Gamers’ anger flared after Steam and itch.io changed how adult-themed games were handled in July 2025, following an advocacy campaign and scrutiny involving payment processors and acquiring banks. The evidence supports a dispute over indirect pressure and storefront decisions—not a proven direct order from Mastercard or Visa to remove each game.
What set off the backlash?
Australian advocacy organization Collective Shout sent an open letter to payment providers asking them to stop processing payments for Steam and itch.io over games it said included themes of rape, incest, and child sexual abuse. The Guardian reported that the letter followed the earlier-2025 removal of No Mercy. The Guardian’s account of the campaign and platform responses describes the sequence.
The campaign focused on particular allegedly abusive themes, but the platforms’ responses reached a wider range of adult or NSFW material. That gap helped turn a content-policy dispute into a debate about whether payment networks can influence what games a storefront is able to sell.
What changed on Steam and itch.io?
Steam changed its rules
On 16 July 2025, Valve expanded Steam’s rules to cover content that may violate the standards of its payment processors, including “certain kinds of adult content.” Valve later said it retired games under the new rules. The reporting did not specify every category of content affected, so it would be inaccurate to treat the rule as a complete list of prohibited themes. The Guardian reported Valve’s policy change.
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itch.io deindexed NSFW games while auditing
itch.io said it was under payment-provider scrutiny and temporarily deindexed NSFW games while it audited content. The broad step affected material beyond the games named by Collective Shout, including games with LGBTQ+ themes. Deindexing means a title may no longer appear in a category or search; it is not the same thing as confirmed permanent deletion.
itch.io said the situation developed rapidly and that it acted to protect its core payment infrastructure. It also acknowledged that the change was too urgent to give creators advance notice. Later reporting said the platform was re-indexing free adult games and seeking other processors, but the available reporting does not establish the exact restoration status of titles today. The Guardian covered itch.io’s response.
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What did Mastercard and Valve say?
Mastercard’s 1 August 2025 statement said it “has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations.” It added that merchants must have controls to prevent Mastercard cards being used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content. Mastercard’s statement sets out its public position.
Valve gave a different account of how pressure reached Steam. As reported by TechCrunch, Valve said Mastercard did not contact it directly, despite Valve asking to speak with the company. Valve said Mastercard communicated with payment processors and acquiring banks, which then contacted Valve; according to Valve, those intermediaries rejected its explanation of Steam’s policies and cited “risk to the Mastercard brand.” TechCrunch reported Valve’s account alongside Mastercard’s statement.
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Those accounts are not identical, but they can be distinguished: Mastercard denied evaluating games or requiring restrictions, while Valve described indirect communications through financial intermediaries that it understood to invoke Mastercard brand risk. That does not establish a direct Mastercard instruction to delist particular titles. The cited reporting likewise does not establish a direct Visa order.
How many games were affected?
Game File, as cited by The Guardian, reported that more than 20,000 games had been removed from itch.io’s NSFW category since 16 July 2025. This was a contemporaneous reported figure, not a current count. Removal from a category or search index does not by itself show that every affected game was permanently deleted. The Guardian reported the figure and its context.
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Why are players blaming card networks?
Players and developers saw the episode as evidence that payment arrangements can shape what a storefront offers, even when a card network does not publicly issue a direct instruction. Critics characterized that influence as censorship; payment providers and intermediaries framed their role around rules, financial risk, and unlawful content. Those are competing descriptions of the dispute, not proof that every removal was ordered by a network.
For a personal-finance reader, the practical distinction is between the card network, the acquiring bank or payment processor that serves a merchant, and the platform that decides what to list. A network’s standards can affect whether intermediaries are willing to process transactions; a platform may then change its own policies or catalogue to protect payment access. In this case, the reporting establishes platform actions and Valve’s account of indirect communications, not a direct order from Mastercard or Visa for each delisting.
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What is—and isn’t—known now
The documented controversy concerns events and statements from 2025. The sources cited here do not verify Steam’s or itch.io’s exact policies, or the restoration status of affected titles, as of October 2026. The reported removals, deindexing, and company statements should therefore be read as a record of that episode, not as confirmation that the same conditions remain in force.
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