Asmongold TV - Steam is under attack.. | Asmongold TV

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

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So this is the payment processor thing. We'll take a look at this. I haven't talked about it before and we'll get into it. Imagine a world where your credit card company decides what games you can buy on Steam. I don't need to imagine a world. That's the world that I live in right now. That's the world that we are living in at this exact very fucking moment. Thinkable future just arrived.

Nove, known for its hands-off approach, has added a new rule that would change PC gaming forever. Not by law, but by the powers. of payment processors like Visa and MasterCard. Starting today, Valve updated it's what you shouldn't publish on Steam section to include content that may violate the rules set forth by Steam's payment processors and related card networks and banks or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content. In my opinion, I don't think payment processors, especially right now given the way the market is, should be allowed to decline service for anything that is not illegal. So if something is not against the law,

I don't think that a payment processor should be allowed to say, we are not going to give you service for this. And here's the reason why. You can see that in this logic, payment processors are effectively utilities. And there are utilities in the same way that electricity is, the internet is, water is, etc. imagine if the water company could shut off your water if you liked a certain kind of porn that they disagreed with. Imagine if your electric company could turn off your power because you have a political viewpoint that they don't like.

It's insane. It's an insane, like it would be crazy. Imagine how that would happen. How do you regulate the market then? You just say that you can't decline payment for something that's not illegal. It's simple. What do you mean? You just regulate it the same as you regulate anything. The only vague line has already been used. It's a slippery slope? No, it's not. It's not a slippery slope at all.

This is anybody who's actually complaining about regulation categorically is like a fish complaining about water. We have regulation for fucking everything. The idea that payment processors being regulated is somehow beyond the pale and some slippery slope is total bullshit. And the only reason you're believing it is probably because payment processors pay people to lie to you and tell you that it's true. MDB has reported the removal of a bunch of games, mainly the ones with sense as teams. While Valve hasn't explicitly named the names of the reason for this happening, unconfirmed reports and industry patterns strongly point to major players like PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard, the most popular payment methods on Steam.

There were even unconfirmed rumors about PayPal's temperament. temporary unavailability on Steam pointing to this. But I couldn't find anything that confirmed this was directly tied to PayPal. One group, collective show, a campaign for women, seems to be the ones mainly responsible. Well, it's just a bunch of crying cairns that are complaining and getting mad. That's all it is. It's collective shout. Again, there's a reason why in every single ancient history, there is some form of

Banshee siren or something that is collectively shouting. Okay? This is a tale as old as the fucking Odyssey. So there's nothing new and nothing different about this at all. It's, yeah, collective Cairns. Released several articles and open letters to these payment processors, making claims about the games on Steam just within the last few days. So as these companies took note of this letter and told Valve they were going to leave the platform, Belve was left with adding this rule and giving these payment companies a bunch of power over Steam.

And you can see how these. these payment operators, like, they're basically controlling a, like a very, very core part of the transaction process. And they are the gatekeepers of what content is allowed in a society that I think is supposed to be free. It's a crazy power move. It's a massive power move. Oh, no, you can't play your cringe version porn games. That's right. And I should be able to. I've never played a game like this in my life, and I never will. I think they're pathetic and weird. But I don't want to have a payment processor tell other people what they can and can't do. And if you can't understand why that's a problem, you're just a retard.

New rule is important because it's not just a small tweak. It's a fundamental change to Steam. As now these payment processors or other companies like internet providers have direct influence on Steam and what games are allowed on the platform. For many, this is a big worry. If payment companies can decide what adult content is allowed, people are asking what stops them from deciding about other things next. This is where we get in...

They should not be using any degree of discretion with this at all. Unless it is literally illegal, they should be compelled by law to process payments for it. It is not their job. And also, by the way, if they're not compelled by law, then they also should be held accountable for any payments that are processed that are illegal. Like you can't have it both ways.

