{"id":1540462,"date":"2026-03-31T02:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/HeCjHg3Dkbvu5FcvSFjK4c"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:55:07","slug":"remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that&#8217;s not cool\u2014sort of"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<p>The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about &#8220;financial services companies denying their customers access to services due to their political or religious views,&#8221; and warning that they could face investigations and &#8220;potential enforcement action&#8221; if they&#8217;re found to be doing so.<\/p>\n<p>The move comes less than a year after Valve said Mastercard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/software\/platforms\/valve-confirms-credit-card-companies-pressured-it-to-delist-certain-adult-games-fro\">pressured it to remove a number of NSFW games<\/a> from Steam. Mastercard countered by saying it &#8220;has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms,&#8221; and that it allows &#8220;all lawful purchases.&#8221; The net result was a ball of confusion in which Mastercard did not have a direct hand in the removal of games, but payment processors\u2014who use Mastercard&#8217;s technology and network to actually facilitate transactions\u2014forced the matter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/mastercard-deflects-blame-for-nsfw-games-being-taken-down-but-valve-says-payment-processors-specifically-cited-a-mastercard-rule-about-damaging-the-brand\/\">because of Mastercard&#8217;s policies<\/a>, specifically in that instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mastercard.us\/content\/dam\/public\/mastercardcom\/na\/global-site\/documents\/mastercard-rules.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">rule 5.12.7<\/a>, &#8220;illegal or brand-damaging transactions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2026\/03\/ftc-chairman-andrew-n-ferguson-issues-warning-letters-ceos-paypal-stripe-visa-mastercard-about-debanking-american-consumers\" target=\"_blank\">letters sent to the four CEOs<\/a> (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xbiz.com\/news\/297090\/ftc-warns-paypal-stripe-visa-mastercard-against-debanking\" target=\"_blank\">XBiz<\/a>, a very NSFW website), FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson wrote that &#8220;full participation in commerce and public life necessarily requires that law-abiding individuals can access, and freely participate in, our financial system.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mastercard\u2019s services include, among [other] things, processing payments made through credit cards and debit cards through its card network,&#8221; Ferguson wrote. &#8220;Access to such infrastructure and services is essential for Americans&#8217; participation in everyday commerce, and\u2014directly or indirectly\u2014for the exercise of core rights and freedoms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m obliged to note here that Ferguson and the FTC aren&#8217;t riding to the rescue of beleaguered gamers with this move. The FTC said the letters are essentially reminders of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/08\/guaranteeing-fair-banking-for-all-americans\/\" target=\"_blank\">executive order<\/a> issued by US president Donald Trump in August 2025, which cited &#8220;financial institutions [who] participated in Government-directed surveillance programs targeting persons participating in activities and causes commonly associated with conservatism and the political right following the events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson repeated that assertion in his announcement of the letters on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AFergusonFTC\/status\/2037194284466667787\">X<\/a>:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:1285px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:149.42%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"gf6QyqguH6WhzJMZRbzmjL\" name=\"fergus\" alt=\"No one should be de-banked because of their political or religious views. They did this to President Trump, and they may do it to you too. Our citizens should speak and worship freely, not dance to the tune of soulless creditors with a political axe to grind. Today, I put the CEOs of Stripe, Paypal, Visa, and Mastercard on notice: the Trump-Vance FTC will not hesitate to act against companies that debank customers in violation of their terms of service or the reasonable expectation of consumers.\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"1\" width=\"1285\" height=\"1920\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"inline expandable\"><a href='https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg' target='_blank' class='expand-button icon-expand-image icon' ><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Andrew Ferguson (Twitter))<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I don&#8217;t imagine the MAGA crowd has much sympathy for indie and adult game creators who are finding it increasingly difficult to reach their audience. But intentional or not, the letters and the underlying order could benefit those creators: As noted by XBiz, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.occ.gov\/news-issuances\/news-releases\/2025\/nr-occ-2025-123a.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> following Trump&#8217;s 2025 EO which cited adult entertainment as one of nine &#8220;industry sectors subjected to restricted access by the nation&#8217;s largest banks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also notable that Ferguson specifically said in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/system\/files\/ftc_gov\/pdf\/mastercard-debanking-letter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">letter to Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach<\/a> that Mastercard must not &#8220;countenance unlawful debanking by members that process transactions on its network,&#8221; which effectively describes what happened with Steam in 2025: Mastercard itself had no direct hand in the matter, but the payment processors Steam relies on specifically cited Mastercard&#8217;s policies on &#8220;illegal or brand-damaging transactions&#8221; as the reason for demanding that games be removed from the platform.<\/p>\n<p>Still, as XBiz pointed out, while this certainly looks like movement in the right direction\u2014regardless of what motivated it\u2014there&#8217;s no guarantee of anything. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regulations.gov\/document\/OCC-2025-0142-0001\" target=\"_blank\">proposed rule change<\/a> that would eliminate &#8220;reputation risk&#8221; from regulatory programs would not impact the ability of financial institutions &#8220;to make business decisions regarding its customers or third-party arrangements and to manage them effectively, consistent with safety and soundness and compliance with applicable laws.