Earlier this month, Steam amended its publisher guidelines toprohibit “content that may violate the rules” set by credit card companiessuch as Visa and Mastercard. Dozens of adult games were soon purged from the platform.
A group called Collective Shout later claimed responsibility, stating that it had pressured payment processors directly to take actionafter Steam failed to respond. While many of the games removed were controversial, often graphic adult visual novels detailing incst, rpe, and slavery, players wereconcerned about the precedent being set and the potential for future censorship, as the group had previously targeted games such asDetroit: Become Humanfor depicting child abuse, andGTA 5for allowing the murder of female NPCs.
Others worried that LGBTQ+ games would be flagged as ‘adult’ and targeted, too.
Fans have since launched petitions andcalled credit card companies directlyin the hopes of stopping future purges, but interestingly, a bill is already under review right now that concerns this very problem.
Kevin Cramer Wants To Restrict Payment Card Networks From Refusing To Do Business With Anyone Who Complies With The Law
Republican Senator Kevin Cramerintroduced a bill into the Congressional Record on February 4 earlier this year, before Steam had even amended its guidelines, which seeks to place “restrictions on certain banks, credit unions, and payment card networks if they refuse to do business with a person who complies with the law.”
Itch recently updated its FAQto outline what could get your game banned from its storefront, including several bodily waste fetishes. None of which is illegal, just controversial.
If passed, this bill would “protect against banks being able to impede otherwise lawful commerce and thereby achieving certain public policy goals”. In other words, credit card companies would likely no longer be able to refuse service to developers so long as what they are selling is legal, which means that companies like Visa and Mastercard would no longer be able to demand storefronts such as Steam and Itch remove adult games due to pressure from political entities.
This could even encompass the aforementioned controversial games, as Cramer specifically notes that the bill would “ensure that persons involved in politically unpopular businesses but that are lawful under Federal law receive fair access to financial services”.
It’s unclear when the Senate and House of Representatives will vote on the bill, but should it be passed and approved by President Donald Trump, Valve and Itch would potentially no longer be beholden to payment processors on what they can sell on their platforms.
