Following a call to action by the UK organization, Women in Games, as well as UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Steam has elected to remove a game that heavily focused on "male domination" and sexual assault from its storefront.
The title, which TheGamer will not name, is an adult visual novel that has potential players responding to their mother's affair by "claiming" her for their own. Additionally, it encourages players to "never take 'no' for an answer."
At the time, CEO Dr. Marie-Claire Isaaman called on Valve to "act urgently" in removing the game as the title "is not only vile and dangerous, but also actively promotes the dehumanization of women and girls," according to a statement obtained by Video Games Chronicle.
Separately, Cooper called on platforms to "show some responsibility," per LBC.
Following those calls, the game was promptly removed from the UK storefront, along with Canada and Australia. In Australia, it was pulled for being "unclassified," per LBC, and in Canada, it was removed after less than 24 hours, according to the same report.
Because Valve's storefront doesn't explicitly require ESRB or PEGI ratings, games can be made available for download that otherwise wouldn't be published elsewhere....
