Steam Hammers Down on Lewd Game Developers

A new wave of warnings has been issued to various visual novel developers by Valve. The concern lies with the adults-only nature of the content, according to the developers affected.

The developers behind infamously lewd games like HuniePop have spoken out on Twitter, stating that Valve is requiring additional censorship to their games, lest the products are removed from Steam entirely.

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.

The developer of the similarly lewd Mutiny!! also spoke out on the social media platform about the changes.

We've just received some troubling news today that @steam_games has decided to pull down our titled "Mutiny!!" within 2 weeks for 'reports of pornographic content'. Now those of you who know @Lupiesoft know that we don't put that on Steam, or advertise that content on Steam."

Currently, both titles are still available in the Steam Marketplace, with no indication that they're pending review.

Oddly enough, the Steam versions of these games are already censored, with uncensored versions of the game available through other game stores. The Steam versions can be patched, however, allowing Steam owners to also access the uncensored version. These patches are not advertised or shared on Steam, though they're easily found on the developers' websites.

This has sparked a new discussion as to what exactly is allowed by the game distributor. There's no shortage of lewd games, some ranging from softcore to BDSM. Though many of these fly under the radar. How about the naked women in games like Grand Theft Auto 5?

It's uncertain what the future of these games will be. But we do know that it'll come to a conclusion in two weeks from now.

UPDATE:
HunieDev made another statement on Twitter. Valve has responded to them, telling them to disregard the message, and that they are re-reviewing the game now. One site, endsexualexploitation.org, appears to be claiming credit for the initial removal announcement. The company stated that it was part of "a heightened week-long grassroots campaign, which began on May 10th, where individuals from around the country requested Steam to remove sexually exploitive content." 

It appears that the messages sent out were part of an automated process by Valve, enabled by an organized attack against the developers.