fetish
Patreon has similar restrictions. I’m not sure about itch. They all rely mostly on stripe for payments. Stripe gets to set a lot of terms, and switching platforms doesn’t usually change that.
I’ve noticed that enforcement becomes more of a thing the larger the platform
AFAIK Steam uses adyen for payments (at least that’s my experience every time Steam wants to verify my credit card).
They will be next as all of those also use the CC companies.