Controversy over NSFW content persists as Valve announces that PayPal has ceased supporting Steam transactions in certain areas

Valve has announced that a financial institution linked with PayPal has halted transactions on Steam, due to ongoing scrutiny of mature gaming content. The complication began the previous month when both consumers and Valve noticed that PayPal was abruptly discontinuing the processing of transactions associated with Steam, irrespective of the specific game.

The transaction block is not a direct action from PayPal, but from one of its partnering banks that has opted to discontinue handling Steam purchases in several currencies. Presently, this affects currencies excluding the Euro, British Pound, Japanese Yen, and Australian, Canadian, and U.S. dollars.

Valve communicated to RPS that the limitations are linked to content policies on Steam that are similar to earlier remarks about Mastercard's involvement.

Valve explained that the decision made by one of PayPal's banks to cease handling Steam transactions impacted PayPal's availability on the platform for multiple currencies.

Though Mastercard denied spearheading concerns over adult content on Steam, Valve disputes this, stating that, "Mastercard engaged with payment entities and their banks. These processors informed Valve, and we responded by detailing Steam’s longstanding policy of only distributing games legal for sale. Payment processors did not accept this and highlighted Mastercard's Rule 5.12.7 along with potential reputational risks."

Last month, itch.io removed all mature themed content from its browsing and search platforms due to pressure from financial processors over hosted material.

The move coincided with demands from the advocacy group Collective Shout challenging payment company leaders — including those at PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and the Japan Credit Bureau (JCB) — to "stop processing transactions on platforms hosting games with themes of sexual violence and abuse."

For additional information on this development, explore our article on the ongoing crackdown related to adult content on Steam and itch.io.