The recent crusade against adult content games seems to have led to these side effects.

Since the anti-pornography group Collective Shout pressured payment processors to remove adult games from store shelves, the eroge (erotic game) development world has struggled. A developer of Crimson Delight claimed that they cannot add new adult content to their existing game on Steam unless it is in the form of DLC. Typically, updates to existing Steam games do not require review, enabling convenient fixes to be released promptly. Modifying this process solely for adult games is impractical, so the only solution is to reorganize them as separate DLCs, which must undergo the same review process as new games.

Incremental development is the norm in the world of adult games. Games like Summertime Saga often add new characters and stories based on community demand. Switching to a DLC model, where every addition must be complete before release, would significantly change the working methods of many eroge developers. Crimson Delight does not blame Valve for this change.

“From what I know, prior to the Collective Shout situation, adult games could include NSFW content after launch. However, during the review process, we were informed that this was no longer the case. The reviewer was kind and forthcoming. We didn’t feel threatened or bullied, and we got the feeling they were trying to help developers navigate the process. However, the fact of the matter is that Valve has payment processors breathing down their necks, and the rules keep getting stricter over time. They could have simply removed the 18+ section of Steam, but they didn’t; they supported developers. Obviously, adult games make Valve money, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of Steam’s catalog. Silksong itself probably earned Valve more than most NSFW titles combined,” wrote Crimson Delight’s developer on Reddit.

You can’t get around all this with cryptocurrency. Valve experimented with this in 2016 but stopped due to fraud. According to Gabe Newell, half of these transactions were fraudulent, an astonishing rate.

Source: PCGamer