Update: A Valve spokesperson responded that „Steam has never allowed games with sexual depictions/images of real people“. They pointed to item two in the rules and guidelines regarding what should be published on the platform outlined in its onboarding document as the reason Vile: Exhumed was taken down, specifying that this isn’t a „new rule“.
Original story continues below:
Horror game Vile: Exhumed, which sees you delving into a 90s computer to uncover a man’s obsession with an adult film actress, has launched as a free download after being „wrongly banned“ from Steam over sexual content, according to developer Cara Cadaver of Final Girl Games.
Initially released via Itch.io (where that version remains live), the game was set to to debut on Steam on July 22, but had its page on Valve’s platform pulled down. Cadaver and publisher DreadXP say „sexual content with depictions of real people“ was the reasoning given for this by Valve, despit the game featuring „no uncensored nudity, no depictions of sex acts, and no pornography“.