Developer of NSFW games says Valve won't let them add adult content in updates, now it has to be DLC

(Image credit: Crimson Delight)

Since the anti-porn crusaders Collective Shout pressured payment processors to get adult games removed from storefronts, things have been rough in the world of eroge development. (Eroge being short for "erotic game", he wrote, feeling like your dad explaining how babies are made.) Now, a developer at Crimson Delight has claimed they can't add new adult content to their existing adult game on Steam unless it's as DLC. (Via Automaton.)

"From what I know," they wrote on Reddit, "prior to the whole Collective Shout situation, adult games could add NSFW content even post-launch. But during the review process we were informed this was no longer the case. I have to say the reviewer was kind and forthcoming, we didn't feel threatened or bullied in any way, and we got the feeling they were trying to do their best to help devs navigate the process. But the fact of the matter is that Valve has payment processors breathing down their neck, and the rules keep getting stricter as time goes on."

Normally updates to existing games on Steam don't have to be reviewed, which makes it possible for all those convenient hotfixes to go live in a timely fashion. (Even on consoles, where the platform owner certifies updates before they're approved, developers have the option to take on liability for any issues that arise if they need to rush out an urgent patch.) Changing that process just for adult games wouldn't be feasible, and so reframing them as separate DLC, which has to pass the same review process as a new game, must have seemed like the only solution.

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.

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