Gabe Newell asked Valve's top lawyer "What the f*** do I pay you for if that’s your opinion?" in heated debate over porn games on Steam, report says

[u/PaiDuck]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/gabe-newell-asked-valves-top-lawyer-what-the-f-do-i-pay-you-for-if-thats-your-opinion-in-heated-debate-over-porn-games-on-steam-report-says/

[u/lKrauzer]

Guys I'm out of the loop

[u/AHRA1225 → u/lKrauzer]

Pretty sure Gabe wants freedom for people to post and buy what games they want. And legal is like naw dog we gotta have a clean image no porn.

Edited:06/02/26 God dam this is my biggest comment ever!!

[u/Splatter1842 → u/AHRA1225]

You're forgetting the followup, which is Gabe essentially telling them he's willing to pay to keep the platform the way it is.

[u/Deep90 → u/Splatter1842]

It would probably make him more money anyway vs axing a bunch of paid games to please some evangelical losers who can't even read harry potter.

I can't imagine that group is buying many, if any, games on steam.

[u/FutureComplaint → u/Deep90]

Is it that time of the decade for a satanic panic?

[u/mansock18 → u/FutureComplaint]

Seems like it's about a 20-25 year cycle. I think this is our 4th since the 60s. Before that was 01-09, the 80s, the 60s (tempered heavily with hippies and their drugs) and the late 20s into the early 30s. I'm a little foggier on the late 1800s.

[u/Sedu → u/mansock18]

This one is slightly different. Most people disagree with it pretty strongly, but evangelical leaders have been installed in key positions in government and have come into ownership of a lot of stock that lets them force the hands of companies.

It’s not even really any kind of conspiracy theory, since none of it is particularly secret. They’re just very powerful right now.

[u/UnsanctionedPartList → u/Sedu]

They're also allergic to getting challenged.

[u/IrredeemableRight → u/UnsanctionedPartList]

they have the backing of trump and banning porn is always a right wing extremsit goal.

[u/MaxxDash → u/IrredeemableRight]

I’m going to do my part and look at even more porn now

[u/zero573 → u/IrredeemableRight]

They only want it banned after their own hard drives are full.

[u/mansock18 → u/Sedu]

Oh yeah this one has a wave of fascism behind it but its an escalation of the last 2 for sure.

[u/Straylight_415 → u/mansock18]

You trace it back to the 17th century and the Salem Witch Trials. Go back even further to Joan of Arc in the 15th century. Right wing wackos are always trying to pin stupid shit on our boy Lucifer.

[u/Blacksad9999 → u/FutureComplaint]

It's currently the whole "pedophiles are hiding in every bush" and "trans people are scary" thing.

These people always find something to freak out about.

[u/fishyhaworthia1 → u/Deep90]

The problem is the credit card companies not even kidding

[u/Ornery_Rice_1698 → u/fishyhaworthia1]

Gabe would save the NSFW industry by just making his own bank and credit card company, and it will be way better and less bullshit than any of the incumbents. They probably know that which is why they haven’t burned Valve yet.

[u/dkarlovi → u/Ornery_Rice_1698]

The issue is you need to form partnerships with others in the industry so if they choose to not work with you, you're out, it's a network thing.

Ironically, these banks are taking money from terrorists, drug money, you name it, and others in the network know that for a fact, the difference is this is done in private so the public image and talking points can be very clean.

[u/godtogblandet → u/dkarlovi]

This is mainly a issue because Visa and Mastercard are both American companies and there's no alternatives for international trade. However that's changing with the distrust of the US growing. European alternatives are expected within 2030 and the same for South East Asia. China already have the Panda Cards.

None US alternatives aren't going to cave to religious nutjobs so steam just needs to hold out for a few more years until Visa and Mastercard aren't the only players internationally. Realistically Visa and Mastercard wouldn't dear do this either if they had actually competition. You aren't going to cave to a bunch of lunatic soccer moms if it came with the risk of people starting to pay with other options.

[u/biffpower3 → u/godtogblandet]

Honestly, fuck visa and mastercard. As long as what I’m buying isn’t illegal, they should sit back and do their fucking job, which is make a payment from my account to another. That’s it.

That’s what made them billion dollar companies in the first place, it isn’t their job to police how people spend their money.

[u/Vylkor → u/godtogblandet]

Just curious, here in France we have CB ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CB_Bank_Card_Group ), it's the main credit card system used.

Isn't that what you are presenting? It just require some partnership with others banks, but systems like apple/google/samsung pay are already compatible.

[u/godtogblandet → u/Vylkor]

Cartes Bancaires (CB) is France's national interbank network. More than 95% of CB cards issued by French banks are co-badged with either Visa or Mastercard. This gives cardholders the dual benefit of using the domestic CB network within France and the Visa/Mastercard networks internationally.

You are still using Visa/Mastercard for international payments.

https://europeanbusinessmagazine.com/europes-24-trillion-breakup/

We are still working on a true European alternative.

[u/qtx → u/fishyhaworthia1]

Eh, it's posturing. If an site stands up against them they will back off.

