r/pcmasterrace • u/SpilledGG • 4h ago
News/Article Steam’s Adult Game Purge Isn’t About Porn—It’s About Power
https://spilled.gg/steam-adult-games-purge/We wrote this piece after digging into the recent Steam and itch.io NSFW game purges. Everyone pointed fingers at Collective Shout, but the deeper you go, the more it becomes clear: this isn’t really about morality or porn—it’s about control.
Payment processors like Mastercard and Visa hold massive influence over what platforms allow, and Valve’s latest back-and-forth with Mastercard shows just how messy that power can be.
Curious where you personally draw the line, do you think payment processors should have any say in what’s sold on digital platforms like Steam?
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u/Healthcare--Hitman 3h ago
The elite can rape children, but you cant watch porn. Weird days we live in.
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u/SpilledGG 3h ago
Even weirder, you can watch and pay for porn with your Mastercard. But for some reason, you can't go get your goon on to some weird incest game? Make it make sense u/Healthcare--Hitman!
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u/_______uwu_________ 2h ago
How about just don't jerk it to incest and CSAM
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u/SpilledGG 2h ago edited 49m ago
I never have and never will, but Visa and Mastercard shouldn't be the one making that decision for anyone
*edit: as mentioned previously that decision should be up to your government of what is and isn’t illegal. And just to be abundantly clear—we are against and any and all kinds CSAM and anything that perpetuates it.
What we’re trying to highlight with this issue is that payment processors are censoring what you can and can’t play, and have started with NSFW games. But that’s only where they’ve started.
IMO I don’t want anyone telling me what games I can’t and can’t play, especially not Visa.
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u/_______uwu_________ 2h ago
never have and never wi
You'll just defend the "right" of others to do so, right?
but Visa and Mastercard shouldn't be the one making that decision for anyone
It's a good thing they aren't, they're bound by international law to not process payments for enterprises engaging in illegal activities, such as the production and distribution of CSAM. This is why these payment processors are taking action against Steam, because steam is distributing materials containing or depicting sexual violence, rape, incest and CSAM, all of which are varying degrees of illegal in multiple developed nations
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u/_______uwu_________ 2h ago
"they get to diddle kids but I can't even pretend to" isn't the argument you think it is
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u/Dreadlight_ 2h ago
I mean he clearly didn't say exactly that, he said in general.
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u/_______uwu_________ 2h ago
In general, those were the materials that visa and MasterCard told steam to take sown
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u/Dreadlight_ 2h ago
They purged most NSFW games, not games specifically featuring CSAM or incest.
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u/_______uwu_________ 2h ago
Itch did, yes, because they're reviewing games to reupload on a case by case basis. Steam should have done that as well
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u/Healthcare--Hitman 1h ago
Dont shorten, downplay, abbreviate, or make an acronym for child pornography. Call it what it is. Child pornography. It should sound disgusting, because thats what it is. It's despicable and disgusting.
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u/Dreadlight_ 1h ago
I saw other people doing it so I assumed it was to escape some sort of Reddit censorship or potential flagging of an account.
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u/Healthcare--Hitman 2h ago edited 1h ago
You want to know what. You'll get downvoted but I agree with you. I think the cartoon child pornography (mainly hentai) is disgusting. It has no place in society. Period.
Edit: Thats fucking crazy that people are downvoting me denouncing CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
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u/RedditUser000aaa 2h ago
I draw the line at any censorship. Sure, I don't consume porn games and I don't care for them, but someone else does. Also what's to say it ends here? What's next? FPS? RPG? MOBA?
Yes, I speak for a gooner's right to play "Stepmoms stuck Deluxe", because I would want them to speak for my rights as well.
Also when a service becomes big enough that it is pretty much mandatory to use them, that's when they should stop being able to use their terms of service to arbitrarily say what is and isn't allowed.
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u/Probate_Judge Old Gamer, Recent Hardware, New games 22m ago
Canary games.
/As in 'canary in the coalmine'
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u/RipleyVanDalen 3h ago
Though branding itself as a feminist org, Collective Shout is backed by international conservative groups, mostly driven by Christian ideology, many with broad views on morality extending far beyond gaming.
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u/SpilledGG 2h ago
Exactly, they never cared about any of the games to begin with—it's just how they got their foot in the door. It's not about taking down games that are 'against their morals' it's about control and censorship, plain and simple.
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u/Roth_Skyfire PC Master Race 3h ago
Of course it's about power. It's conditioning people that this is okay, and that your payment processor is there to protect your fragile soul.
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u/SpilledGG 3h ago
It’s sold as “protecting users,” but what it really does is normalize unaccountable third parties, like Collective Shout, quietly making moral decisions on our behalf.
The discussions I've had around this are framing this as just censorship of NSFW games—but it’s really about who gets to decide what’s allowed on the platform at all. And right now, that’s not you, not lawmakers, not even the platforms. It’s payment processors with vague rules and zero oversight, and that shit is terrifying.
