Why Does Steam Hate (Anime) Boobs?

It’s becoming increasingly regular, that Steam issues warnings to developers - or straight up removes them from the store because of “Pornographic Content”. Curiously, this content is almost exclusively in anime-themed games. It’s understandable when the game is like House Party, where the whole point of the game is to have sex with people, but even that was allowed back on to Steam when it put in a patch to censor the nudity.

Recently, a number of games with anime-style graphics have been told to remove said content, or risk being removed from the Steam store. Some, such as HuniePop which has been on Steam - in a censored capacity - for three years, have been lumped in with the seemingly blanket attack on nude cartoon women.

Woah, keep that dress on, lady!

Let’s talk nude patches, or 18+ patches as they’re sometimes called. A while ago, Steam told developers that they could no longer include instructions on how to obtain these uncensor patches, which was probably an early warning sign.

In HuniePop’s case, it’s something you can do by altering a text file in the install directory. With games like Hell Girls or Sakura Swim Club, you generally need to find a patch on the developer’s site or Patreon page. Which, of course, you can also use to buy the game in its full uncensored glory, should Steam actually remove them from sale.

Sexually explicit!

Other purchasing options are Nutaku, which has uncensored games like Elisa The Innkeeper and Metropolis: Lux Obscura, or MangaGamer for “naughty” versions of Desecration of Wings and No One But You. They both even have titles that Steam won’t touch with a barge pole - until they get those gosh darn cartoon female nipples covered up, at least.

After all, Steam only likes wholesome entertainment, like Portal and Manhunt. You know, puzzle platformers and games about literal snuff films. AAA titles such as these and the likes of Grand Theft Auto V and The Witcher 3 are, of course, exempt from removal from the Steam store, because they are games with a premium price which are constantly on the Top Seller list.

Oh good, this screenshot doesn't contain breasts!

HuniePop is £6.99. Tropical Liquor is £7.19. Mutiny!! and fellow MangaGamer-published title Kindred Spirits on the Roof break the bank at £14.99 and £26.99 respectively, and yet despite having followed every guideline and sought confirmation about the content from Valve themselves, all of these games have been threatened.

Oh but what’s this, Steam? BOOBS ON ISLAND (capitalisation theirs), a game which has you running around completely starkers with no censoring, yet is fine? And then there’s Bloody Boobs, which we reviewed last year and has multiple customisation options just for the main character’s breasts. But don’t worry, they’re not done in an anime style.

So what can Valve do to fix this? Well, apart from what they already do, by forcing developers to censor their games, and requiring users to verify their age every 24 hours. They could hide games with the Nudity tag by default, and require people to remove it from their list of excluded product tags. There should be a list of banned criteria which are classed as “Pornographic Content”, much like the one the British government made. They could stop going after cartoon breasts just because someone took exception. Also, a bit of notice before removing games - like A Kiss for the Petals ~Maidens of Michael~ which was removed from sale a short time ago - would go a long way to improving relations.

You'd best cover those up, unless you're getting in a bath with Geralt of Rivia!

With more games going to separate clients already - Call of Duty Black Ops 4 and Sea of Thieves being two recent examples - Steam is actively cutting themselves out of the adult games market. MangaGamer has hinted at making its own sales platform, so if that comes to pass it will no doubt snap up games from developers unwilling to neuter their titles to fit on Steam. After all, Fakku don’t seem to have done anything with their distribution platform since January.

If Steam aren’t willing to change their ways, the only question that remains is: will you be willing to install another client?