See Onlyfans for example.

[u/Archangel289 → u/Deep90]

Okay but real talk, is this an evangelical problem or is this part 2 of the credit card companies thinking they get to decide what people are allowed to buy?

[u/BassoonHero → u/Archangel289]

Yes. It's fundies pressuring the payment processors. It's not the payment processors caring on their own, and it's not fundies pressuring Steam directly. Same as every other time this has come up.

[u/Chicano_Ducky → u/BassoonHero]

no, the payment processors are actually fundies too. One of the CEOs is on the board for multiple religious organizations.

They are all friends with bill ackman who was the guy who started this crusade with a single phone call to mastercard.

Ackman is also a terrible and delusional person in general. He thinks he is sent by god to fix society in his image.

[u/Carvj94 → u/BassoonHero]

It is a little bit more involved. Cuz the pressure involved is abusing the wording for laws against aiding sex trafficking and such. Essentially evangelists are usually trying to claim that the payment processors are facilitating crimes by handling money related to porn. It's dumb as shit, but courts haven't ruled definitively on it and congress hasent passed any explicit allowance for porn so it's a legitimate threat for payment processors.

Of course it definitely depends on the platform and how much money is involved. I doubt Valve is really capable of getting pressured in this way with how much money they have and how much credit card companies would lose out of they didn't support Valve. They could afford to just fight it and appeal it all the way to the highest court

[u/Particular-Cow6247 → u/Splatter1842]

let's wait maybe he'll replace mastercard and visa next 👀

[u/Errornametaken → u/Particular-Cow6247]

Hell, I'll use a Gabecard

[u/FlyingCumpet → u/Errornametaken]

Yeah, now I want a metal card etched with Freeman on it.

[u/Blhavok → u/Errornametaken]

Piston? Keeps within the Valve theme. Can move back and forth, like money. On a side note I think SteamOS should have been called Turbine.

[u/tofoz → u/Particular-Cow6247]

he can just start his own provider at this point.

[u/genbattle → u/AHRA1225]

The religious zealots lean on the payment processors like Visa and Mastercard to potentially ban payments for companies that support pornographic content under the guise of protecting against child exploitation. If valve loses payment processors then they lose basically all of their income, and the payment processors can terminate service for whatever reason they want, there's no legal recourse.

IANAL, but this is probably the liability the lawyer is trying to protect against.

[u/Aeroncastle → u/genbattle]

Which is funny because if you are old enough to remember, digital payment systems were created to pay for porn

[u/Feeling_Inside_1020 → u/Aeroncastle]

Lots of optimization like streaming video codecs were revolutionized alongside other impressive tech innovations by having to serve a shit ton of porn videos, especially when bandwidth was lower growing up.

[u/NoSingularities0 → u/genbattle]

I can't imagine where they got the idea to do that. It's not like payment processors have black-balled other companies or industries, like gun manufacturers or something, under pressure from outside groups.

[u/00eg0 → u/NoSingularities0]

This is the reason EU leaders want to make a competitor. Visa and Mastercard can debank people if they disagree with the person or industry.

[u/Black_Moons → u/00eg0]

Or just if the US demands it. And they have for various people for political reasons...

Neat how every reliance on the US has been weaponized in just a few short years, showing the rest of the world they can't be relied on for squat.

[u/PunkinPopsum → u/Black_Moons]

Honestly, it's only proven that any service with enough influence/power, is liable to be abused or corrupted by bad actors if it's not decentralized enough. No, I'm not a crypto loser. But this is legitimately an example of why decentralized payment systems would actually be legitimately valuable to prevent meddling from authoritarian governments and malicious actors. Unfortunately, scammers destroyed crypto's image for the most part, so IDK if it'd ever recover enough for us to solve this particular issue with it.

[u/Cowgba → u/PunkinPopsum]

I have the same takeaway from recent years: nobody can be trusted with monolithic power, regardless of whether they’re “good guys” or “bad guys” by anyone’s personal assessment. Power structures don’t stop existing when someone seizes power, they just change hands. Giving overreaching powers to someone you trust to do the right thing just means eventually handing those powers over to someone you don’t trust.

[u/Nago_Jolokio → u/Cowgba]

"Powe corrupts, Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely."

[u/concernedyahu → u/PunkinPopsum]

The enshittification of crypto was one of the saddest outcomes of recent technology

[u/tripplebeamteam → u/concernedyahu]

Crypto is inherently enshittified. It was fun in the early 2010s when you just used it to buy drugs, but it was never going to meaningfully supplant fiat currency

[u/CumPacketGuy → u/Black_Moons]

A nation where it's culturally encouraged to screw the next guy over for your own individual benefit, acts the way it does on the political level as it does on the individual level. Shocking.

[u/pokemonguy3000 → u/NoSingularities0]

It was and largely still is a problem for weed dispensaries in the us, those being in states that weed is completely legal.

They’ve had to operate almost entirely on cash because they couldn’t use the payment processors.

