Steam introduces vague new rules banning 'certain kinds of adult content' to appease credit card companies

UPDATE 18/7/25: In response to questions from Eurogamer regarding Steam’s new guidelines preventing “certain types of adult content” from being distributed on the platform, Valve has provided some general background on the events leading to the decision.

“We were recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks,” a Valve spokesperson told Eurogamer. “As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store, because loss of payment methods would prevent customers from being able to purchase other titles and game content on Steam.”

The company added it was directly notifying developers if any of their titles are impacted by the new rules and will be issuing app credits in case they have other games they’d like to distribute on Steam in the future.

ORIGINAL STORY 16/7/25: Valve has introduced new – and worryingly vague – guidelines aimed at the adult-only game development community, forbidding content that may “violate the rules and standards” set by credit card companies, internet network providers, and more.

It’s not precisely clear when Valve introduced this latest rule stipulating what developers “shouldn’t publish on Steam”, but it appears to have been added sometime in the last couple of months. So what’s now banned from the platform? According to Valve, “Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by [its] payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers.”