You need not fear the predations of Wilson Fisk, denizens of Steam.
The controversial Visual Novel Rape Day will not see a release on Steam, according to Valve. In a statement released today, Valve’s Erik Johnson explained why:
Over the past week you may have heard about a game called ‘Rape Day’ coming soon to Steam. Today we’ve decided not to distribute this game on Steam. Given our previous communication around Who Gets To Be On The Steam Store?, we think this decision warrants further explanation.
Much of our policy around what we distribute is, and must be, reactionary—we simply have to wait and see what comes to us via Steam Direct. We then have to make a judgement call about any risk it puts to Valve, our developer partners, or our customers. After significant fact-finding and discussion, we think ‘Rape Day’ poses unknown costs and risks and therefore won’t be on Steam.
We respect developers’ desire to express themselves, and the purpose of Steam is to help developers find an audience, but this developer has chosen content matter and a way of representing it that makes it very difficult for us to help them do that.
Valve has, recent of late, taken a lax stance on what content is allowed on their store. So it’s hard not to see this decision as some sort of definitive precedent; a line in the sand, so to speak. At the same time, it’s important to take into consideration the amount of damage allowing a game like this on their platform could ultimately do to their brand. There are reasons major companies have avoided the dreaded Adults Only rating, after all.
Source: Polygon
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