While some games hit by this wave are arguably more sexual than others, Kindred Spirits’s sexual content is very limited. MangaGamer, publisher of Kindred Spirits, said in a blog post that they also received such an email. Huniepot, the developers of titilliating match-3 game Huniepop, and Neko Works, developers of risque cat girl visual novel Neko Para, made similar tweets about their games. Now, several developer’s have said that games that have been on Steam, some of them for years, have gotten emails threatening their removal because of sexual content. What this timeline suggests is that It’s never been been easy for developers to understand what is or isn’t allowed on Steam, as the policies seem inconsistently applied, or prone to change. Love also added a “safe for work” mode that puts novelty Christmas sweaters on everyone, thereby censoring the nudity. The game, which was a lesbian visual novel about BDSM, allowed players to skip sex scenes. House Party, a bawdy joke game with a button dedicated to whipping out your dick, was taken down and then re-uploaded after the developers added censor bars.Īdding confusion to what type of games are allowed on the platform, in 2017, Christine Love, a friend of mine, eventually got her sexually explicit visual novel Ladykiller In A Bind on Steam. In July of 2017, Steam started removing sexually explicit games from the storefront again. In 2017, Valve forbid developers of game with sexual content to talk about or link to patches that would allow players to uncensor their games. At the time, it looked like Valve was beginning to ease up on their policies regarding risque content. In 2015, the yuri visual novel Kindred Spirits made it onto Steam without any censorship, and in general, a number of more sexually explicit games could often be seen on the new releases tab. In 2012, when games with sexual content were being pulled from the now defunct Steam Greenlight program, Valve said that, “Steam has never been a leading destination for erotic material.” Sex games could still make it on Steam, though, usually with the developers linking to patches that would uncensor the games. Steam’s policies on sexual content on their platform are hardly clear, and they seem to fluctuate over time. These developers said that they have to take out said content or risk having their games removed from the platform two weeks from now. Last week, at least four developers said that they had received emails from Steam saying that their games, some of which had been on the platform for years with Valve’s blessing, had been reported for “pornographic” content. Developers of games with sexual content are saying that Steam is threatening to remove their games, and they don’t know why.