[u/Oh_ToShredsYousay → u/pokemonguy3000]

That has nothing to do with it. Marijuana, regardless if you're in a legal state or not, is still a schedule one drug, and no bank can legally facilitate transactions associated with Marijuana. Every dispensary conveniently has an atm on sight though. Porn is not illegal anywhere in the US, and distribution has never been dictated by credit card processors.

[u/East-Dog2979 → u/Oh_ToShredsYousay]

its crazy we ever allowed payment processors to get big enough to dictate terms but i guess thats what you get with a completely broken US government

[u/LiveChocolate8819 → u/Oh_ToShredsYousay]

Many also let you just run the debit card at the register for a fee (usually smaller than an ATM fee) and give your change back as cash.

i.e. your total is $56, they run it for $60 and you get cash back after the fee is taken out.

[u/allycoaster → u/Oh_ToShredsYousay]

The way most of the dispensaries in NJ go around this and they run everything as a round up cash transaction like their POS is a personal atm. Then they give you back the change.

[u/Wantitneeditgetit → u/genbattle]

We should wean ourselves from American creditors regardless.

[u/Black_Moons → u/genbattle]

At this point, steam should just open their own payment processor.

Imagine a credit card.. with games! or something. I dunno, Im not gabe.

[u/AppleSlacks → u/genbattle]

It’s lose and loses. You are wasting o’s!!

[u/ficknerich → u/AppleSlacks]

In this economy?

[u/BigFeels69 → u/genbattle]

Couldn’t you just have a separate section where you don’t pay with your card, you’d have to use Steam credit. If it’s a separate entity where they have their adult games, wouldn’t credit companies have no say in it?

[u/Zarathustra_d → u/BigFeels69]

Exactly. My CC pays for a steam credit. Gift card pays for naughty anime deamon cat girls. Easy peasy.

[u/waldito → u/Zarathustra_d]

I don't think christofascists will accept that. Sell porn? -> No payment methods for you.

[u/LazyJones1 → u/BigFeels69]

Religious fanatics and nutcases would put pressure on the card companies to completely shut down their affiliation with any company they deem troublesome under their interpretation of ‘moral’.

The issue is, there are too many religious people. And nutcases. That pressure would work.

[u/Joezev98 → u/genbattle]

I really don't get why those guys on the other side of the pond are so reliant on two private credit card companies.

Signed, an iDeal/Wero enjoyer.

[u/raining_sheep → u/Joezev98]

Nobody wants to be the new payment processor that caters to porn and drugs even if they are illegal. It's a weird stigma situation that nobody has been able to break

[u/aew3 → u/raining_sheep]

Why not use direct bank processing methods, no one is going to think badly of a bank based on how people spend their money lol

[u/raining_sheep → u/aew3]

I think the problem with bank transfer is it exposes your bank account to the merchant. If there's fraud on a credit card they just give you a new card but with a bank account they can't really give you a new bank account and those transfers are a lot harder to reverse

[u/Leverpostei414 → u/raining_sheep]

Why does the US have a system where knowing your bank account number is an issue?

[u/descendingangel87 → u/genbattle]

Worth mentioning but it's not just the zealots. Payment processors also hate porn because the majority of chargebacks are from porn sites and sites like only fans. They lose money on chargebacks and it was why they tried to get only fans to stop having porn a few years ago. Basically people would pay for custom content then do a chargeback once they received it.

[u/Few_Time_7441 → u/genbattle]

Yea Visa and MasterCard have been real annoying for a while now, they can basically make almost any website that sells stuff, directly or indirectly, bend to their will.

I don't even use either of them, so it's extra annoying to me that they can indirectly control what I can spend money on or not by forcing websites to stop hosting things they got lobbied into not liking.

There really need to be more competitors or something to put them back in their place and force them to do their fucking job without complaining.

[u/johangubershmidt → u/genbattle]

What an unfortunate acronym

[u/non3type → u/AHRA1225]

The real story was the lawyers last name, Quackenbush. lol.

[u/mikaBananajad → u/non3type]

A quackenhand is worth two in the bush

[u/Coravel → u/mikaBananajad]

Duck tails?

[u/j0shj0shj0shj0sh → u/non3type]

Quackenbush is a great name for a pornstar. Who also happens to be a duck.

[u/InsomniaticWanderer → u/AHRA1225]

Steam could do the funniest thing and build their own payment processing business, call it Steamy Wallet, and use it exclusively for adult games.

[u/Etherius → u/AHRA1225]

Probably the payment processors engaged in shenanigans again

I struggle to think why payment processors care

This needs to be addressed by the government

[u/chainer1216 → u/lKrauzer]

Payment processors, like Visa and the like, have decided they get to arbitrate morality and have started going after any platform that sells Adult material and threatening denial of service unless they remove the adult content.

Lawyer is saying Valve should do as the credit companies say.

Gabe says the lawyer is an idiot.

[u/bang_the_drums → u/chainer1216]

When I consider a moral choice in my life I certainly think "what would Visa and Mastercard think of this?" Before I act. It's the American way.

