Valve responds...

[D. Flame]

https://kotaku.com/mastercard-denies-pressuring-steam-to-censor-nsfw-games-2000614393

Mastercard:

“Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations,” the company wrote in a statement published on its website on August 1.

Valve's Response:

“Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so,” Valve’s statement sent over email to Kotaku reads. “Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks. Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steam’s policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution. Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand.”

Rule 5.12.7 states, “A Merchant must not submit to its Acquirer, and a Customer must not submit to the Interchange System, any Transaction that is illegal, or in the sole discretion of the Corporation, may damage the goodwill of the Corporation or reflect negatively on the Marks.”

[Sciencemile]

The War continues then. Goodwill shall be damaged and Marks tarnished.

[Draug]

So basically there are 5 types of players in this game
Card networks - Visa and MC
Payment processors - stripe maybe more
Banking partners - Citibank among others.
Activist groups - Collective Shout

Game app hosts - Steam and Itch.io

The first three types keep pointing to each other as to who is at fault. Collective Shout is taking the credit for snitching to Visa and Mastercard

And Steam is saying it is due to MC though their banking partners and payment processors.

Pretty sure at the end of the day the majority of blame lies on Visa and MasterCard.

[Jack Krauser]

Typical PR control

[Uncle Sam]

Originally posted by Jack Krauser:

Typical PR control

Yep.

[D. Flame]

Originally posted by Draug:

So basically there are 5 types of players in this game
Card networks - Visa and MC
Payment processors - stripe maybe more
Banking partners - Citibank among others.
Activist groups - Collective Shout

Game app hosts - Steam and Itch.io

The first three types keep pointing to each other as to who is at fault. Collective Shout is taking the credit for snitching to Visa and Mastercard

And Steam is saying it is due to MC though their banking partners and payment processors.

Pretty sure at the end of the day the majority of blame lies on Visa and MasterCard.

No, basically it means that Mastercard is blatantly lying.

They said they don't do this in their recent statement, but MC's on terms state otherwise. MC is just lying to try to get the heat off of themselves. Pure and simple.

[superblake_]

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Originally posted by Draug:

So basically there are 5 types of players in this game
Card networks - Visa and MC
Payment processors - stripe maybe more
Banking partners - Citibank among others.
Activist groups - Collective Shout

Game app hosts - Steam and Itch.io

The first three types keep pointing to each other as to who is at fault. Collective Shout is taking the credit for snitching to Visa and Mastercard

And Steam is saying it is due to MC though their banking partners and payment processors.

Pretty sure at the end of the day the majority of blame lies on Visa and MasterCard.

No, basically it means that Mastercard is blatantly lying.

They said they don't do this in their recent statement, but MC's on terms state otherwise. MC is just lying to try to get the heat off of themselves. Pure and simple.

Those are their rules not their terms. Their terms have not been updated in years.

[D. Flame]

Originally posted by superblake_:

Originally posted by D. Flame:

No, basically it means that Mastercard is blatantly lying.

They said they don't do this in their recent statement, but MC's on terms state otherwise. MC is just lying to try to get the heat off of themselves. Pure and simple.

Those are their rules not their terms. Their terms have not been updated in years.

potato potato

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Originally posted by Draug:

So basically there are 5 types of players in this game
Card networks - Visa and MC
Payment processors - stripe maybe more
Banking partners - Citibank among others.
Activist groups - Collective Shout

Game app hosts - Steam and Itch.io

The first three types keep pointing to each other as to who is at fault. Collective Shout is taking the credit for snitching to Visa and Mastercard

And Steam is saying it is due to MC though their banking partners and payment processors.

Pretty sure at the end of the day the majority of blame lies on Visa and MasterCard.

No, basically it means that Mastercard is blatantly lying.

They said they don't do this in their recent statement, but MC's on terms state otherwise. MC is just lying to try to get the heat off of themselves. Pure and simple.

MasterCard is saying they didn't tell Valve to remove or restrict any games.

Valve is stating that MasterCard never spoke to them and only middle-men spoke to them.

[D. Flame]

Originally posted by Boblin the Goblin:

Originally posted by D. Flame:

No, basically it means that Mastercard is blatantly lying.

They said they don't do this in their recent statement, but MC's on terms state otherwise. MC is just lying to try to get the heat off of themselves. Pure and simple.

MasterCard is saying they didn't tell Valve to remove or restrict any games.

Valve is stating that MasterCard never spoke to them and only middle-men spoke to them.

MC is arguing semantics.

[McFlurry Butts]

I mean, there is a ton of criminal organizations using banking and payment processors, so I really don't get the illegal aspects of games that are clearly legal. The Epstein Estate is still moving money around. I feel like this is all just a ruse to distract from politics because they're not even enforcing bans on the same games across different platforms. Mouthing Washing is still on Steam and has almost no adult imaging.

[datCookie]

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Originally posted by Boblin the Goblin:

MasterCard is saying they didn't tell Valve to remove or restrict any games.

Valve is stating that MasterCard never spoke to them and only middle-men spoke to them.

MC is arguing semantics.

If it ever comes to a court of law, semantics are the make or break of a case. Don't dismiss them out of hand so easily.

[Zidane]

On a bit of a better news: Itch io is reinstating NSFW content, although only in their free forms, but they have stated they are looking into more payment providers in order to be able to turn things back, which is something Valve should REALLY consider.

[videomike_Ultimate_Plushie]

Originally posted by Zidane:

On a bit of a better news: Itch io is reinstating NSFW content, although only in their free forms, but they have stated they are looking into more payment providers in order to be able to turn things back, which is something Valve should REALLY consider.

im impressed Itch, they got their act back together in both transparency and action. This has been the weakness to valvbe strategy. Yes they have won by quietly doing ntohing and being a rock, but this is a hurricane over the entiure market, that ♥♥♥♥ isn't going to be viable this time, especially since it's becoming increasingly clear this might not be more than a few banks trying to get way too big for their britches

[videomike_Ultimate_Plushie]

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Originally posted by Boblin the Goblin:

MasterCard is saying they didn't tell Valve to remove or restrict any games.

Valve is stating that MasterCard never spoke to them and only middle-men spoke to them.

MC is arguing semantics.

No he's right. What appears to be happening here, is Mastercard didnt send anything, a few smaller banks said "we are interpreting mastercards rules and speaking for them, and wont let you verify." Why mastercard allows this(I would be furious frankly) I have no idea, but unless partner banks say it's a lie this is still congruous.

[Draug]

Originally posted by datCookie:

Originally posted by D. Flame:

MC is arguing semantics.

If it ever comes to a court of law, semantics are the make or break of a case. Don't dismiss them out of hand so easily.

At the end of the day though if person A (mob boss) tells person B to threaten person C, yeah person b will get in trouble maybe but more likely will have a plea deal fingering the mob boss as the one who called the shots.