Steam Gets Strict on Adult Content

Whether you consider yourself a casual gamer or you’re not sure you’ve gone without a game a day in your life, chances are you’ve heard of Steam. If you haven’t, it’s a widely popular gaming “marketplace” where users have access to hundreds of thousands of games. Steam is one of the only platforms offering access to titles developed by independent artists. Though it carries well-known games from recognizable developers, its focus has been games that you won’t find at a GameStop or a Target. Recently, however, the company has taken an alarming turn towards needless censorship, adding significantly to the number of hoops game developers have to jump through to get their title on Steam. 

It appears the recent wave of censorship against OnlyFans creators and “adult content” has taken aim at its next target: the gaming industry. 

Steam has staff specifically dedicated to game testing, making sure nothing sold on the platform has any major issues. Steam also notes whether or not the game contains any sexual, vulgar or violent content, so they can essentially “rate” which age groups should play the game. The game’s developer is also required to disclose what kind of content can be found in the game. 

Meredith Gran, cartoonist and developer of Perfect Tides and Perfect Tides: Station to Station, says Steam gave her pretty much no trouble when she submitted her first title for testing. “[The process] went so smoothly that it practically seemed automated,” Gran said. 

Perfect Tides is a two-dimensional adventure series that follows Mara Whitefish as she goes through life’s trials on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the east coast of the United States. Gran says the explicit content found in the sequel, Perfect Tides: Station to Station is “nothing you wouldn’t see in [a] PG13 movie”, but nevertheless, Steam took issue with it. 

It’s not just Gran’s game, either. Steam has been inexplicably grouping titles that have brief nudity with titles that only serve a sexual purpose. Future? No Thanks! is meant as a funny, futuristic game where users explore a world as a cranky old man who is scheduled to be euthanized the following day. Sounds pretty benign, right? The game’s developer, Paolo Pedercini, describes his title as containing little more than “brief nudity and implied off-screen sexual activity”. Yet somehow, when attempting to access this title, users get the same “are you at least 18 years old?” message they would get should they try to click on “those hentai and porn games whose main purpose is titillation,” as Pedercini puts it. 

What’s disturbing is, Pedercini built a new game with zero nudity, but Steam still rejected it. They told Pedercini his title “contains sexual content that is explicit or graphic and intended for adults only.” Pedercini says, “They say they can’t specify the reasons or point at the content.” He plans to get rid of all mentions of sex, all nudity, anything Steam could reject the game for, and release that content “elsewhere”. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if they already made a final decision and tagged it ‘adult only’ even without any mentions of sex,” he added.

Whether you call it mislabeling or blatant censorship of independent game developers, this issue really limits a game’s audience. Game developers aren’t chomping at the bit to rework their game to fit within Steam’s mystifying parameters, either. In fact, Meredith Gran says the very idea “repulses” her. “Stories of adulthood, of young adulthood and beyond, always involve explicit content, content that is potentially inappropriate for children… I try not to moralize and just present things frankly, and that’s really the only thing I’m interested in doing,” she says. 

In the UK, the Online Safety Act requires proof of an individual’s identity when attempting to access “mature” content (a similar bill narrowly missed being passed here in the states). Falsely labeling games as “adult” for no good reason greatly reduces a game’s potential audience, thereby limiting the amount of money a developer makes for their game. Aside from the money, game developers say it’s the secrecy and lack of communication that makes them angry. Steam made Gran wait for two weeks. “I’m just left to speculate,” Gran says. “Who is this person who’s deciding the fate of this game I’ve been working on for four and a half years?” Her game, Perfect Tides: Station to Station ended up being approved with no further communication.

Steam’s parent company, Valve, is currently being sued by multiple plaintiffs who claim Steam is a “monopoly” in the independent game market. If they continue their campaign against game developers, the number of lawsuits they’re implicated in could skyrocket.