There’s no point in developing something (that should have an 18 in the corner) if the developers can’t get their money!

Although there are currently over 122,000 games available on Steam, only 6,000 are in the adult category. Almost half of those are henta games, and more are being developed in Japan. There is no problem with that, but there is a problem with the fact that the money from Steam sales is not going to the developers. Yesterday, Taro Yamada, a member of the House of Councillors of the Japanese Diet, tweeted that lawmakers had received reports that Japanese banks were preventing Japanese developers from accessing the proceeds from overseas Steam sales of adult games.

今度は銀行による表現規制！？

”日本の銀行が成人向けゲームを排除している”
”銀行による表現規制が行われているのではないか”

そのようなご意見・ご質問が複数寄せられています。
具体的には、以下のような問題が発生していると把握しています。

日本人・日本企業が、アメリカのValve… pic.twitter.com/w0Bj2hiFDR

— 山田太郎 ⋈（参議院議員・全国比例） (@yamadataro43) January 29, 2025

If the game in question is aimed at an adult audience, Japanese banks are rejecting their transfers from overseas, meaning the developers cannot access the profits. He added that Japanese adult game companies are prevented from opening bank accounts. According to Japanese gaming news portal GameSpark, both the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) have confirmed this. In FSA interviews with Japanese banks that have blocked the transfer of Steam proceeds, the banks said that the decision is a blanket one based on Japan’s Law for the Prevention of the Transfer of the Proceeds of Crime, as well as its Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law, which are designed to control and regulate international trade that may be used to finance illegal activities.

In a YouTube video discussing the issue, Yamada questioned the relevance of these laws, given that Steam transactions are associated with legitimate sales. The problem, he said, is that Japanese law currently lacks procedures to deal with the nuances of international Steam sales, allowing Japanese banks to impose their own restrictions that raise concerns about freedom of expression in media production. Yamada has previously expressed concerns about censorship when Visa abruptly stopped credit card payments to Japanese platforms hosting adult content in order to protect the Visa brand.

Developers have made their money. They need access to it!

Source: PCGamer, GameSpark