Update 23:36 BST - Valve provided a statement to GamingOnLinux in response:
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. See https://www.mastercard.us/content/dam/public/mastercardcom/na/global-site/documents/mastercard-rules.pdf.
Original article below…
Mastercard have today released a short statement to clarify their position on adult content across game stores.
To bring up to speed on the recent situation — on July 16th I reported on Valve removing certain adult content from the Steam store (with a statement from Valve). Later in July, itch.io ended up deindexing adult content noting the same pressure from payment processors, with itch.io now going through to reindex free adult content.
The pressure on payment providers has come from Collective Shout, that claim they're a "grassroots movement challenging the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture".
It wasn't entirely clear exactly which payment processors have been putting the pressure on game stores, with Mastercard now putting out a statement that I've copied below:
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.
So this seems like Mastercard are basically saying "it's not us".
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Dawe
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
See more from me
See more from me
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
You can also find comments for this article on social media: All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
ElectricPrism a day ago
No coward can ever be trusted
"Cowards can never be moral. Here is why: People can know what is right and even want to do what is right but still not act rightly." - Mohandas Gandhi
"Cowards can never be moral. Here is why: People can know what is right and even want to do what is right but still not act rightly." - Mohandas Gandhi
8 Likes
And of course they have plenty of fuel now thanks to the psychopaths making insane comments, now the collective can lump all the gamers who don't like sweeping censorship with rapists and call it a day. Personally I think some of the games that got removed deserved it though, actually, probably most of them.
Last edited by SlayerTheChikken on 1 Aug 2025 at 4:51 pm UTC
Last edited by SlayerTheChikken on 1 Aug 2025 at 4:51 pm UTC
5 Likes
Pyrate a day ago
I've grown tired of being under the mercy of these networks. I'd like to actually own my money instead of being either allowed or not allowed to use it in xyz. Luckily there are alternatives, just hope they grow one day to become more common among people 
.
.
4 Likes
williamjcm a day ago
"Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies."
15 Likes
rea987 a day ago
It is the retailer who is responsible and accountable of the legality of the content sold in a store. Steam can and does region block products depending on local laws. Games containing Nazi swastikas are region blocked or region adapted in Germany and Austria. Not all explicit content were sold on Steam were illegal, few of them would be deemed illegal in some countries. Then Steam should have rigorous checks to region block certain products depending on local laws.
If pushing payment processors to enforce a political agenda becomes a norm, any sizable well organized political group can do the same to ban products containing opposing ideas. Just put any political group and opposing idea in this scenario, you will see the danger.
If pushing payment processors to enforce a political agenda becomes a norm, any sizable well organized political group can do the same to ban products containing opposing ideas. Just put any political group and opposing idea in this scenario, you will see the danger.
23 Likes
R Daneel Olivaw a day ago
as a small business owner, the seething rage fueled loathing hatred of a thousand suns for all these mafia companies (visa / mc / discover / amex / etc) will never die. Don't trust a single word these vile abominations utter from their anuses.
Last edited by R Daneel Olivaw on 1 Aug 2025 at 7:22 pm UTC
Last edited by R Daneel Olivaw on 1 Aug 2025 at 7:22 pm UTC
14 Likes
StalePopcorn a day ago
If not you, then whom? 😐
0 Likes
F.Ultra a day ago
If not you, then whom? 😐
It is the payment processor, I assume that many people have no clue how this all works since they started to blame VISA and Mastercard for this. To be able to process cards in your store (online or offline) you have to have both an agreement with a card company (VISA, Mastercard and so on) and a payment processor (Klarna, Stripe, Paypal and so on) and it is these last ones that makes lots of demands, at least that is my own experience from having implemented payment solutions as a startup many years ago (they had strict rules against porn, weapons and so on and you had to go through a whole vetting process before they allowed you to use their services).
Last edited by F.Ultra on 1 Aug 2025 at 10:27 pm UTC
2 Likes
Liam Dawe a day ago
Added statement from Valve.
5 Likes
ScottCarammell a day ago
You heard it here first folks, adult content is being taken down by platforms that make money off of them and have no reason to take it down, somehow. Surely the giant multinational conglomerate has no reason to fib!
0 Likes
And here comes the blame game...
3 Likes
eggrole 24 hours ago
Personally I think some of the games that got removed deserved it though, actually, probably most of them.
Imagine if something you like gets banned because some busy-body thinks it "deserves" to be removed. If we allow this to set such a precedent, it is only a matter of time. First they came for the porn games and I did no speak out because I wasn't a gooner. When they came for *my interest* there was no one left to speak out.
You can't legislate (this is even worse - it isn't even legislation!) morallity.
People have different preferences/interests and as long as none of it is deemed illegal, all of it must be allowed.
11 Likes
ElectricPrism 23 hours ago
(MasterCard used Payment Processors to talk to Valve) (Valve requested direct communication with MasterCard and were declined) (Payment Processors) specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.
El_Risitas_Laugh.gif
This is hilarious because as I understand it MasterCard is now in the "it wasn't us" -- "deny" phase. They are acting like it's not them but they are cowards to not tell the public, if someone gave the order -- who gave the order?
So much damage has been done to their brand. Whoever gave the order must have calculated the cost because the fallout from this may lead to VISA / MasterCard annihilation in the future.
I'm really pleased, the more they try to tighten grip, the closer they bring themselves to their own dissolution.
Black markets are what give a currency its value in their early phases -- their attempt to control & prohibit will only feed the rise of the next beast to take their place.
3 Likes
Who would have thought that these companies that pay with our money are a bunch of liars.
