Steam Blocks Post-Launch NSFW Updates for Adult-Only Games, Developer Says

The developers of Tales of Legendary Lust: Aphrodisia, Crimson Delight Games, revealed that Steam has blocked them from updating the game to add more NSFW scenes. However, the developers do not blame Steam for it.

According to them, Steam has been very kind during the review process of the game. In a Reddit thread where one of the developers commented, they said “We didn’t feel threatened or bullied in any way, and we got the feeling they were trying to do their best to help devs navigate the process.”

They added, “From what I know, prior to the whole Collective Shout situation, adult games could add NSFW content even post-launch,” and that “Valve isn’t the problem here. The big credit card companies are. If anything, Valve has stood up to them and pushed back. They could’ve simply nuked the 18+ section of Steam, but they didn’t, they stuck up for developers.”

As mentioned by the developers, problems regarding NSFW games on storefronts have popped up after the Australian activist group, Collective Shout, sent emails to payment processors to cease “processing payments on gaming platforms which host rape, incest and child sexual abuse-themed games.”

This put itch.io, a digital storefront hosting a wide range of games, including those with NSFW content, in a bind. As a result, itch.io prioritized its relationship with payment processors and completely removed the NSFW section of the site. Recently, it has been re-indexed, but cannot be accessed on the site through the search function.

Steam, on the other hand, remained strong in making sure the section still exists in the storefront. The developer said, “Obviously, adult games make Valve money, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of Steam’s catalogue. Silksong itself probably earned Valve more than most NSFW titles put together.”