Overview

The Steam Payment Processor Update Controversy refers to backlash over a change to the Steam guidelines, purportedly brought on by the group Collective Shout, stating that content that violates the rules made by payment processors will not be allowed on the store. The update resulted in the removal of a variety of adult-oriented video games from Steam, most of which included incest and other sexually explicit themes. News of the update started spreading online on July 16th, 2025, inspiring outrage from some, who saw the removal of the games as a form of censorship and worried that it would result in non-pornographic games with suggestive or even LGBTQ+ themes getting removed as well. The purported feminist group Collective Shout allegedly inspired the update as, days prior, they published an open letter calling for payment processors to stop processing payments on Steam and Itch.io. On July 24th, 2025, Itch.io announced that they would be deindexing all NSFW games from the site after coming under scrutiny from their payment processors and Collective Shout.

Background

Collective Shout's "Open Letter To Payment Processors"

On July 11th, 2025, Collective Shout,^[1] a "grassroots campaigns movement against the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls," published a piece titled, "Open letter to payment processors profiting from rape, incest + child abuse games on Steam."

The open letter addresses the CEOs of various payment processors, including PayPal, Mastercard, Visa and more, and suggests that they are profiting off of "rape, incest and child sexual abuse" by working with Steam and Itch.io.

The letter discusses what they call a "rape simulation game," titled No Mercy, claiming they got the game geo-blocked in Australia and ultimately got it pulled from Steam altogether when they called it out in April 2025.^[2] The letter then reads:

However we have since discovered hundreds of other games featuring rape, incest and child sexual abuse on both Steam and Itch.io. Our research has shown many of these games would breach Australian classification laws. Most of the content found within the games, including the graphics and the developers descriptions, are too distressing for us to make public.

At the end of the letter, Collective Shout requests that payment processors stop processing payments on Steam, Itch.io "and any other platforms hosting similar games." On July 14th, Collective Shout^[3] published a media release about the open letter.

Payment Processors Update

On July 16th, 2025, Bluesky^[4] user @mrhands31 posted a screenshot of an update to Steam's Steamworks guidelines, writing, "The dire state of selling adult games online just got dire-er. Valve updated Steamworks with rule 15, that says they will not stand up for adult gamedevs against Mastercard's morality policing." The rule, which is under the "What you shouldn’t publish on Steam" section of the Steamworks Documentation,^[5] reads:

15. 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.

Hours later, Bluesky^[6] and X^[7] user @steamdb.info posted an image showing a variety of Steam games and add-ons, all seemingly related to incest and sexually explicit themes, that were purportedly removed from Steam following the implementation of rule 15. The post gained around 250 likes on the former and 3,500 on the latter in two days.

Developments

Steam's Response

On July 17th, 2025, Gaming On Linux^[8] published an update to their article about the situation, "Valve gets pressured by payment processors with a new rule for game devs and various adult games removed." The update included a quote from someone at Valve about the Steamworks update. The statement reads:

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, because loss of payment methods would prevent customers from being able to purchase other titles and game content on Steam.

We are directly notifying developers of these games, and issuing app credits should they have another game they’d like to distribute on Steam in the future.

Itch.io NSFW Ban

On July 24th, 2025, Indie video game hosting site Itch.io announced^[18] that they would be de-indexing all NSFW games in July 2025 due to scrutiny from their payment processor following pressure from the organization Collective Shout. Itch.io believes that they were targeted by Collective Shout due to a game titled No Mercy, which was temporarily available on itch.io before being banned back in April.

The news was reposted to the subreddit /u/pcgaming^[19] by /u/Shock4ndAwe, where it gathered over 3,000 upvotes in a day.

Several internet users reacted to the news that Itch.io was banning NSFW games, with X^[20] user @DussopsFables tweeted, "This aged like milk" on July 24th, in response to a 2022 Itch.io post about how "ITCHIO IS NOT FOR PRUDES."

Also on July 24th, X^[21] user @basterbinez tweeted, "itchio removing nsfw works is like when tumblr banned porn, vast and arrogant overestimation that anyone uses the website for anything else lol," gathering over 7,000 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

The news about the update to Steam's guidelines spread online over the following days, inspiring concerns and backlash. It also inspired backlash towards Collective Shout.

For instance, on July 16th, 2025, Redditor u/TeaLycan made a post to the /r/Steam^[9] subreddit voicing concerns, reading:

"[Steam] are an enormous client of these processors, and could exert pressure on payment processors to back off on policing other people's businesses – this will extend far beyond porn games and the like, after all. Could you imagine something like Larian being unable to sell Baldur's Gate 3 because it has sexual content? A massive mistake on Valve's part, and I hope they course correct," garnering over 2,200 upvotes in two days."

That same day, X^[10] user @Grummz made a post about the update that gained over 5,300 likes in two days.

Also on July 16th, X^[11] user @H1BeesNuts made a post blaming Collective Shout for getting the games taken off of Steam, writing, "We found the main source of payment processor pressure on Steam. It's the feminists," later elaborating in a comment, garnering over 17,000 likes in two days.

Later that day, Twitch streamer Asmongold posted a comment on X^[12] about the payment processor drama, writing, "Payment processor monopolistic censorship is one of the biggest unchecked cartels right now. Regulation is needed to either break up these companies or guarantee a degree of service," garnering over 14,000 likes in two days.

On July 17th, 2025, X^[13] user @StainedFarewell made a post about the controversy, sharing an image of LeyLey from The Coffin of Andy and LeyLey, a popular game featuring an incestuous relationship, reading, "What do you mean that Steam will ban games and TCOAAL is being one of them?…" garnering over 5,500 likes in a day.

On July 18th, Redditor u/vazulkootur made a post to the /r/Steam^[14] subreddit calling out Collective Shout as the ones behind the update, garnering over 3,800 upvotes in under a day.

Trial of Innocence Rumor

As news of the guideline update went viral, the Ace Attorney-inspired game Trial of Innocence was removed from Steam. Some believed this was due to the payment processor update.^[15]

For example, on July 17th, 2025, a post to the subreddit /r/greentext^[17] discussing the rumor with an image from 4chan received over 7,100 upvotes and 210 comments in 20 hours.

Later on July 17th, the game's developer made a post on Steam^[16] claiming it was temporarily removed because of a DMCA strike and had no connection to the guideline update.

Search Interest

External References