Steam, the long-running PC games marketplace operated by Valve Software, has consistently run into issues with approved and restricted content, and arguments about those guidelines have heated up in recent weeks. After Valve removed various “ero” games and then approved the sexualized, violence-against-women simulator Agony, users began asking what was up with Steam’s content guidelines.
A lengthy blog post by Valve’s Erik Johnson, titled “Who gets to be on the Steam store?,” saw the company frankly admit that its own staff has struggled with the same question until reaching a new conclusion.
“We’ve decided that the right approach is to allow everything onto the Steam Store, except for things that we decide are illegal or straight-up trolling,” Johnson wrote. “Taking this approach allows us to focus less on trying to police what should be on Steam and more on building those tools to give people control over what kinds of content they see.”