Valve removes adult games from Steam amid payment rules

Valve has strengthened its policies regulating adult-only content to comply with requirements from Steam's payment processing partners, resulting in the removal of numerous sexually explicit games from the platform this week.

As reported by GameSpark and highlighted by Automaton, SteamDB activity logs indicate significant backend updates as Steam revised its 'Rules and Guidelines,' explicitly stating that distributing "specific types" of adult content may violate these policies.

The newly introduced section 15 now clearly prohibits "content that breaches the regulations established by Steam's payment processors, banking networks, or internet service providers."

SteamDB's X/Twitter account published an extensive list of recently removed adult-oriented games.

This may be connected to PayPal issues, as users in some regions haven't been able to use PayPal for Steam transactions over the past five days.

Complete list of removed titles: https://t.co/Vy44Q0hVGN

— SteamDB (@SteamDB) July 16, 2025

The policy update follows controversy earlier this year when UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle criticized Steam for hosting a visual novel depicting non-consensual sexual acts, including rape and incest. Developer Zerat Games later announced voluntary withdrawal of the game after its removal from UK, Canadian, and Australian stores.

While some applaud the stricter guidelines, others have voiced concerns about potential censorship and the ambiguous wording of Valve's policies.

In related news, we recently covered Valve co-founder Gabe Newell's rare discussion about his experiences living and working aboard his luxury superyacht, which he fondly calls his "boat."