{"id":28048,"date":"2024-03-05T12:43:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T03:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=28048"},"modified":"2024-03-05T12:43:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T03:43:51","slug":"20240305-28048","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20240305-28048\/","title":{"rendered":"Steam\u2019s last-minute ban of R18 visual novel attracts criticism of unclear ruling\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The developer of <strong>Order Us!<\/strong>, an R18 visual novel, has announced that the game was banned by Steam 3 days before its release. The reason given was that the game appears to contain sexual content involving an underage character. This case has highlighted both Steam\u2019s strengthened rules on adult-oriented games as well as stirring up criticism of Steam\u2019s apparent rejection of resubmissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The adult-oriented visual novel uses a similar graphic style to Japanese bishoujo games, featuring female characters depicted in an anime style with large eyes. According to the developer Argent\u2019s posts on X, Order Us! was scheduled to be released on March 1 and a demo build had previously been approved without any issues. However, Argent reports that they received the following message from Steam on February 27 stating that the game had been banned.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Please RT\ud83d\ude4f<br>(1\/4) It is with a heavy heart that I must announce our 18+ game, Order Us! &#8211; has been banned from Steam 3 days prior to release. I received this message from the review team yesterday morning. A demo build had been approved several months ago without complications. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gR6qJuChNs\">pic.twitter.com\/gR6qJuChNs<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Argent (@ArgentOrderUs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ArgentOrderUs\/status\/1762872372154056998?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 28, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason given by Steam, according to the screenshot posted by Argent, was that the game seems \u201cin our judgement, to depict sexual conduct with a minor.\u201d Reflecting on this assessment, Argent inferred that they were probably referring to a character called Mocha. In their <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ArgentOrderUs\/status\/1762872816670478413?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">X post<\/a>, the developer declared that the character was 19 years old and not a high school student. Argent added that Steam\u2019s representative might have thought that the character was underage due to her flat-chest and short height, declaring that it is \u201cheartbreaking that a realistic body type has to be avoided when working with Steam\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m never making a small-breasted character again.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"505\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-28048-header.png\" alt=\"Order Us! bishoujo visual novel\" class=\"wp-image-28051\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-28048-header.png 900w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-28048-header-380x213.png 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-28048-header-768x431.png 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-28048-header-600x337.png 600w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Argent\u2019s post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/visualnovels\/comments\/1b42ymy\/update_steam_banned_my_18_vn_3_days_from_release\/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reddit<\/a>, Steam refused to provide details as to exactly what content in the game had led to the decision to ban it, and would not allow the developer to resubmit a modified version of the game.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-reddit wp-block-embed-reddit\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"reddit-embed-bq\" style=\"height:316px\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/visualnovels\/comments\/1b42ymy\/update_steam_banned_my_18_vn_3_days_from_release\/\">Update: Steam banned my 18&#43; VN 3 days from release<\/a><br> by<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/user\/Argent_OU\/\">u\/Argent_OU<\/a> in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/visualnovels\/\">visualnovels<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.reddit.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many commenters on Argent\u2019s X and Reddit posts criticized Steam for apparently not specifying the exact content that led to the ban nor giving the developer the chance to resubmit an altered version of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Steam clearly states in their message to the developer that they will not tolerate any \u201cgrey area\u201d when it comes to depictions of sexual conduct that involves a character that could be interpreted as underage. Despite this, there is no shortage of adult-oriented romance visual novels and bishoujo games that feature characters who sometimes wear school uniform or whose appearance could be construed as having child-like features due to anime art styles. This can be seen in some older games in the genre, like the high school-set <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/888790\/Sabbat_of_the_Witch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sabbat of the Witch<\/a>, which were released on Steam before their rules became stricter on ambiguity regarding characters\u2019 ages in games with R18 nude or sexual content. Argent\u2019s case highlights the need for developers of adult-oriented games to make sure there is no gray area regarding the age of such characters if they want the game to be available on Steam.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indie dev Argent&#8217;s R18 visual novel Order Us! was banned by Steam 3 days before release due to an unspecified character appearing underage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":28054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-28048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie-games","category-news","tag-global-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Steam\u2019s last-minute ban of R18 visual novel attracts criticism of unclear ruling\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Indie dev Argent&#039;s R18 visual novel Order Us! 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