this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2025
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Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down, but Valve says payment processors 'specifically cited' a Mastercard rule about damaging the brand (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Statement: https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2025/august/clarifying-recent-headlines-on-gaming-content.html

Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations.

Our payment network follows standards based on the rule of law. Put simply, we allow all lawful purchases on our network. At the same time, we require merchants to have appropriate controls to ensure Mastercard cards cannot be used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content.

Media contact

Seth Eisen

seth.eisen@mastercard.com

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[–] zarathustrad@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

You do realize PayPal was just as involved in this as the rest right?

PayPal didn't send Valve any written content demands either, its acquiring bank did the enforcing just like MC, but PayPal was a named target of the campaign, got its Steam payment rail severed over the content issue, and ended up in the FTC's crosshairs alongside the card networks.

Also, PayPal's aggressive posture toward adult-adjacent businesses predates this.

The Erotic Review piece described PayPal freezing a subscription business for six months with "no appeal process, no recourse." So PayPal cracking down on Steam over adult content wasn't out of character; it was the largest-scale demonstration yet of a practice smaller publishers had already been living with.