1 Likes
I'm starting to feel like somewhere in the mid-layers of one of these outfits, there's some lawyer who received a complaint, looked over some terms and conditions, and decided to issue a cease and desist just to be cautious, or talk to the mid-level lawyers in one of the other organizations and get them to issue it, and none of the PR flacks at any of these places, or the upper level executives for that matter, have a clue what the hell is going on.
Sprawling organizations with too much unaccountable power.
Sprawling organizations with too much unaccountable power.
1 Likes
benstor214 13 hours ago
Ooh, ooh, I like this game!
Let’s see… hm… surely we disapprove when there is a genocide happening in the Mediterranean? Let’s block all payments with links to a certain state… while we’re at it: let’s add a certain religion, too. It’s the moral thing to do!
Who’s next? Hmmmmm… oh, I don’t like an orange man living in a white house (the blue man living in a blue house is fine, for now). We shall block any payments with any links to the United States. That shall do it!
It feels so good to fight against immoral and infidel people. It is a moral war… nah… holy war!
Personally, I think: why pay for games anyway??? Just go to the high seas…
Let’s see… hm… surely we disapprove when there is a genocide happening in the Mediterranean? Let’s block all payments with links to a certain state… while we’re at it: let’s add a certain religion, too. It’s the moral thing to do!
Who’s next? Hmmmmm… oh, I don’t like an orange man living in a white house (the blue man living in a blue house is fine, for now). We shall block any payments with any links to the United States. That shall do it!
It feels so good to fight against immoral and infidel people. It is a moral war… nah… holy war!
Personally, I think: why pay for games anyway??? Just go to the high seas…
2 Likes
tfk 10 hours ago
Interesting. GOG did this:
https://freedomtobuy.games
or
https://items.gog.com/freedomtobuy/index.html
https://freedomtobuy.games
or
https://items.gog.com/freedomtobuy/index.html
7 Likes
Uhm... so if I understood correctly, Mastercard added this rule the 3rd of June:
"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."
And now that the processors and banks are enforcing it is saying "not our fault, we know nothing of this".
Oooooook. Nice defense there Mastercard.
Problem is a lot of Mastercard users live in western democracies where we vote representatives to collectively discuss and decide what is legal and what is not on our behalf. Nobody is happy when Mr Mastercard wakes up in the morning and decides what is moral or not for us.
Oddly enough, even in Autocracies I bet the autocrates don't like that as well.
"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."
And now that the processors and banks are enforcing it is saying "not our fault, we know nothing of this".
Oooooook. Nice defense there Mastercard.
Problem is a lot of Mastercard users live in western democracies where we vote representatives to collectively discuss and decide what is legal and what is not on our behalf. Nobody is happy when Mr Mastercard wakes up in the morning and decides what is moral or not for us.
Oddly enough, even in Autocracies I bet the autocrates don't like that as well.
2 Likes
Caldathras 6 hours ago
Well, the backlash against the payment processors and Collective Shout has begun. Consumers, and especially gamers, are pissed. Unions, trade groups, online retailers and the developers are getting involved. Visa and MasterCard are getting flooded with cardholder complaints.
https://www.wired.com/story/gamers-are-furious-about-the-censorship-of-nsfw-games-and-theyre-fighting-back/
https://variety.com/2025/gaming/news/game-developers-alarmed-censorship-nsfw-games-1236473119/
It has been intimated that delisting these games is a prejudicial attack by Collective Shout and the payment processors against the LGBTQ+ and marginalized creators of these games.
I can't find the link but I even read an article calling for the establishment of an international movement to fight Collective Shout and their overreaching activities. It would seem that the general populace has had enough of this, after all.
"Do not go gentle into that good night ..." (Dylan Thomas)
https://www.wired.com/story/gamers-are-furious-about-the-censorship-of-nsfw-games-and-theyre-fighting-back/
https://variety.com/2025/gaming/news/game-developers-alarmed-censorship-nsfw-games-1236473119/
It has been intimated that delisting these games is a prejudicial attack by Collective Shout and the payment processors against the LGBTQ+ and marginalized creators of these games.
I can't find the link but I even read an article calling for the establishment of an international movement to fight Collective Shout and their overreaching activities. It would seem that the general populace has had enough of this, after all.
"Do not go gentle into that good night ..." (Dylan Thomas)
2 Likes
DrMcCoy 3 hours ago
Games containing Nazi swastikas are region blocked or region adapted in Germany and Austria
It's a bit more complex here in Germany.
Steam basically blocks all 18+ games, including porn games and games marked as such for excessive violence (like Dying Light) here in Germany. The reason is that those games aren't allowed to be sold "over the counter" here in Germany and no public ads for them can be shown. Which means you can't buy them at all here in Germany, and you can't even see their store page (but, someone else outside of Germany can buy it and gift it to you).
Now, Valve could instead implement age-gating, allowing users which are veried to be of age to see and buy the games. Germany even has a system for that, POSTIDENT, which can be done either in person in a post office, or, more comfortably, online using either a webcam (in which you show your government ID) or the NFC chip in your government ID in combination with the NFC reader in your smartphone. The latter is also used for government functions like ELSTER, where you file your tax return, and it's pretty well-working and established. Germany also already uses that combined system to identify you when unlocking a SIM card, opening a bank account or when ordering 18+ items by post (I had to once do that to order a children's game from the 1990s, from before the current rating system, which means it automatically got assigned the highest rating).
But instead of doing any of that, Valve just said, fuck it, and hid all these games in Germany.
Last edited by DrMcCoy on 2 Aug 2025 at 8:19 pm UTC
0 Likes
Patreon
PayPal
How to install Battle.net on Linux, SteamOS and Steam Deck for World of Warcraft and Starcraft
How to play games from GOG and Epic Games on Linux, SteamOS and Steam Deck