Storefronts such as the iOS App Store and Google Play tend to be heavily moderated, which means that apps submitted need to undergo a rigorous review process to check for illegal content and appropriateness before being allowed to go on sale. However it seems that Valve has decided that they will no longer do that for the Steam Store.In a post on its website, Valve has announced that they will be effectively taking a hands-off approach when it comes to policing content on Steam. “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.”
Now this doesn’t mean that Steam will suddenly become the wild west where everything and anything goes. Instead Valve’s decision seems to be in response to recent instances such as the initial plan to censor adult novels on Steam (or risk getting removed), to the outcry to remove certain games.
According to Valve, “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.”
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