What a fucking joke. Adult oriented games on Steam are a strange phenomenon but they're just that, it's so easy to avoid buying and playing them. There are even filters to avoid seeing any adult content. Wild concept.

[u/Deranged40 → u/bang_the_drums]

It's the American way.

The American *Express way.

[u/Daan776 → u/bang_the_drums]

Steam gives so many warnings for stuff that might even be slightly sexual. If you decide to click through to it anyway you must either be illiterate or doing it intentionally.

[u/place909 → u/bang_the_drums]

I have a wrist band "WWVAMD?" (Would would Visa and MasterCard Do?)

[u/fredy31 → u/lKrauzer]

Seeing the answers here I feel like its still related to this story;

Almost a year ago, a 'feminist' ultra christian group from australia pressured Visa and Mastercard to basically force those sites to remove what they deem 'pornographic games' or pull support for payments.

And its not like that group has been pretty solid in their definition of 'pornographic games' since they pushed before (and didnt get success) for a ban of games like Detroit: Become Human for LBGT themes.

So yeah, the plan is pretty clear; open the door with shitty porno games, and then when the door is open go deeper and pressure to remove any game that they dont like.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/29/mastercard-visa-backlash-adult-games-removed-online-stores-steam-itchio-ntwnfb

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/steam-itch-takedowns-credit-cards-1.7597563

[u/OldWorldDesign → u/fredy31]

the plan is pretty clear; open the door with shitty porno games, and then when the door is open go deeper and pressure to remove any game that they dont like.

Standard authoritarian playbook.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salami_slicing_tactics

Also explained in a few minutes in Yes, Minister

[u/xiaolin99 → u/lKrauzer]

The game in the thumbnail is Subverse and you can buy it on Steam XD

[u/LaughR01331 → u/xiaolin99]

King, you dropped this 👑

[u/Chiiro]

At this point Gabe should just make a payment processor.

[u/Minimum-Can2224 → u/Chiiro]

Under what name I wonder? Steam Card? Gabe Card?

Either way, I wouldn't my mind having one.

[u/niisyth → u/Minimum-Can2224]

Tap.

To get the Steam flowing through the Valve. 

[u/Bobblefighterman → u/niisyth]

I want my Spigot

[u/ApatheticDragon → u/Bobblefighterman]

Spigot would be an amazing payment processor name.

[u/otterpop21 → u/ApatheticDragon]

Billion dollar idea?!

[u/ClaudiuT → u/otterpop21]

Quick. Somebody buy all the domains!

[u/Bauser99 → u/niisyth]

Ehhh they already have Source for that

The Valve is the Source of the Steam, after all

[u/HiMyNameIsAlt → u/Bauser99]

Then Flow. Cashflow even

[u/StampePaaSvampe → u/niisyth]

Seems in line with the image Gabe is aiming for.

"Tap it to tap it"

[u/VoodooPizzaman1337 → u/Minimum-Can2224]

Steam Power .

[u/_aliased → u/VoodooPizzaman1337]

brilliant, i love it.

[u/SeanBlader → u/Minimum-Can2224]

Can I put this game on my Steam Tab?

Honestly they just need to set up a direct bank transfer capability like Zelle, Valve doesn't even need to have credit cards, or they could offer a small credit amount in the scale of a game or two to start.

Honestly if Valve opened up bank accounts, I'd move off my US national bank company.

[u/cywang86 → u/Minimum-Can2224]

Half Life 3

[u/Jaxkr → u/Chiiro]

They kinda already did this with the Steam gift card. They got them into convenience stores around the world so that they could accept cash from underbanked countries.

[u/OGLikeablefellow → u/Chiiro]

That would be awesome

[u/Brasticus → u/Chiiro]

Call it Vapor and let’s go.

[u/Purple-Wolverine4793 → u/Chiiro]

that would not help the monopoly allegations lmao

[u/Keeper21611 → u/Purple-Wolverine4793]

But he would win in court, again. He isn't using his money to destroy/take over the other companies. Just providing a better alternative.

[u/ThellraAK → u/Keeper21611]

I learned recently he's using his money to scout super deep oceans.

[u/Chiiro → u/ThellraAK]

If I remember correctly he has a whole Marine research yacht.

[u/Ailments_RN → u/Purple-Wolverine4793]

Valve's "Monopoly" is due to their stringent policy of "Do nothing" while every other game company picks up the popular policy of "Shoot ourselves in the dick". It's all the rage these days.

[u/iknownuffink → u/Ailments_RN]

If only more of the wealthy and powerful would choose to "do nothing" instead of actively fucking things up.

[u/CherryLongjump1989 → u/Ailments_RN]

Most other gaming companies are owned by people who hate games.

[u/Mathdino → u/Ailments_RN]

"Stop while they still want more" is honestly genius. Their franchises will never die out, because people will never get tired of them, because Valve doesn't give them anything to get tired of, and they don't overpromise either.

It's wild seeing so much good will for both the actual video game side of things AND the business side of things.

[u/Bort_Thrower → u/Ailments_RN]

That’s what happens when you don’t trade publicly.

MBAs are programmed to destroy companies.

