A handful of "adult" themed game developers have received emails from Valve, requesting that the games either remove supposed content that goes against Steam's TOS, or be removed from the Steam Store entirely. HuniePop, Mutiny!!!, and The Stargazers, according to Valve, have been reported by unnamed users for "pornographic content", and are to be pulled from sale within 2 weeks if changes are not made. By technicality, none of the Steam versions of these games have such content, as it had to be censored to make it onto Steam initially. HuniePop itself, is a game that has been unchanged and sold on Steam since 2015, selling over 500,000 copies, yet it has not faced removal concerns until now. There are uncensor patches hosted offsite, but unless Steam has quietly changed its TOS, then these games met needed requirements already.

With such a claim being made years after the fact, it brings into question what content Valve considers too "racy" to allow on their digital storefront, and what games will be further removed. Two of the affected developers, HuniePot and Lupiesoft have spoken about their issue on Twitter, stating that their games "follow Steam's guidelines...we were told [by Valve] ecchi content was fine on Steam.". Lupiesoft goes on to say that this could potentially jeopardize the company, and that Steam's targeting of their games is unfair, due to a large content of western games having similar, if not more nudity.

What are your thoughts? Is this kind of removal wrong? What do you think has prompted Valve to only now take action?

We've just received some troubling news today that @steam_games has decided to pull down our titled "Mutiny!!" within 2 weeks for 'reports of pornographic content'. Now those of you who know @Lupiesoft know that we don't put that on Steam, or advertise that content on Steam.

— Lupiesoft (@Lupiesoft) May 18, 2018

- IMPORTANT NOTICE -
I've received an e-mail from Valve stating that HuniePop violates the rules & guidelines for pornographic content on Steam and will be removed from the store unless the game is updated to remove said content.

— Kyu Sugardust (@HunieKyu) May 17, 2018

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EDIT:

• Nekopara's developer's game, "Tropical Liquor" has also received an email requesting that the game be censored, or removed.
• Kindred Spirits has been notified.
• Battle Girls and Galaxy Girls has been notified.
• Re:Lord 1 has been notified.
• Roommates has been notified.

UPDATE 2: As of May 19, all developers that received this warning email from Valve, have all gotten a follow up email stating that emails about imminent removal of their games was sent out by mistake, to disregard the warning, and that the games will be re-reviewed immediately to make sure the games do indeed meet requirements to stay on the Steam Storefront.

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[Foxi4]

This is precisely what happens when a service faces next to no competition, becomes sloppy as a result and forgets that they're there to serve the users, not to nitpick the content they serve. I'm glad someone sane reconsidered, it was the only sensible course of action.

 

[Viri]

This is precisely what happens when a service faces next to no competition, becomes sloppy as a result and forgets that they're there to serve the users, not to nitpick the content they serve. I'm glad someone sane reconsidered, it was the only sensible course of action.

Maybe it was Gabe him self?! He did save Hatred from being removed!

 

[RedBlueGreen]

I'm with Valve.
Censorship is shit, ok.
But Valve is removing stupid games with no purpose except masturbating, in fact, GTA V didn't get any warning for example.
Fuck your weeb shit

You could just ignore them instead of bitching about them. It's really not hard to do.

 

[Stercate79]

You could just ignore them instead of bitching about them. It's really not hard to do.

You're the first one bitching about Valve removing weeb stuff lmao

 

[RedBlueGreen]

This is precisely what happens when a service faces next to no competition, becomes sloppy as a result and forgets that they're there to serve the users, not to nitpick the content they serve. I'm glad someone sane reconsidered, it was the only sensible course of action.

Unfortunately this will continue because it would be hard to make a competitor to Steam because of Steam's success.

You're the first one bitching about Valve removing weeb stuff lmao

Valve was threatening to remove games that complied with the TOS. ThatsT wrong because the developers already censored their games and they pay for them to be on Steam. Besides criticizing Valve for doing something like that and bitching about shit you hate are different. Those of us complaining about shitty business decisions are discussing an actual issue. You're just bitching about something you hate like an entitled idiot.

 

[Stercate79]

Unfortunately this will continue because it would be hard to make a competitor to Steam because of Steam's success.

