Not long ago, Valve began blocking the sale of many mature and adult-themed games on Steam. A similar thing happened on itch.io after pressure from payment processors like Visa, Mastercard, and eventually PayPal.
In July 2025, Steam quietly updated its publishing guidelines to align with the demands of these financial partners. This led to the removal of hundreds of adult-themed games. While some removals were likely justified, it set an uneasy precedent. Many players questioned why it should matter what someone buys if they’re using their own money.
Despite backlash, the system remains in place. Mastercard has publicly denied pressuring Steam, but Valve has confirmed that payment processors and banks communicated these new standards behind the scenes.
While that policy has stayed in effect, Valve now appears to be rejecting games based purely on their themes. It’s a shift from removing released games to blocking them before they launch. But is there more to it? Let’s dig deeper.
Valve’s new Early Access restrictions
First reported by GamesMarkt, Dammitbird, a developer behind Heavy Hearts, revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that its game was rejected from Steam Early Access. The developer shared the reason publicly, stating:
“Your app has failed our review because we’re unable to support the Early Access model of development for a game with mature themes. Please resubmit when your app is ready to launch without Early Access.”
This confirms the game was explicitly denied because of its themes, suggesting Valve has quietly changed its Early Access rules.
In an interview with GamesMarkt, the developers explained that they had rushed to submit after recent events, saying:
Due to current events, I panicked and contacted my publisher to help me get on Steam Early Access. The general rule is that your game should be about 65% done before doing EA. Well, we are about 70% done so the time was right anyway. But now, all of a sudden and without a policy announcement, the rules have changed and now I can't join Steam EA
Dammitbird - Heavy Hearts Developer
It marks an escalation of content restrictions on the platform, driven by payment provider demands. Developers are now seeing their games rejected before release, with adult-themed titles blocked from entering Early Access. Another example is The Restoration of Aphrodisia, which was denied with a message similar to the one received by the developers of Heavy Hearts.
What was Heavy Hearts and The Restoration of Aphrodisia?
The developers of Heavy Hearts describe it as an adult RPG dating sim with a 2D hand-drawn pixel art style that uses CG scenes. It’s a story-driven game that blends slice-of-life moments, relationship building, and turn-based combat.
It also includes sexual content and explores themes of trauma, romance, and emotional storytelling. The developers have said that LGBTQIA+ representation is a core part of its central cast and the story being told.
Another game denied by Valve was The Restoration of Aphrodisia, an adult-themed title from Blue Fairy Media Games. It focuses on shape-shifting transformations, featuring story-driven elements like gender changes, character fusion, physical alterations, and shifts in mindset that drive the narrative.
It seems Valve is drawing a clear line here. As far as I can tell, there haven’t been any reports of adult-themed games being approved recently either. The last notable adult-themed game that comes to mind, which launched in Early Access, was Baldur’s Gate 3, and that went on to be a resounding success. Though BG3 wasn’t as in-your-face with the sexual content, it was still very much present.
Who gets to decide what content is allowed?
I’m not sure about anyone else, but I’m not exactly comfortable with a payment provider deciding what content I can and can’t enjoy. It’s already bad enough here for me in the UK, having to prove my age on Xbox. But it also raises an even more interesting question about where the line is for these payment processors.
Are porn subscriptions still okay? Is subscribing to OnlyFans fine? These aren’t necessarily things I personally think are healthy to do, but if people want to spend their money on those outlets or on gaming content, I don’t think it should be up to payment processors to decide that.
I’d love to know what others think — do these games getting rejected matter to people, or is it not a big deal?