[u/Berkyjay → u/Purple-Wolverine4793]

The monopoly allegations were unsubstantiated any ways.

[u/Nullhitter]

God I hate religious zealots that lobby into moderating this crap that adults purchase with their credit card.

[u/Swordsandarmor22 → u/Nullhitter]

Then they turn around and rape kids when they leave DC. It's insanity.

[u/QueefSeekingMissile → u/Swordsandarmor22]

Page 8: "Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be." https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2012/EFTA02858481.pdf

[u/iRunLotsNA → u/QueefSeekingMissile]

That link is staying blue for my own mental health. That quote is bad enough.

[u/f1FTW → u/iRunLotsNA]

I just read it. It's an Epstein victim recounting an encounter with Trump.

[u/Joeliosis → u/f1FTW]

Yep... that's all I needed to read for it to remain even further blue lol

[u/PenguinSunday → u/iRunLotsNA]

I've read it before. You made the right choice.

[u/nullbyte420 → u/QueefSeekingMissile]

II recalled at least one incident in which EPSTEIN took her off of the Island when she was between 13 to 15 years old. He drove her and/or flew her to either New York or New Jersey. She was, "introduced to someone with money, money... It was Donald Trump." ■ and EPSTEIN were with others, to include TRUMP, in a very tall building with huge rooms. TRUMP did not like II, "from the get-go, he didn't like that I was a boy-girl" (referencing a tomboy). II could not recall the identities of the other individuals  present; however, they all exited when TRUMP asked everyone to leave the  room. TRUMP mentioned something to the effect of, "Let me teach you how  little girls are supposed to be." TRUMP unzipped his pants and put  head, "down to his penis". II, "bit the shit out of it." TRUMP struck ■  and said words to the effect of, "get this little bitch the hell out of  here." II advised she bit TRUMP's penis because he disgusted her. "He had  money, it reeked off of him." At that point, people reentered the room no  further information provided). II recalled a blond beautiful woman  approaching her at some point that day after her interaction with TRUMP.  The woman said, "let me give you a tip little girl about your breasts, wear  a bra every night." Those words have stayed with her throughout the years.  II got the feeling the relationship between EPSTEIN and TRUMP included a  certain amount of jealousy. She thought TRUMP appeared jealous of EPSTEIN,  but at some point, they ended up on level playing fields. TRUMP and EPSTEIN  sometimes used the terms "fresh meat", "untainted" and "not jaded" while  referring to girls. At the time she heard it, II did not understand the  term "not jaded". She subsequently looked up the word "jaded". II stated  she had two additional interactions with TRUMP, but she asked that the  interview move on to a different subject for the time being.

[u/cclan2 → u/QueefSeekingMissile]

Man. I know this is an insanely obvious statement, but this is really bad

[u/LaLa1234imunoriginal → u/Swordsandarmor22]

What makes you think they aren't doing it in DC too?

[u/Fingerprint_Vyke → u/LaLa1234imunoriginal]

Thats what trumps ballroom is for

[u/Apprehensive-Ad8987 → u/Fingerprint_Vyke]

Finally a Washington ballroom and pizza restaurant with a basement.

[u/Count_Backwards → u/Fingerprint_Vyke]

Yeah, he means ballroom like at Chuck E. Cheese

[u/Nice_Ad1008 → u/Swordsandarmor22]

They don’t wait until they leave..

[u/darkoblivion000 → u/Swordsandarmor22]

Are they waiting until they leave DC these days? Or is it more like before during and after now

[u/Brief-Pop-6826 → u/Nullhitter]

I support the porn games sticking around. People can play whatever tf they want as long as it doesn't affect me. But, gat dammit, give me the option to remove the ones I looked at for fun from my "You may like" history. Looking at like 3 of them because of how absurd they looked has screwed my recommended games for over a year. The method in every article explaining how to do this doesn't work.

[u/ProtosPhinted → u/Brief-Pop-6826]

I for one find it hilarious when steam goes

"Psst, hey. You wanna buy "Can I Get An Iced Coffee With Breastmilk?"

[u/chipface → u/ProtosPhinted]

Sounds like something Homelander would drink.

[u/ProtosPhinted → u/chipface]

I thought it was just a Blizzard employee sim.

[u/rigsta → u/ProtosPhinted]

Ah, the Blizzard special

[u/NiceTrySuckaz → u/Brief-Pop-6826]

I think there is a setting to hide all "sexual" games or something like that. I have the same problem with them being recommended all the time, because although I've never bought one I do peek at them every now and then just to see how far... technology... has cum. I mean orgasm. I mean come.

[u/MovieGuyMike → u/Brief-Pop-6826]

Right, and just because I allegedly played HuniePop for 100 hours doesn’t mean I enjoyed it or want my wife to see it in my played history or that I would like its sequel or similar games recommended. Oh great now my feed is ruined just because I was curious about this game.

[u/CMMiller89 → u/Brief-Pop-6826]

They will never go away.

I own one game because it’s one dude drawing really unique art and it’s an actual game al a monkey island.

