Valve appears to be cracking down on sexual content in some Steam games

Valve appears to be cracking down on sexual content in Steam games, with three separate developers claiming that they've been told their games will be taken off the platform if they don't remove some of their most explicit content.

All of the games have anime-style visuals and are overtly sexual in nature, but their genres vary. Lupiesoft, developer of a visual novel called Mutiny!!, said it had been contacted by Valve about "reports of pornographic content" in its game. The developer says that it makes "sexy games" containing nudity, but that "nothing in Mutiny!! violates [Valve's] guidelines", and that the game's publisher MangaGamer had previously met with Valve to clarify what was and wasn't allowed.

We are not sleazebags making horrific pornography, we're a strongly queer VN studio that makes sexy games, that is not wrong, that is not pornographic, nudity is also not wrong as a massive amount of Steam's library has nudity, and Mutiny!! follows those content guidelines!May 18, 2018

HuniePot, the developer of puzzle game/dating sim hybrid HuniePop, posted a similar message on Twitter, and said it was following up with Valve to resolve the issue. The game features "steamy bedroom scenes" and "eight gorgeous girls each with their own personalities, preferences and style". You can "customize girls' appearances with unlockable outfits and hairstyles! The girls will also dress up for dates! (Or dress down afterwards...)."

- IMPORTANT NOTICE -I've received an e-mail from Valve stating that HuniePop violates the rules & guidelines for pornographic content on Steam and will be removed from the store unless the game is updated to remove said content.May 17, 2018

Lastly, Tropical Liquor—a colour-matching game about trying to get a girlfriend—has been given a deadline of the end of the month to make changes before it is removed from Steam. The news came from Neko Works, creator of visual novel series Neko Para. It's not listed as the developer for Tropical Liquor (that's Tentacle Games), but Neko Works' lead illustrator Sayori also produced the art for Tropical Liquor.

We have been informed that adult content in Tropical Liquor must be censored by the end of this month or the game will be removed from Steam. We are working on this issue.https://t.co/Cs3VxVARQy　#steamMay 18, 2018

As Fraser wrote last year, Steam's rules about adult content are often confusing. Consistency is the issue: Valve appears to crack down on some games with graphic sexual content, but leave others alone.

I've reached out to Valve to find out whether this reflects a change in their sexual content policy.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.