An anti-pornography lobby group based in the U.S. has claimed “victory” over Steam, the platform managed by Valve Corporation that lets users buy games, after the site threatened several adult-orientated visual novel titles with takedown for allegedly containing policy-breaking content.
In a story that gripped the gaming community over the weekend, Valve contacted a slew of niche but popular developers—including
MangaGamer,
Lupiesoft, and
HunieDev—to warn that they would have to remove adult content in their games by the end of the month or be removed from the distribution website. The siege against mature puzzle/visual titles like
HuniePop,
Mutiny!! and
Kindred Spirits on the Roof, which show cartoon nudity, was described by one dev as an “
anime titty holocaust.”
By Monday, three days after the warning emails were circulated, at least three developers said in Twitter updates that Valve had
since rescinded the sudden threats. The games, according to notices, are now seemingly in the process of being of re-reviewed. “I should be clear this doesn't mean we're out of the woods,” HunieDev
wrote to its 43,000 followers. “It just means we have an interesting development.”