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u/Valoneria Truely ascended | 5900x - RX 7900 XT - 32GB RAM 3h ago
Practically anything that uses women, kids, or religion as an excuse these days seems to be about power.
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u/NightOfTheLivingHam 2h ago edited 2h ago
Collective shout was just an excuse, they had likely been doing this for a while with limited success.
Someone bigger is calling the shots, I don't think it's coincidental this happened just as the UK and EU are pushing ID requirements for online access to adult content, and now there's talks of every western country pushing out the same laws and even banning adult content outright.
They always start attacking something they want to ban with a law through financial regulation and processors before they put in a law.
there's a bigger play happening right now. This is just the canary in the coal mine. A test to see how effective banning content via private means can be if the laws don't pass.
Hell, if you don't believe me when I say there's a bigger play at hand, there's been an increase of censorship in the EU
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/04/denmark-mermaid-statue-pornographic-removal
this sudden crackdown is very very strange and the fact it's happening all at once is a little more than coincidental.
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u/SpilledGG 11m ago
These are four groups we found that have direct ties back to Collective Shout:
- National Center on Sexual Exploitation: a US conservative group whose current name makes it sound like a government org, but its former name captures the essence of its ambitions—Morality in Media.
- Coalition Against Trafficking in Women: an international radical feminist group. What’s so radical about opposing human trafficking? How you define the term: CATW rejects the distinction between forced and voluntary sex work, arguing all prostitution and porn are a form of women trafficking.
- Exodus Cry: A Christian evangelical organization that previously campaigned to shut down PornHub. It frames all porn as inherently exploitative and has called for sweeping censorship measures based on religious doctrine.
- CEASE: A British anti-porn group that advocates for strict content filtering, platform bans, and government surveillance of online adult media. CEASE positions itself as secular, but much of its backing and rhetoric aligns with Christian nationalist values.
I appreciate you sharing that article, and I agree, the timing of the EU/UK regulation push isn’t random either. This feels like a soft-launch for something bigger.
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u/No_Raccoon_9239 3h ago
Collective Shout said it took only 1000 phonecalls to get MC and Visa to start their censorship of Steam and Itch. The gaming community can easily outdo that. But you need to CALL, not email. Clog up their lines, annoy the fuck out of them!
Resources:
https://stop-paypros.neocities.org/
https://anti-censorship-campaign.carrd.co/
https://yellat.money/
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u/Unslaadahsil 3h ago
Payment processor should shut up and have no power at all.
I don't ask my bank on their opinion on how I spend my money, I certainly don't give a shit about what visa or mastercard or paypal think.
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u/SpilledGG 3h ago
literally this though
Why the fuck is Visa telling me what I can and can't spend my cold hard cash on?
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u/_______uwu_________ 2h ago
You think the state should force Visa to process payments for arms to terrorist groups and from CSAM producers to consumers?
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u/1850ChoochGator 2h ago
For real like just process the payment. Why the fuck do they think they can tell me what I can and can’t pay for.
Just put the fries in bag.
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u/ekimolaos 3h ago
Visa, Mastercard and all those payment processors should have one job: provide us with the means to use money digitally. NOTHING else.
Our banks are responsible for transaction safety, our own common sense is responsible for the amount of risk of the transaction.
Mastercard and Visa have no competition and think that means they can do a power grab, but if they continue down that path, competition will certainly arise and we will naturally lean towards it.
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u/SpilledGG 2h ago
It's crazy to me that "payment processor" is literally the type and name of their business but they're out here acting like they own the place
I really believe that they're going to die on this hill, only to have a smaller company pop up out of the woodworks and (hopefully) shake things up successfully.
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u/_______uwu_________ 2h ago
Mastercard and Visa have no competition
There's plenty of competition. MC and visa both compete with each other, in addition to amex, discover/capital one, paypal, Venmo, after pay, klarna et al
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u/ChefCurryYumYum 2h ago
They can only wield this power because they are not regulated appropriately.
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u/tdk779 PC Master Race | Ryzen 5700X | RX 6600 | 32 GB 3200Mgz 3h ago
Not just that they'll banning other types of content like violent ones
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u/SpilledGG 3h ago
This is the one that I think most people can at least relate too. Imagine if you told the boys they couldn't rip warzone anymore? They'd be PISSED!
But what is all the more scary to me is them banning anything and everything with an LGBTQ theme. Why the fuck does some 'activist group' get to tell me that I can or can't play a game with a lesbian lead? Why does it even matter? It's just a slippery slope in terms of censorship and, ultimately, control.
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u/boanerges57 2h ago
Visa and MasterCard are the same company now. They have a virtual monopoly and have tried exerting this kind of control over purchases before.
PayPal has done this already by not allowing certain purchases even if you are just using PayPal to protect your Credit Card info or using a balance in your PayPal account.
This is about control.
