Mastercard insists it has not "required restrictions of any" game on Steam or itch.io, but Valve claims otherwise

As Steam and Itch.io continued to grapple with recent pressure by payment processors to withdraw NSFW games from their platforms, Mastercard has moved to distance itself from the ensuing censorship controversy, insisting it has not “required restrictions of any” game. But Valve says otherwise, pointing to a Mastercard rule saying the company can refuse to process anything it believes ‘reflects negatively’ on its brand.

Last month, Valve introduced vague new guidelines preventing “certain types of adult content” from being distributed on Steam, later confirming it had begun “retiring” certain adult games that “may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks”. Shortly after, indie-focused digital distribution platform Itch.io began ‘deindexing’ all NSFW games, blaming the same anti-porn group – Australia-based Collective Shout – that had pressured Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal into targeting Steam. In both cases, Itch.io and Valve noted the support of payment processors was essential to the ongoing operation of their platforms.

Plenty has happened since then; Itch.io has begun reindexing free NSFW games and confirmed it’s looking to partner with a payment processor comfortable with adult material, while other parts of the games industry – including rival storefront GOG with its FreedomToBuy campaign – have spoken out against game censorship. But amid all this, Mastercard is now attempting to distance itself from recent events, denying it put pressure on Itch.io and Valve to remove games from their platforms. In a statement shared on its website, the credit card company insisted it had “not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations.”

“Our payment network follows standards based on the rule of law,” it continued. “Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network. At the same time, we require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content.”

However, Valve claims otherwise, saying that while Mastercard didn’t directly pressure it to remove adult content from Steam, the credit card company instead “communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks”, and these, in turn, contacted Valve.

“Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” the Steam operator wrote in a statement shared with Kotaku over the weekend. “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.”