Valve reveals why PayPal now can't be used to purchase games for some users

Valve has officially acknowledged that PayPal isn't available at checkout for some Steam users, following the recent controversy with payment providers threatening to withdraw their services that resulted in Valve removing a bunch of adult games from that platform and issuing a policy change.

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The problem with PayPal arose in early July, with some users reporting they were unable to use PayPal at checkout, and now Valve has offered an explanation as to why PayPal has seemingly disappeared. According to a statement provided to Rock Paper Shotgun, PayPal has been removed as a payment option for some users due to PayPal's acquiring banks deciding to stop processing any Steam transactions, effectively cutting off PayPal on Steam for a number of currencies.

Currencies still available on Steam for PayPal transactions are as follows: EUR, CAD, GBP, JPY, AUD and USD. For those out of the loop, Valve was recently threatened by big payment providers such as Visa and Mastercard to remove a selection of adult games from Steam following a letter penned by a women advocacy group, Collective Shout. The group called for prevention of Valve and the creators of the adult games from profiteering off the exploitation of women.

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The payment providers responded to the letter by threatening Valve with the removal of their payment process at checkout unless the adult games were removed from the platform, citing potential negative brand exposure by carrying out transactions for the adult games. Valve responded by removing the adult games.

That same set of events is now happening with PayPal, with the banks providing PayPal with funds being the source of the pressure.

The withdrawal of PayPal as a payment option stems from PayPal's acquiring banks, and "is regarding content on Steam, related to what we've previously commented on surrounding Mastercard". "In this case, one of PayPal's acquiring banks decided to stop processing any Steam transactions, which cut off PayPal on Steam for a number of currencies," said a Valve spokesperson to Rock Paper Shotgun