&#8221; That&#8217;s vague, and that leaves payment processors a lot of wiggle room to continue with their practices as they see fit.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve reached out to Valve and the FTC to ask about the impact of these letters in the context of adult videogames on Steam, and will update if I receive a reply.<\/p>\n<div class=\"product\"><a data-dimension112=\"e65acc29-a327-4f19-bb1d-820a1bcc6e18\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"2026 games\" data-dimension48=\"2026 games\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure \" >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:661px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:98.94%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"6offQUY4CXebir2TC27dMd\" name=\"kingdom come 2 square\" caption=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of-1.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"661\" height=\"654\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" credit=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/new-pc-games-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-dimension112=\"e65acc29-a327-4f19-bb1d-820a1bcc6e18\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"2026 games\" data-dimension48=\"2026 games\" data-dimension25=\"\"><strong>2026 games<\/strong><\/a>: All the upcoming games<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-best-pc-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best PC games<\/strong><\/a>: Our all-time favorites<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-50-best-free-pc-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Free PC games<\/strong><\/a>: Freebie fest<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/best-fps-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best FPS games<\/strong><\/a>: Finest gunplay<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/best-rpgs-of-all-time\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best RPGs<\/strong><\/a>: Grand adventures<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-best-co-op-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best co-op games<\/strong><\/a>: Better together<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about &#8220;financial services companies denying their customers access to services due to their political or religious views,&#8221; and warning that they could face investigations and &#8220;potential enforcement action&#8221; if they&#8217;re found to be doing so. The move comes less than a year after Valve said Mastercard pressured it to remove a number of NSFW games from Steam. Mastercard countered by saying it &#8220;has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms,&#8221; and that it allows &#8220;all lawful purchases.&#8221; The net result was a ball of confusion in which Mastercard did not have a direct hand in the removal of&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1540463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[748],"class_list":["post-1540462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc-gamer","tag-games"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that&#039;s not cool\u2014sort of | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about &quot;financial services companies\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that&#039;s not cool\u2014sort of | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about &quot;financial services companies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-31T02:55:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"321\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that&#8217;s not cool\u2014sort of\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-31T02:55:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":682,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"games\"],\"articleSection\":[\"PC Gamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/\",\"name\":\"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that's not cool\u2014sort of | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-31T02:55:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about \\\"financial services companies\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg\",\"width\":321,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that\u2019s not cool\u2014sort of\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that&#8217;s not cool\u2014sort of\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that's not cool\u2014sort of | Arcader News","description":"The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about \"financial services companies","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that's not cool\u2014sort of | Arcader News","og_description":"The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about \"financial services companies","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-03-31T02:55:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":321,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that&#8217;s not cool\u2014sort of","datePublished":"2026-03-31T02:55:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/"},"wordCount":682,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg","keywords":["games"],"articleSection":["PC Gamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/","name":"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that's not cool\u2014sort of | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-31T02:55:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"The US Federal Trade Commission has sent letters to the CEOs of Mastercard,Visa, PayPal, and Stripe, raising concerns about \"financial services companies","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of.jpg","width":321,"height":480,"caption":"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that\u2019s not cool\u2014sort of"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/remember-when-mastercard-pressured-steam-to-remove-a-bunch-of-nsfw-games-the-ftc-says-thats-not-cool-sort-of\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Remember when Mastercard pressured Steam to remove a bunch of NSFW games? The FTC says that&#8217;s not cool\u2014sort of"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1540462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1540494,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540462\/revisions\/1540494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1540463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1540462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1540462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1540462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}