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Episode 43 - Is this our last chance to play queer games on Steam?
True Avatars - A Queer Video Game Podcast
1 hour 51 minutes 40 seconds
3 months ago
Episode 43 - Is this our last chance to play queer games on Steam?
This week, Steam was forced to removed a bunch of overly explicit games at the behest of Visa and Mastercard, the two most important payment processors that allow Steam to make money.
The games that were removed were not queer (they were of the much more “aggressive” variety) — but where is the line drawn? How long before queer games are equated in the same breath as games that are actually explicit? Will Visa and Mastercard force Steam to purge games with the LGBTQ+ tag?
This subject matter is heavy and this episode contains a content warning before the discussion.
In the first half of the episode, we discuss what we’ve been playing (including Donkey Kong Bananza!) and the news.
Headlines include: a release year for The Last of Us Season 3, Donkey Kong is getting his own movie, Nintendo has found their Link and Zelda for the live action Legend of Zelda movie, Cyberpunk 2077 got a surprise content update, some disappointing AI news, and much more!
Joining me for all of this is Lloyd_Lloydster and newcomer Cleo, who also brings our Queer Game of the Week.
00:00:00 - Intro
00:06:08 - What We’ve Been Playing
00:28:00 - News
00:57:22 - Is this our last chance to play queer games on Steam?
01:43:19 - Queer Game of the Week: Tell Me Why
This episode was recorded on July 19 2025.
***SPOILERS for Unpacking (from 01:27:45 to 01:28:56)
Sources:
https://game8.co/games/Donkey-Kong-Bananza/archives/537239
https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/rmm_voyager_V01503556900000
https://deadline.com/2025/01/shrek-5-minions-3-release-dates-1236254122/
https://x.com/nintendo/status/1945433161124688335?s=46&t=sVUrhNeL5EXDMRDpzdemfQ
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-last-of-us-season-3-planned-for-2027-and-could-be-the-series-end-hbo-boss-says
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/assassins-creed-live-action-series-netflix-1236463572/
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/steam-games-disclosing-generative-ai-use-are-up-800-this-year/
https://mobilegamer.biz/laid-off-king-staff-set-to-be-replaced-by-the-ai-tools-they-helped-build-say-sources/
https://x.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1945287268748361864
https://www.youtube.com/live/aFLKoZaHak8
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/7-months-after-cyberpunks-last-update-yet-more-new-content-has-been-revealed/
https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/s/1iP8uKRjrc
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted/onboarding
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/07/valve-gets-pressured-by-payment-processors-with-a-new-rule-for-game-devs-and-various-adult-games-removed/
https://www.newsweek.com/why-visa-mastercard-being-blamed-onlyfans-banning-explicit-content-pornography-1621570
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-whistleblower-says-mastercard-visa-failed-stop-payments-child-sex-abuse-2025-01-24/
https://19thnews.org/2024/08/project-2025-anti-trans-policies-impact-families/
https://www.vu.edu.au/about-vu/news-events/news/whats-happening-with-us-book-bans-under-trump
https://publishyourpurpose.com/blog/why-book-banning-bad/
https://hmd.org.uk/resource/6-may-1933-looting-of-the-institute-of-sexology/
https://www.them.us/story/stonewall-bisexuals