You can't be able to exercise discretion and edit in and, you know, decide what you're okay with and what you're not okay with. And then simultaneously say, oh, well, it's not our fault if somebody uses our system wrong. No, it's either one or the other. You either are making decisions and you're held accountable for those decisions or you operate as a service and you serve people. You can't have it both ways. to a slippery slope, where one small change could lead to much bigger unwanted changes down the road. Now, it's important to understand that Vel was likely left with... This is not the first time this has happened.

This has happened multiple times in Japan previously. Very few choices in this situation, as not listening to the payment processors would have led to them removing their services from the platform. Yep. Which is what many have reported happened already by PayPal shortly before this rule was added. Now, to truly understand how big this change is, we need to look at Steam's past. This isn't about the specific adult games taken down. It's about a complete reversal of Valve's long-standing, hands-off approach to moderation. The problem and the issue here is that is a third party that's coming into a service,

coming into a platform, and then telling that platform what they're allowed to do. That's the reason why it's a problem. banning sex games for adults yeah it's ridiculous before steam allowed a lot of games on the platform as long as it wasn't outright illegal the main times velv would take down a game where if it had some malware inside broke one of the very few valve rules or a specific government requested to get it removed bell's position with moderation and the relaxed rules led to steam having a large number of adult games and sometimes other controversial content this position valve had brought them a

bunch of complaints. In 2018, Steam faced criticism for a hate group problem due to The only reason why these articles are being put out is because they want to pressure Steam into censoring people that they disagree with. Steam doesn't have a hate group

problem. This retard has a problem with his opinions being unpopular. He has a problem with people being able to express themselves in a way that he disagrees with. This isn't a problem. It's never been a problem. The only problem is him. Fox enforcement against hate speech.

Now, this wasn't a game, but it shows how Valve generally... The worst part is that Visa doesn't operate under democracy, so they should have zero control over a legal tender and its visibility for people using it. Yeah. This is a strategic move, not a moral one. Porn industry is massive. Banks don't want people to actually spend their money. They deposit by removing a huge avenue for expenses.

They effectively limit how much outgoing cash there is. That's clever. I don't think it's true, though. In December 2020, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan even questioned Vell's efforts regarding Nazism, white supremacy, and misogyny on the platform. No, this is all they do is they complain and they cry and they try to talk to the manager and look for some sort of way that they can, uh, okay, sorry about that. I don't know what's going

on. Sometimes I have like, uh, you know, hiccups and things like that go wrong, but that's life, I guess. It's how it is. It led to another U.S. senator. Anyway, what I was saying a minute ago before, before I got distracted, is that these people, all they're going to do is they're going to just complain and cry and get mad, and they're just going to try to pressure and take away things that they don't like. That's what it is. And again, these people don't care about anything being anti-Semitic. They're probably reposting things that are anti-Semitic right now about Israelis. The same people that are complaining about this. So I don't even think that anybody should take this seriously even for a second. Thousands of groups that spread

anti-semitic Nazi or gender hate and never been on the internet and ever played old online games. Well, the reality is that I don't want, this is my outlook. I don't want the internet companies to create a quasi-government that applies rules that transcend the legal requirements. I don't want to live in that world. I don't think that we should have to. And the funny thing is that we don't.

But it's just that the companies are taking advantage of and they are, effectively having their cake and eating it too. They are enjoying the privileges of not being held accountable for the bad content on their platform, while at the same time being able to weaponize their platform to push their agendas. It should be one or the other.

It can't be both. And payment processors are only one form of this. Mark Warner asking Velve to do something or face further scrutiny by the... Honestly, things seem so fucking overblown. It's not.

U.S. government. But Vove, usually just ignored these complaints and requests for strong remoderation. As long as nothing was outright illegal or broke their existing rules, they generally wouldn't intervene with the content on their platform. So now... Which is what actual players want. Nobody cares about some random fucking mentally ill activist on Twitter

and what she thinks about Steam. Nobody gives a fuck what she thinks. It doesn't matter. No longer just handling your transactions, they're becoming content gatekeepers with massive power over what can be bought and sold online. The thing is, this isn't just a steam issue. This is happening all over, showing a clear pattern. We've seen major hits in Japan's anime and manga market. See, this is what I'm saying, right?

