Valve Responds To Mastercard Blaming Steam's Rules For Controversial Game Delistings

The gaming community has been in an uproar after storefronts such as Steam started a mass delisting of adult games following pressure by payment processors. Gamers subsequently mobilized to lead a campaign against these delistings, inundating companies such as Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal with phone calls regarding their policies. Now, Mastercard is attempting to distance itself from the situation by trying to shift the blame to Valve, and Valve has responded.

Mastercard has released a statement seeking to “clarify” all the headlines spawned by the kerfuffle. The company says that it hasn’t played a role in placing restrictions on content available on gaming storefronts,  adding that “our payment network follows standards based on the rule of law. 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.”

This statement is attempting to pass the buck on this entire fiasco to Valve, which led to Valve releasing a statement of its own to Kotaku. The company says that its payment processing partners raised objections to its content guidelines as they were in violation of one of Mastercard’s rules, specifically rule 5.12.7.


This rule declares that merchants can’t partake in transactions that are illegal, or likely more applicable to this situation, which can be damaging to the Mastercard brand. Moreover, offering products that are “patently offensive and lack serious artistic value,” or “material that the Corporation deems unacceptable,” can result in a merchant being cut off from payment processors.

Making matters worse is that Valve claims it has attempted to engage in direct talks about these guidelines with Mastercard, but that Mastercard has refused to meet with Valve to try and hash this out.

Mastercard’s statement is a sign that gamers’ call in campaign is working. It’s one thing to see reports on social media about customer service agents who are tired of fielding calls, but another to see the company itself take the time to release a statement.