Valve Fires Back After MasterCard Denies Role In Steam Adult Content Purge, Says Credit Card Company Pressured “Payment Processors And Their Acquiring Banks”
Valve has fired back at MasterCard’s claim that they played absolutely no part in the recent forced removal of several ‘mature’ titles from their online Steam storefront.
In a statement to Kotaku, a spokesperson for Valve explained, “Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so. Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks.”
“Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steam’s policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution. Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand,” the spokesperson concludes.
At the time of the removal, Valve told PC Gamer, “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. As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store.”
Similarly, on the day of its de-indexing adult games, Itch.io announced, “Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted on itch.io. […] To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.”
Conversely, the intermediary payment company insists that they only prevent the purchase of “illegal adult content” and other unlawful purchases.
Yet, their own terms of service reveal another reason they leaned on Steam and Itch.io, and earlier statements from both stores claim that their actions were due to payment processors.
Per Mastercard’s official statement “Clarifying recent headlines on gaming content,” the company claims, “Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations.”
“Our payment network follows standards based on the rule of law. Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network. At the same time, we require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content,” the payment processor emphasized.
According to the Mastercard Rules, Chapter 5, section 5.12.7 (p. 122), “A Merchant must not submit to its Acquirer, and a Customer must not submit to the Interchange System, any Transaction that is illegal, or in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation or reflect negatively on the Marks.”
So, even if said transaction is legal in the country of purchase and sale, Mastercard may refuse it if it believes it will damage their business. As such, enough outcry by third parties can force Mastercard to refuse a sale, or work with a business.
The rule also forbids “The sale of a product or service, including an image, which is patently offensive and lacks serious artistic value (such as, by way of example and not limitation, images of nonconsensual sexual behavior, sexual exploitation of a minor, nonconsensual mutilation of a person or body part, and bestiality), or any other material that the Corporation deems unacceptable to sell in connection with a Mark.”
Those in violation can be audited, forbidden from using Mastercard, and fined $200,000 USD or “USD 2,500 per day, retroactive to the first day of the noncompliant practice.”
Despite the insistence from Mastercard, the company’s social media post received a community note on X — citing reports by The Guardian and Otaku USA Magazine.
“Both Steam and Itch have stated their removal of adult content came from pressure by payment processors, including Mastercard,” the damning community note read, adding, “Furthermore, Mastercard and other payment processors have a documented history of refusing service to Japanese retailers over legal adult content.”
Earlier in July, activist group Collective Shout made demands for payment processors to not do business with Steam, over games depicting illegal adult content. You may remember Collective Shout for their demands to take down No Mercy from Steam in April.
The open letter was aimed at the CEO’s of PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, Paysafe, Discover, and the Japanese Credit Bureau. They opened with the claim, “Your corporations facilitating and profiting from rape, incest and child sexual abuse game sales.” The group would later allege they had directly contacted Steam and Itch.io, to no avail, Eurogamer reports.
After Steam began removing adult games with such content, along with Itch.io delisting such titles as well (though it reindexed them later), some rejected the move. One defense asserts that, as works of fiction, the games are legally allowed to be sold (though not legal to be purchased in all nations).
Others believed it would lead to overreach; legal content that is pornographic or controversial but intending to horrify rather than delight, or allowing payment processors to be judge and jury rather than the government. This seemingly sparked the Japan Fair Trade Commission to tell Visa to reform their practices.
There have also been reports of players complaining directly to Mastercard and Visa, and unconfirmed claims Visa customer service becoming increasingly frustrated by it.
Despite Visa being in the spotlight for complaints, it seems Mastercard was spurred into giving a statement that, at this time of publishing, the payment intermediary company has not yet made.