This is not the first time they've done this. But platforms like Saruga and Mongo Library Z were forced to remove adult content or even shut down because payment processors demanded it. Another Japanese platform, DL site, even tried to fight back, temporarily blocking Visa and MasterCard to keep its adult content available. Just this year, payment processors in Japan started holding back money from adult game creators on Steam. This was such a big deal that it led to an official investigation by the Japanese government into these payment companies and their practice. Japan should just not allow these companies to function and to do service inside of Japan if they don't. if they keep doing this.

Really? Just like don't allow them to function at all. Yeah, like if you want to do that, like yeah, it's economic terrorism. Yeah, like, yeah, you can't force us what to do. It's ridiculous. It's not just Japan either. Only fans in 2021 famously announced that they would ban all sexual content because of pressure from their payment processors.

Until they reversed the decision. Patreon 2 has faced similar issues in the past. So as we're seeing with Steam's new. rule, this isn't just Valve's problem. It's a widespread issue showing how these powerful payment companies like Visa and MasterCard are deciding what gets sold and what doesn't across the internet. The thing is, now we're seeing this first step. If payment processors can now influence certain kinds of adult-only content, the real question is, where does it stop? It doesn't. It doesn't stop. It just keeps going, because as soon as people realize that they can pressure, like as soon as people can

can find the weakness, you know, the weak link in a chain, they will go after that weak link. And if they feel like they can bully and start attacking payment processors to force them into, like, you know, getting mad about these games or like shutting these games down, shutting down service, they will do that because to them, they don't care, right? They're just trying to make people do what they want. The big concern for many people. If these powerful companies can block one type of a mile, one type of content today, what prevents them from moving on to other types tomorrow?

Could it be games that talk about different political topics? What about games that tell stories? Some people might find controversial or challenging. Could they even push for changes on games that don't fit certain beliefs, even if they're perfectly legal? Theoretically, yes. For is now wide open. Before, Steam decided. But with Valve's new rule, these payment processing companies and others like internet providers now have a huge say for what's the last.

on Steam. This means they could in the future decide what games you buy, not based on laws, but on their rules. This is a big deal. And the problem is that, again, it takes away the democratic autonomy that a society is supposed to have. And it gives it to a corporate overlord to effectively dictate what you're allowed to see. And that's the reason why this is such a huge problem. It's because it effectively takes away people's ability to communicate and to engage in freedom of speech and freedom of expression

on the internet. And it's being done in a way that's not democratic. It's not voted on. I don't think it's necessarily control from Valve and gives it to these companies take over the world. That's right. Main job isn't about games or art

but about small. Yeah, I don't know why it's happening. I think that the IRL toolkit thing is having issues. I'm not sure. And gives it to these companies whose main job isn't about games or art, but about money and transaction. Now, I've already seen a few different suggestions from different Steam users, including exploring different payment options, like maybe crypto, or even the... No, all of these are addressing symptoms of a problem.

Even getting mad at the company. Like, I'm not even mad at collective shout. Possibility of Valve developing its own payment system. Think of a Valve pay to get around these restrictions entirely. Bell's new rule, which is directly influenced by powerful payment processors, card companies, banks, and internet providers marks a big moment for the platform. What do you think VELV should do? Should payment processors have this much power? They absolutely shouldn't and everybody knows it.

And I think, again, the more that people allow this, the worse that it will get. Because the more that they can exercise their control. And so it seems like also, by the way, there is, I'm not going to go through this right now. So we've recently been talking. It seems like Japan is going to be pushing back against this. And that in 23-4, Japan, Fair Trade Commission will conduct onsite, on-site inspections of visa. In my opinion, here's the truth. All of these companies are just nothing.

Like, they're nothing. Like, if they want to deal business and they want to do business in these different countries, they need to follow the country's laws. And I think the problem isn't collective shout. There will always be a. a new group of retarded Karens that get together and they lobby for some sort of change to happen, right? The problem is not them. The problem is the fact that it works.

That's the issue and that's the actual problem. And until you can solve that, things are just going to keep getting worse.