“Steam ignored us for months,” Collective Shout explains why he sought payment processors

In recent weeks the game industry has been undergoing a major controversy. Payment processing companies such as Mastercard and Visa have given an ultimatum: they no longer want to be related to adult content games that address controversial topics. This has resulted in the removal of several platform games such as Steam and Itch.io.

Collective Shout, the company responsible for starting the campaign against such games, was the one who sought payment processors. In a recent post on social networks, she clarifies that she was forced to make this decision to look for Visa because Steam ignored her requests for months.

“In response to false allegations and misinformation about our campaign, we want to clarify the facts. Some asked why we involve payment processors, and others said we are responsible for ITCH.io removing all NSFW content.

We express our objection to Steam rape and incest games for months, and they ignored us for months. We resorted to payment processors because Steam did not answer us.

We ask the ITCH.io to remove rape and incest games that in our view normalized violence and abuse against women. Itch.io has made the decision to remove all NSFW content. Our objections were against content that involved violence and sexualized torture against women. ”

In response, several users started a petition against Visa’s moderation, stating that it would be a “Huge interference in control over which shares/purchases” People could do and that the company would not have the right to dictate consumer behavior. In response, Visa said it does not do ‘moral judgments’ about purchases, as long as it is a legal transaction.

“Although we explicitly prohibit illegal activities in our network, we are also equally committed to protecting legal trade. If a transaction is legal, our policy is to process it. We do not make moral judgments about legal purchases made by consumers.

Visa does not moderate the content sold by traders, nor are we visible about specific goods or services sold when we process a transaction. When a legally acting trader faces a high risk of illegal activity, we require additional protection measures for banks who support these traders. ”

Fonte: Eurogamer