A couple of days ago, we reported on the ongoing PayPal payment issues on Steam. Valve confirmed that just six currencies were now being accepted via PayPal, meaning that most of the world can no longer use the popular payment processor for any kind of purchase. At the time, no specific reason was given as to why, but now we know it is linked to content hosted on Steam.
Publication Rock Paper Shotgun managed to get a response from Valve after reaching out for comment. Valve says that the withdrawal “is regarding content on Steam, related to what we’ve previously commented on surrounding Mastercard”. The spokesperson went on to say: “In this case, one of PayPal’s acquiring banks decided to stop processing any Steam transactions, which cut off PayPal on Steam for a number of currencies”.
Adult content on Steam caused PayPal to drop support
This all kicked off last month, when users noticed that many adult-themed games on Steam were abruptly removed from the platform after a crackdown spurred on by non-profit movement Collective Shout. This also happened on other marketplaces such as indie store itch.io and Zoom Platform, with the latter warning that games such as GTA could be at risk of removal. While you may agree that many of the initial batch of adult games may not belong on Steam, the issue of further censorship has PC gamers worried.
“Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content.”
Source: Steam Onboarding Rules and Guidelines, ‘What you shouldn’t publish on Steam’
Many suspected that the recent rule changes were behind the dropped PayPal support. Right now, the six accepted currencies are as follows: EUR, CAD, GBP, JPY, AUD, and USD. Valve has noted that it wishes to bring back support for other currencies in the future, but claims “the timeline is uncertain” and will instead evaluate adding additional payment methods for those affected.
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Valve initially responded to the payment processor controversy by reimbursing the affected devs, but now that payment processors are pulling out, a much wider range of its userbase is affected. For those who relied on PayPal for Steam purchases, they’ll have to use an alternative payment method or add funds via the Steam Wallet.
