New Steam Petition is Blowing Up

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A significant number of people are strongly protesting against Visa, MasterCard, and activist groups who have successfully removed numerous games from Steam through a growing petition. In just a few days, this petition on Steam has experienced exponential growth and shows no signs of abating anytime soon, with over 30,000 signatures to date.

On the 16th of July, Steam modified their publishing rules to require all games to adhere to the payment processing policies set by companies such as MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal. These firms have stringent regulations against explicit content, leading to around a hundred adult-themed games being taken down from Steam’s platform.

Rapidly enacted censorship ignited swift indignation among fans, resulting in the formation of a new petition on Change.org by Zero Ryoko. This protest calls for MasterCard and Visa to cease attempts at censoring legal fictional content on Steam and other platforms, resist pressure from groups like Collective Shout, enhance transparency regarding restricted content, and uphold creators’ rights to produce adult content. Thousands of Ryoko’s gaming companions endorsed this viewpoint, with more than 30,000 fans adding their signatures within a week.

Steam Censorship Petition Breaks 30,000 Signatures

The petition started on July 18, following Steam’s policy updates the previous day. In just four days, it amassed 10,000 signatures, but over the next two days, it gathered even more – almost double the initial number in half the time. As you read this, around 500 more signatures were being added to the petition. It’s clear that this petition is likely to keep growing rapidly in the coming days.

To clarify, while the petition may not automatically result in permanent change, it’s crucial to understand that Change.org doesn’t compel MasterCard, Visa, or Steam to alter their policies directly. However, when a multitude of gamers express their concerns, it’s hard for these entities to overlook such a strong show of dissent. This could potentially lead to decreased profits, falling stock prices, and increased pressure from shareholders. At present, neither Steam nor its payment processors have commented on this petition, but as more signatures accumulate, it will progressively become more challenging for them to disregard the issue.

Currently, there’s another petition making waves within the gaming community. It’s called “Stop Killing Games,” and it’s spearheaded by EU advocates with over 1.4 million signatures so far, stemming from Ubisoft’s decision to close servers for The Crew. This initiative aims to influence governments to establish laws that prohibit companies from permanently shutting down live service games. Despite individual opinions on these petitions, it’s evident that many gamers are expressing dissatisfaction with the current state of the gaming industry.

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2025-07-24 00:52