Valve Claims Mastercard Pressure Over Game Sales Policies: Discrepancy Emerges Between Companies

Mastercard issued a statement on Friday clarifying that the company has not evaluated or imposed restrictions on any game sold through creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations. The company emphasized its requirement for merchants to have appropriate controls in place to prevent illegal transactions, including those involving adult content.

The clarification comes following an open letter from advocacy group Collective Shout addressed to executives at PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and other companies, criticizing them for allowing the sale of games depicting rape, incest, and child sexual abuse. Steam announced last week that it would ban games violating the rules of its payment processors and related card networks and banks. Itch.io also stated that it was removing games with adult content from its browse and search pages while conducting a broader audit.

Valve, the owner of Steam, responded to Mastercard’s statement by stating that Mastercard did not communicate directly with Valve despite Valve’s request for such communication. Instead, Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks, who then relayed the concerns to Valve. Valve argued that it has been attempting to distribute games that are legal since 2018. However, its response was reportedly rejected by the payment processors, who cited the risk to the Mastercard brand and a Mastercard rule against illegal or brand-damaging transactions.

Itch.io, meanwhile, stated that it is re-indexing free games with adult content while negotiating with payment processors such as Stripe. Stripe, in turn, stated that it is unable to support sexually explicit content due to restrictions imposed by its banking partners.