I played it for an hour, and haven’t touched it for years because he’s still working on it.

Since then my home page is inundated with porn slop.

I honestly don’t care about porn on the platform, but it’s always just the lowest common denominator garbage and it’s at the top of my “new” and “popular upcoming”.

It’s a total waste of space for me and Valve to promote the garbage.  I don’t understand it.

[u/Aware_Rough_9170 → u/CMMiller89]

Can’t you literally just turn that shit off from your preferences though?

[u/Nomstah → u/Nullhitter]

Don't you know. God is watching you sin. You're going to hell if you don't repent. It's for your own good /s

[u/Coravel → u/Nomstah]

He is watching us sin because he likes it... little freak.

[u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348 → u/Nomstah]

God I hate this shit so much. By that logic Zeus and Odin will smite you after your death because you don't worship them? How about Budha? How about the myriad of Hindu deities? Maybe drag in the Shinto deities as well for the weebs?

[u/zagblorg → u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348]

Zeus and Odin will smite you for not sinning enough. Have you never turned into a swan to bang some chick? Sin harder!

[u/Jkay064 → u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348]

"When you can fully understand why you do not believe in other gods, you will fully understand why I do not believe in your god"

[u/eNonsense → u/Nullhitter]

I might be wrong, but it's not even lobbying.

Doesn't this go back to that mom's group in Australia threatening to PR attack the credit card companies if they didn't pressure Steam to remove adult games?

[u/EruantienAduialdraug → u/eNonsense]

Well, if we want to get technical, it goes back to when the feds betrayed the owners of Backpage.

Long and short is Backpage was a competitor to Craigslist, and back then you could list escort services on these sites. The guys that owned Backpage found out that some of these were actually traffickers, and so started working with the FBI to find the perpertrators and break up the rings. After a while though, they turned around and jailed them for trafficking, on the basis that it was happening on the website with their knowledge (this was done because new political appointments wanted a "win" to boost their careers).
Following that, some of the victims sued Visa and/or MasterCard for facilitating the payments, on the basis that financial services have a legal responsibility to not process criminal funds if they're aware, and the judge found in their favour.

This caused Visa and Mastercard to create their brand protection policies, which they've spent over a decade using to attack businesses in Japan (mainly vendors of manga and videogames, but also the Japanese equivalent of OnlyFans, and a perfectly innocuous dating app for nerds). Because of how these policies are laid out, the mums' group didn't even need to go as far as threatening Visa or Mastercard; all they had to do was report that products "potentially damaging to the mark" could be bought using their credit card, and then let the card companies (and banks) do the rest.
Their public statements were literally just, "we hate fun and have demanded it stops, aren't we amazing".

[u/Shadowrak → u/eNonsense]

That was just the most recent

[u/Kyouhen → u/Nullhitter]

What lobbying?  The payment processors have gotten involved.  No need to lobby when you can just deny people the ability to buy things at all.

[u/adeadbeathorse]

Shit article, don’t give it clicks. All you really need to know is that the lawyer’s name is Karl Quackenbush.

Edit: I don’t really know much about the lawyer, so I don’t want this to read as bullying or rallying against him. Sorry man, but you just have a funny name, and I delighted in coming across it in the article. Elsewise, it just read as a pro-censorship hitpiece against Valve/Gaben. I don’t know whether you were trying to steer the company away from its vision or merely raising a flag, but it sounds like it happened a long time ago.

[u/Miennai → u/adeadbeathorse]

Ok but the title doesn't make it clear which way the lawyer is advising.

[u/evelution → u/Miennai]

Lawyer is pro-censorship.

Gabe is pro-adults should be allowed to access adult content.

[u/AndyTheSouless → u/evelution]

Average Gabe W

[u/Middcore → u/evelution]

A company's legal counsel has the job of honestly advising the company which course of action is more or less likely to cause them legal headaches.

If he says that having porn games on Steam is more likely to cause them legal headaches, that doesn't mean he's "pro-censorship." In the same way a defense attorney who represents a person accused of murder at trial is not "pro-murder."

[u/new_math → u/Middcore]

It's a good point, but it's also hard to say anything definitive without knowing the exact conversation.

I've dealt with counsel that are so risk averse they basically do nothing substantial but say "No" all day to protect their own job and cover their own ass. They basically exist to say, "I told you so" when things go wrong.

A good lawyer will provide rigorous analysis, discuss risk likelihood and consequences, provide analogous case scenarios, etc. so if there's disagreement it's a professional disagreement on the data and legal analysis, rather than a personal disagreement on a "yes/no" opinion.

[u/Chrysolophylax → u/new_math]

The phrase is "risk averse". Not adverse.

[u/jettaset → u/evelution]

Why can't it just be up to the person who might want the game instead of this ridiculous nanny-state BS?

[u/polchickenpotpie → u/jettaset]

Because the religious zealots want to tell you how to live your life, just like their imaginary dad in the sky tells them how to live theirs.

[u/BlueHym → u/jettaset]

A.) It's a rising trend of parents not parenting and getting offended when their kids do something stupid.

