Valve recently got into a controversy after banning certain games in the adult visual novel genre. Following some backlash from the community, Valve's Erik Johnson revealed in an official blog post that it has now been decided to stop policing Steam content altogether, which means that everything will be allowed on the store except illegal or 'straight up trolling' content.

　　So we ended up going back to one of the principles in the forefront of our minds when we started Steam, and more recently as we worked on Steam Direct to open up the Store to many more developers: Valve shouldn't be the ones deciding this. If you're a player, we shouldn't be choosing for you what content you can or can't buy. If you're a developer, we shouldn't be choosing what content you're allowed to create. Those choices should be yours to make. Our role should be to provide systems and tools to support your efforts to make these choices for yourself and to help you do it in a way that makes you feel comfortable.

　　With that principle in mind, 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. 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. We already have some tools, but they're too hidden and not nearly comprehensive enough. We are going to enable you to override our recommendation algorithms and hide games containing the topics you're not interested in. So if you don't want to see anime games on your Store, you'll be able to make that choice. If you want more options to control exactly what kinds of games your kids see when they browse the Store, you'll be able to do that. And it's not just players that need better tools either - developers who build controversial content shouldn't have to deal with harassment because their game exists, and we'll be building tools and options to support them too.

　　As we mentioned earlier, laws vary around the world, so we're going to need to handle this on a case-by-case basis. As a result, we will almost certainly continue to struggle with this one for a while. Our current thinking is that we're going to push developers to further disclose any potentially problematic content in their games during the submission process, and cease doing business with any of them that refuse to do so honestly. We'll still continue to perform technical evaluations of submissions, rejecting games that don't pass until their issues have been resolved.

　　So what does this mean? It means that the Steam Store is going to contain something that you hate, and don't think should exist. Unless you don't have any opinions, that's guaranteed to happen. But you're also going to see something on the Store that you believe should be there, and some other people will hate it and want it not to exist.

　　It also means that the games we allow onto the Store will not be a reflection of Valve’s values, beyond a simple belief that you all have the right to create & consume the content you choose. The two points above apply to all of us at Valve as well. If you see something on Steam that you think should not exist, it's almost certain that someone at Valve is right there with you.

　　To be explicit about that - if we allow your game onto the Store, it does not mean we approve or agree with anything you're trying to say with it. If you're a developer of offensive games, this isn't us siding with you against all the people you're offending. There will be people throughout the Steam community who hate your games and hope you fail to find an audience, and there will be people here at Valve who feel exactly the same way. However, offending someone shouldn't take away your game's voice. We believe you should be able to express yourself like everyone else and to find others who want to play your game. But that's it.

　　This decision of allowing all kinds of Steam content on the store is bound to be even more controversial, however. In fact, Leaf Corcoran (founder of the popular Itch.io marketplace for indie games) openly called the new policy ridiculous. He then added that by allowing any Steam content on the store, Valve is also effectively authorizing toxicity in the platform.

　　A platform that allows "everything, unless it's illegal or straight up trolling" is ridiculous. Please keep your malicious, derogatory, discriminatory, bullying, harassing, demeaning content off @itchio. Our ban buttons are ready. https://t.co/N021UxtfAa

　　— leaf @ itch.io ? (@moonscript) June 6, 2018

　　It's sad that most of the people in that thread are worried about asset flips. What about the fact that valve is effectively authorizing toxic people to exist on their platform? It's so out of touch

　　— leaf @ itch.io ? (@moonscript) June 6, 2018

　　https://t.co/OAV7GqFsbx's goal is to make it easy for small & under-represented developers to publish their work. We're still ahead of Steam by miles in that regard. We were never a platform for enabling racists and toxic creators to spread their message.

　　— leaf @ itch.io ? (@moonscript) June 6, 2018

　　It is certainly a divisive topic. Let us know your opinions in the comments section.