Valve was threatening to remove games that complied with the TOS. ThatsT wrong because the developers already censored their games and they pay for them to be on Steam. Besides criticizing Valve for doing something like that and bitching about shit you hate are different. Those of us complaining about shitty business decisions are discussing an actual issue. You're just bitching about something you hate like an entitled idiot.

lmao ok, you like paying for weeb stuff i get it

 

[RedBlueGreen]

lmao ok, you like paying for weeb stuff i get it

I don't even play these games, I'm just not the kind of idiot who thinks that something shouldn't exist because they dislike it.

 

[BlueFox gui]

Galaxy Girls sounds like 90's porn XD

 

[SS4]

Took me very long to decide to install Steam since they approve DRM and haven't bought anything on it yet. But now they go full on censorship . . . yeah, sorry but you will never a penny from me! They just sealed the deal. I always knew Steam shouldn't be trusted . . .

 

[thegreatentropy]

*snipped quote of trashed post*

If It were true, Valve would't even revert the decision, and the games would be taken off Steam.

Just because something don't vibe with your believes, don't mean you should be condescending about it...

 

[Dimensional]

Fuck censorship.

We're going to have to censor that post. Will have to cover up 'censorship' as it's offensive to minor and very intolerant people these days.

 

[Sheimi]

UPDATE 2: As of May 19, all developers that received this warning email from Valve, have all gotten a follow up email stating that emails about imminent removal of their games was sent out by mistake, to disregard the warning, and that the games will be re-reviewed immediately to make sure the games do indeed meet requirements to stay on the Steam Storefront.

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huh. wonder if the backlash caused them to say the email was a mistake

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Found this article today

https://www.pcgamesn.com/valve-walk-back-visual-novel-censorship?tw=PCGN2

 

[RedBlueGreen]

huh. wonder if the backlash caused them to say the email was a mistake

Wouldn't surprise me. I already don't like Steam, the only reason I'm using it is because practically all PC games are on it now. Maybe I'll just look at getting my games on Humble (even though thr games are Steam key, at least Valve will be getting less).

 

[grossaffe]

Wouldn't surprise me. I already don't like Steam, the only reason I'm using it is because practically all PC games are on it now. Maybe I'll just look at getting my games on Humble (even though thr games are Steam key, at least Valve will be getting less).

At least a number of them are available DRM-free.

 

[zolris]

this needs to be protested

 

[Fusion]

Update, May 20: Developers of adult-themed visual novels say they’ve received notice from Valve that the two-week deadline for censoring their games is now off, and that Valve will “re-review” the games for content and give the developers specific feedback if they find content violations.

Visual novel developer Lupiesoft tweeted Saturday that Valve contacted them and told them to disregard the initial email that gave them two weeks to censor their anime pirate game Mutiny!!. HuniePop developers Huniepot and MangaGamer, developers of Kindred Spirits, both posted similar updates.

While all three developers said they were relieved by the update, HuniePop developer Ryan Koons cautioned that the games aren’t “out of the woods” yet.


“It just means we have an interesting development,” he tweeted.

We’ve reached out to Valve for comment on what prompted the sudden scrutiny of visual novels and we’ll update this story if they respond.

Meanwhile, a U.S.-based anti-porn advocacy group has claimed credit for Valve’s move to censor visual novels. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, formerly known as Morality in Media, posted a press release Friday saying Valve’s move came after a “two year campaign” by the Center to pressure Valve into removing “sexually exploitative content” from Steam. They had placed Valve on their 2018 “Dirty Dozen” list and orchestrated an intensive social media campaign that began May 10th and encouraged users to tweet directly at Valve and Steam.



Without hearing from Valve it’s impossible to know what impact, if any, the NCOSE had on the company’s sudden decision to put visual novels on notice. However, their page about Steam mentions HuniePop by name, as well as several other anime-themed games.

On a separate page, distinct from their Steam campaign, the NCOSE lists big-budget titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Mass Effect: Andromeda as also being sexually exploitative. These aren't included in their Steam campaign, though, and there's no indication Valve have asked them to censor their adult content.

For now, at least, it appears sexy games have gotten a reprieve, so any impact the campaign might have had is seemingly being revised.

 

[DJPlace]

can't understand one thing are games like senran kagura and etc going be removed? kinda curious.

 

[RustInPeace]

 

[AdamFX990]

End justifies the means you say?

No. That's not what I said.