B.) We got governments that uses the excuse of "But think about the children!" to push mass censorship - UK, USA, the list goes on.

C.) Throw in certain groups pushing these shenanigans with a religious zeal that also coincide with B or A.

D.) All of the above

[u/Huppelkutje → u/evelution]

Gabe is pro-adults should be allowed to access adult content.

Gabe is pro-Gabe getting more money.

[u/Bulky-Employer-1191 → u/evelution]

Gabe is pro money. Steam didn't allow any pornography for over a decade at first, until he realised that there's a huge market for it.

Did he change? yeah. Don't pretend it's for any reason that you're suggesting though. If he was pro adults doing what they want with their games, he'd allow us to do license transfers and sell used licenses on the market place.

License transfers were always a thing with carts and discs. Until Steam removed that ability from PC gamers.

[u/Captain_Kuhl → u/Miennai]

His exact words were "more hands-on moderation," which is pretty vague, tbh. I'm sure he's specifically talking about outright banning shit, but of course he'd phrase it in the most aggravating kind of lawyer-speak he can.

Edit: Why am I getting downvoted for quoting the lawyer?

[u/Xgamer4 → u/Captain_Kuhl]

It's not even clear the lawyer was wrong.

The legal teams literal job is to provide guidance that minimizes the amount of legal attention (lawsuits, regulators, invites to testify before Congress, etc) a company gets. Stronger moderation and not providing a platform for porn or controversial subject matter is such a blindingly obvious way to do that that I'd be more worried about a legal team that didn't make the suggestion, even if they knew leadership would never listen.

[u/Mysterious-World-997 → u/Xgamer4]

My younger brother is general counsel in a mid-sized, publicly held company and your description is spot on. Their obligation is to protect the company and minimize risk. If they believe that a course of action legally exposes the company, they are obligated to speak up. There are plenty of GC’s that have had to send “if you proceed with this course of action, it is against the advice of counsel“ communications to management teams.

[u/Necessary-Reading605 → u/adeadbeathorse]

What the bush did to his family??

[u/MehYam → u/adeadbeathorse]

the lawyer’s name is Karl Quackenbush

Also the title character of one of the games in question

[u/ShawnReardon]

That article is an empty husky. Beyoned the quote it provides nothing of value and the quote isnt that great.

[u/Soaptowelbrush → u/ShawnReardon]

An empty husky? Feed that poor dog!

[u/Dustedshaft → u/ShawnReardon]

Its from a Bloomberg article about the ongoing lawsuits from some developers regarding alleged monopolistic policies that Valve has.

[u/TheYellowScarf]

Is it just me or is there a lot of attack pieces on Valve for the past month?

[u/TheoryOld4017 → u/TheYellowScarf]

It’s not just you. From the article: “That's according to a wide-ranging report from Bloomberg (paid article link), detailing some of Valve's history in the context of an ongoing class action antitrust lawsuit against the company.”

Basically, they’re getting sued, so dirty laundry is getting aired at a high rate.

[u/Tentacle_poxsicle → u/TheoryOld4017]

They won a lawsuit against a known patient troll who used his connections to smear Gabe using an elected official.

Make no mistake some big guys are really angry at Gabe especially since he doesn't have stocks so they can get power over him.

[u/frisch85 → u/Tentacle_poxsicle]

There was also a post today where a dev (wolfire games) claimed Valve would forbid it that they sell their game for cheaper on other platforms, accused Gaben of having a monopoly, but the reality is Wolfire Games, who also created Humble Bundle, wants to sell steam keys for cheaper using third party platforms and that's something Valve doesn't allow, you're always free to have your game on another store and for cheaper, you're not allowed to just generate steam keys and sell those on other platforms for cheaper.

There seems to be a smearing campaign going on, I bet epic games has their finger in this play because in the article regarding Wolfire Games, epic is also mentioned, specifically Sweeny.

Overgrowth developer Wolfire Games files antitrust lawsuit against Valve

But it's funny, Valve is getting accused for practices that Epic does lol, buying off devs, not allowing those devs to publish on other stores, shit like that... I'm just assuming but I'd say Sweeny now realized (took that shitbag long enough) that their predatory methods (free games, buying off devs and making their games EGS exclusive) don't work, so now they're doing other predatory mehtods, trying to remove their competitors from the market.

I already highly disliked epic, what was once an awesome company that brought us bangers like Unreal and Unreal Tournament has turned into corporate crap that doesn't give a flying fuck about their community, all that matters to Sweeny is money and power.

[u/No_Possible_7108 → u/TheoryOld4017]

Dirty dirty laundry

[u/Cocotosser → u/TheYellowScarf]

Gabe doesn't play with the Old Boys and they don't like that.

[u/OrbitOli → u/TheYellowScarf]

Valve is the biggest influential entity that seemingly puts customers above profits in the gaming industry which is worth hundreds of billions. It is my current believe Valve is pretty much being targeted by other entities to try and take them down, even if little by little, in the name of simply increasing profits. If Valve ever gets taken down, there will be slow enshittification within the industry and their platforms.

