Report: Mastercard's policies led to adult game censorship, processors afraid of being cut off

Mastercard's rules and policies are the main reason why some adult games have been removed from Steam and Itch.io, new reports from Kotaku indicate.

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A bunch of adult video games have been delisted from Steam, sparking a wide discussion on censorship. Credit card companies have been caught in the cultural crossfire as consumers blame Visa and Mastercard for the decision. Now Mastercard has issued a statement that shirks any responsibility, saying that: "Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restriction of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations."

Valve says otherwise. In a quote given to Kotaku, Valve says that it couldn't directly reach Mastercard, and that it coordinated with payment processors and banks instead. The pressure came from payment processors and banks, who in turn pressured storefront operators. Essentially, payment processors are afraid of being cut off from Mastercard due to rule violations, specifically Rule 5.12.7. This rule states that Mastercard has "sole discretion" on whether or not to allow a transaction to go through.

Valve's statement reads:

"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."

Mastercard's rules are outlined in a 484-page document, and Rule 5.12.7 states:

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The move has kicked off widespread controversy, with consumers questioning how groups like Collective Shout can make decisions on how and where others spend their money. Collective Shout is an Australian activist group that conducted a heavy write-in campaign about adult video games, leading to a knee-jerk reaction from payment processors, which in turn affected consumer choice and content availability.

Itch.io, a store that sells indie games that was also affected by the scrutiny, recently re-indexed adult games on its storefront, but the operator is cautious in its approach. Valve has chosen to remove specific games altogether, whereas GOG is giving away 13 adult games for free to protest censorship.

Mastercard's full response can be found below. This response was made before Valve's statement.

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