Valve removes games from Steam after clarifying removal policy

Valve removed a number of games from its Steam platform shortly after clarifying its policy on the matter. The removed games are copies with titles such as Aids Simulator and Isis Simulator.

The removal is based on data from the Steam Tracker site, which shows that the games have been banned or given an “unreleased” status. No reason is given, but Valve recently made it clear that it only intervenes if games are illegal or amount to ‘straight up trolling’. In the current case, the games seem to fall into the latter category, which means that Valve somewhat fleshes out the fairly vague standard.

The games, of which the simulator variants all come from the same developer, are no longer available on Steam. A search of the Google cache reveals that Aids Simulator’s description contains lyrics such as ‘Aids Simulator is a very short first-person shooter with boring gameplay, poor graphics and generic assets’. Moreover, the developer itself had described the game as a ‘zero effort cash grab’.

While it’s pretty obvious why this might fall into the ‘trolling’ category in this case, it doesn’t mean all cases are clear-cut. Valve said it believes that the choice for games is up to players and developers and that it basically welcomes all games to Steam. It wants to develop tools that allow players to make better choices and, for example, filter certain games. Earlier, Valve already removed the game Active Shooter from its platform. The company tells VentureBeat that this had also happened under the new policy.