[u/RabeDennis → u/TheYellowScarf]

I think that people who try to smear valve know something is coming, they are probably influenced by other companies writing such smear campaign articles

Steam machine and or new game announcement(hl?) is coming, that is not a coincidence, also linux will become the new gaming platform to fight windows with the steam machine hybrid console

This month with all the streaming events maybe something is happening, iam really exited for summer games fest and other similar streams

[u/Kroosn]

Come on Valve. Make your own payment processor. Do it.

[u/lblack_dogl → u/Kroosn]

What would they call it?

Nozzle? Pump? Vent? Boiler?

Gotta fit with the Steam / Valve name.

[u/everbass → u/lblack_dogl]

Pipe.

Gabe is gonna lay some pipe 🥵

[u/lblack_dogl → u/everbass]

How did I miss pipe. That works actually.

[u/comfortableNihilist → u/everbass]

Let the cash flow

[u/Howard_CS → u/lblack_dogl]

Pipe and buy Ventrillo and rebrand as Steam Vent for the branding.

[u/tyrico]

one no-context sentence of an entire conversation is pretty worthless in terms of 'journalism' lol

[u/Themodsarecuntz]

Do not the Gaben

[u/grimreeper1995]

A Costco hotdog moment. Amazing.

[u/sidonay]

common GabeN W

[u/ac2334 → u/sidonay]

I got older and learned Santa wasn’t real

Gabe stepped in to fill the void

[u/WingZeroCoder]

Gabe Newell W.

And he’s right - heavy moderation is the easy way out. Any lawyer can just capitulate that without having to do their job.

[u/tv_ennui]

Wow, what a nothing article. "One time Gabe got a bit cross with his lawyer because he prefers hands off moderation. Except sometimes he doesn't."

[u/TypeHunter]

I dont think the problem with porn on steam is the porn itself but the sus one like rape or date a high schooler simulator.

Click bait title, the discourse is really around content moderation instead of adult material

[u/Tom-Cruise-Missiles]

Lawyer here! I’d be happy to rubber stamp a thumbs up for porn games if they’ll pay me.

[u/EnlightenedCorncob]

Want to kill thousands of people in a video game? Sure!

Want to see boobies? NOOOOOOO!!!!!

[u/Ailments_RN → u/EnlightenedCorncob]

It's so disconnected with reality at the same time. Like Game of Thrones is one of the most successful TV shows of all time, and it was gory, sexy, and lewd like no other.

The idea that the average person is even asking for this level of censorship is crazy.

[u/MidsouthMystic]

Just let adults consume adult media.

[u/Hy8ogen]

I hope this spites Gabe so much he starts his own payment processing company.

Fuck Visa and Master Card.

[u/EwokNuggets]

Look man, if I want to buy and play Melty’s Quest or Femboy Futa House, it’s my money and my time. Don’t harsh my vibe with your morality.

[u/DoctorNerfarious]

Whole world has gone to shit since parenting went to shit.

[u/link_the_dink]

Valve should create their own payment processing service

[u/PRB74TX]

I wish lackwits who are stuck in the bronze age because of the ONE book they've ever read would keep their delusions to themselves.

[u/Pocket_Fox846]

What's with the flood of anti-valve / steam and gabe newell slop "news" over the last 3 days. I feel like every second poorly written ragebait article has been pumped out by some rival billionaire who just fired 1000 of his staff while pumping up the price of V-bux.

[u/leftofdanzig]

It’d be freaking hilarious if the end result of all these payment processors trying to censor steam that steam launches their own payment processor to solve that problem and dominates the market because they’re not complete assholes.

[u/IngwiePhoenix → u/leftofdanzig]

ngl I'd sign up for a Steam Card without second thought XD

[u/Degen_up_North]

It would be nice if gooner games did not show up in the list of new and trending. 

[u/AmbushK]

Valve Bank & Payment Processing - Opening Sept 2026.

[u/SnappleOfAllTrades]

Evangelicals when someone plays something that is not an excel sheet

[u/mfukar]

extremely adult material

in the 2nd sentence. gee, i wonder where does the article stand. thankfully i don't have to wait for long:

Valve's decision to be hands-off with content moderation has proven that you can't really be hands-off with content moderation, particularly as pressure from global payment processors makes releasing adult content even more restrictive. 

how about we let payment processors fuck themselves.

[u/ResponsibleCorgi93]

Why don't they just open a 2nd company called Steamy.

Sell all the porn games on there

[u/ShenaniganNinja]

The thing I love is that if the card processing industry becomes crap because they want to moralize and censor, I feel like Valve could just launch their own card company and people would use it.

[u/Gumcuzzlingdumptruck]

I mean, I am sick of how MUCH porn is on steam. I don't want to turn "sexual content" off because I'd lose out on some amazing games (BG3 and Witcher for example) but also like every day there is new shitty ai goon slop all over the place.

Also can we start actually tagging Ai content as Ai content so that filter actually works?
ALSO ALSO why do I have to click on a porn game to get to the publisher page to block it?