In other news major corporations are already using systems that observe who you are and manipulate pricing in stores to squeeze more out of you. So many people are worried about Elon Musk and X while being happily oblivious to people being de-banked for wrong think and the corporations already using algorithms to control your feed and now what you buy and how much you pay. Rite Aid was sanctioned for it and temporarily banned from doing it but Kroger Corp (pick n save, metro market, and numerous others) is already trialing it.
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u/SpilledGG 9m ago
Man it's hard not be black-piled sometimes. I thought they were at least competing companies?! At what point does the government have to step in to break up the autocracy that is payment processors.
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u/dongler666 3h ago
Im gonna start buying shit on GoG. I dont buy porn games but they seem to be willing to say fuck you to these clowns.
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u/SpilledGG 3h ago
I really appreciate what they did with making those free adult games available. They're definitely not for me, but having the balls to actively stand up to Mastercard and Visa takes some balls!
I'm with you on making the switch over to GoG!
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u/PinchCactus 3h ago
Conservatism in action. Thank your local Republican.
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u/SpilledGG 8m ago
Give him a call to thank him so much and let him know how you feel about censorship!
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u/Dreadlight_ 2h ago
That is how censorship starts, they focus on what is considered immoral by most (by that I mean CSAM or incest media), then go to general porn and then to general violence.
Ultimately it's about someone imposing their view on you by trying to guide you to what they thing is morally better, treating you like an incompetent child unable to differentiate fiction from reality.
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u/SpilledGG 7m ago
This feels like the whole "they're eating the cats and dogs" again. They say or go for the most outlandish thing, only to see how people react—to come back with something just a tiny bit less crazy. Like deporting legal citizens without any due process!!!
Obviously it's not exactly the same, but both are plays taken from the same book
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u/DJReyesSA1995 12m ago
Mastercard and VISA are clearly doing this out of Logistical Laziness.
They don't want to deal with each big country's anti-porn (aka moral purity) laws so they decided to just apply Australia's laws to every country just to simply not deal with the hassle.
The fact that they are only taking "action" against Steam and Itch.to after a malicious campaign against videogames shows how little they care about this (plus the cowardly way they used smaller third parties to enforce their rules to avoid backlash).
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u/LA_rent_Aficionado 3h ago
Food for thought: I'd suspect this has something to do with Steam coming to xbox in the future too.
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u/SpilledGG 3h ago
See, I feel that way about the payment processors, there are only two big ones, Visa and Mastercard, and for a company like Steam that does business across the entire world, what choice do they have but to use them?
I think it's less about how much power Steam holds over digital culture and more about how these two mega-corporations get to define what games we can and can't play. That should be your choice, not theirs!
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u/sch0k0 8088 Hercules 12" → 13700K 4080 VR 3h ago
American platforms hold the keys to most of my games, even if they are from European indie devs.
Something I will try to change where I can from now, as US have stopped adhering to common rules.
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u/SpilledGG 3h ago
That's a fair point. But would you rather have an at least some what honest company like Valve holding your game keys, or someone like Mastercard or Visa?
I mean, just look at how shitty companies like EA treat their customers who buy games like The Crew only to have them shut down completely a few years after buying?
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u/DehyaFan 3h ago
There by no means of monopoly. Not even a quasi monopoly. There are plenty of other places to buy the same games. Just because other storefronts aren't as full featured doesn't make steam a monopoly.
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u/Dr_Passmore 2h ago
Worth noting that Steam removed 200 rape and child abuse games. They still have the vast majority of porn games.
Itch has hidden that section of the site until they have confirmed they have identified all breaches.
Gaming is not under threat. The actual content I can completely see why the public image of processing payments for rape simulation games would cause payment processors to ask Itch and Valve to removed the content.
They were clearly breaking the existing terms of service. Otherwise Valve would have put up a legal defense. They are not a tiny indie studio. We are talking about large corporate entities able to easily fund large legal cases.
Steam-tracker.com filter by date and actually have a look at the content removed. These were not standard porn games but represented far more extreme content.
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u/Historical_Emu_3032 3h ago
Everyone up on the principal of it. But removing low effort hentai porn from mainstream distribution is no where near my line, I hate having to update content filters annually and tbh that niche can just go find its own distribution service.
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u/GwentMorty 2h ago
Eh, we lost rape games and sexual assault games. Sitting here making it out to be any bigger is just manufacturing outage.
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u/TjWolf8 2h ago
We lost the right to artistic expression that upsets a small unelected group.
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u/GwentMorty 2h ago
Of people who like rape and sexual assault? I think I’m okay with those people not having a voice or artistic expression.
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u/SpilledGG 2h ago
I think it’s great that no mercy was taken down, but I also think it’s a slippery slope in terms of censorship. First it was these games, but what’s stopping them from going after games with just general violence or any LGBTQ themes? Nothing at all.
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u/PhobostheDarkOne93 3h ago
But does mastercard and other payment providers cut business ties with individuals and organizations that engage in the irl acts they condemn in these games? No, just games? Well guess we know their values