Gabe Newell reportedly snapped 'What the f*** do I pay you for if that's your opinion?' at Valve lawyer pushing for more content moderation on Steam

[u/PaiDuck]

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/gabe-newell-reportedly-snapped-what-the-f-do-i-pay-you-for-if-thats-your-opinion-at-valve-lawyer-pushing-for-more-content-moderation-on-steam/

[u/Straight-Ad6926]

Valve’s internal structure is so flat that even the lawyers are getting flamed by the CEO.

[u/PussiesUseSlashS → u/Straight-Ad6926]

I’ll never understand how valve got so big before anyone even tried to compete with them and by then Microsoft didn’t even have a chance.

[u/Ketheres → u/PussiesUseSlashS]

And any attempts made to compete with them have been half-assed at best. Like, Epic is probably the closest competitor and they take years to add in basic features from their roadmap.

[u/Geeseareawesome → u/Ketheres]

Not really. Epic survives almost entirely off of Vbucks

[u/justaRndy → u/Geeseareawesome]

I didn't believe you at first, so I looked it up.

Epic made almost 10 BILLION $ from fortnite in 2018, another 4-6 billion in 2019, and like 4-5 every year until at least 2024. Probably still raking in 2-4 billion yearly.

What the fuck. I knew it was big, but that is incredible. Those poor parents lmao

[u/Accurate_Cable_1372 → u/justaRndy]

Yeah it’s gnarly, shit go look at how much Roblox is making too. Shocking how much these two “game” platforms have eaten up such a large portion of the gaming industry.

[u/West-Flow-577 → u/Accurate_Cable_1372]

My nephew stole over $300 from my mom when he was using her tablet to play Roblox. The first time we believed him when he said he didn't realize, because I know how shady Roblox can be with that shit, he thought he was spending virtual currency.

The second time, after we locked payment on the tablet so that my mom would have to put in her PIN, he went and grabbed her phone to okay the purchases.

He's not allowed to play Roblox at grandma's anymore.

[u/Popular_Tomorrow_204 → u/West-Flow-577]

Hopefully no more Pocket money as well. Stealing from family is the lowest of lows

[u/West-Flow-577 → u/Popular_Tomorrow_204]

I'm just the tech guy in the family, I wasn't privy to the full discussion between my mom and my brother in regards to the full punishment. I just know what I had to implement to make sure it never happens again. At least my mom finally understood what I was trying to get her to do by having an actual lock on her phone instead of just a "swipe to unlock".

[u/Running-In-The-Dark → u/West-Flow-577]

Man that's fucking wild. My kids were doing that with xbox avatar skins and I sat them down and explained to them what the issue was with that. Never had another issue with that. I couldn't imagine them even matching what you just described without at least black holing every relevant site on top of implementing some dystopian countermeasures. Some parents just don't seem to care enough I guess.

[u/NTRedmage → u/West-Flow-577]

His ass would have been grounded for a year+ for each instance AND pawned off on every relative to do chores until he paid back the amount(I mean at least phantom value is anything). One of the reasons you should NEVER attach payment options to google or anything else.

[u/Lorcogoth → u/Accurate_Cable_1372]

the worst part is how clearly Roblox is in a legal grey zone due to how it works.

one of the biggest games on Roblox, is the Sims.

that is not a joke, someone recreated the sims put it on roblox under a different name and asked money for it.

since the company that makes Roblox doesn't publish the gamemode (since it is user created) they can't be sued by EA for stealing their game franchise.

[u/Xatsman → u/Lorcogoth]

If theyre not using the sims trademark there's no legal grey area to it. Anyone can make a similar game so long as they dont infringe on their trademarks. Paralives just came out and is a The Sims competitor in the same way.

[u/coraythan → u/justaRndy]

My kid who plays Fortnite won't even let me buy him one skin because "that's a waste of money." What's wrong with kids these days?!

[u/Lehsyrus → u/coraythan]

My nephews used to scream about getting robux, I had to show them how much more rewarding it was to purchase something physical because it never occurred to them that you could buy real toys with money.

They never were bought robux from my family, only friends parents and extended relatives. It's insane how addictive that game is even with every parental control turned to the max.

[u/coraythan → u/Lehsyrus]

Yeah I've played Minecraft and other survival games with my kids but fortunately none of them have played Roblox.

[u/Ozcog → u/coraythan]

The fact Roblox protects the Pedo population means I'll have my Kid play DOOM before they ever touch that cesspool.

[u/AyFrancis → u/Geeseareawesome]

And those UE games

[u/LuntiX → u/AyFrancis]

UE is also used in film & television. I know the fallout show used it and some of Love, Death and Robots.

[u/hatchetman208 → u/LuntiX]

UE is also used in the holodeck like set for filming the Mandalorian

[u/MemeHermetic → u/hatchetman208]

I believe it's called the Volume Wall.

[u/wizkudi → u/AyFrancis]

Oi UE Omlanda done take me son

[u/lulaloops → u/Geeseareawesome]

So what competitor is closer than Epic

[u/Shwastey → u/lulaloops]

Maybe GoG

[u/Grogenhymer → u/Shwastey]

Steam and Gog are my go to platforms. epic for free games I collect and maybe will play one day.

[u/Voidless-One → u/Grogenhymer]

[u/JumpingSpiderQueen → u/Ketheres]

Yeah. It's not like Steam is perfect. It's just that everything else is so janky, except for GOG.

[u/AlexWIWA → u/JumpingSpiderQueen]

GOG is kind of janky too, but the jank is well worth not having DRM

[u/doelutufe → u/JumpingSpiderQueen]

GOG is also janky. It doesn't even properly work with their own games. For a long time it constantly failed to update ..I think Cyberpuink 2077. Might have been TW3, either one. I would say update available, I would say "go for it", it would do whatever for 10 minuts and then fail. Looking up the error code lead to dozen of threads going back years.

Even CDProjekt agrees, they made a new launcher on top of GOG for Cyberpunk 2077..

[u/Nisheeth_P → u/doelutufe]

The thing is that they offer something worthwhile despite the jank. Epic offers nothing.

[u/EngelNUL → u/Ketheres]

Are you saying other apps have had a very short....Half-Life?

[u/SpinkickFolly → u/Ketheres]

Its been lost to time that the only reason Steam gives refunds is EA Origin offered them on release and EU law looked like it was going in that direction.

Otherwise it was a year or 2 of contention with the consumer base not being able to refund games.

[u/Cumulus_Anarchistica → u/SpinkickFolly]

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I thought it was Australian law that forced their hand.

[u/Donc-qui-et-Quand64 → u/SpinkickFolly]

Yeah and they stopped doing flash sales after that. Idk buying games was pretty sketchy back in the day. I don't think you could have gone to your local game store and refunded a game because it sucked either back in the day.

Indie games didn't really exist until like the mid 2000s, piracy was a well organized industry even in developed countries, and Steam was the latest wave of DRM that came out around the same time Sony CDs came with rootkit trojans that would monitor your pc for piracy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

The market always was kind of shitty in some ways.

[u/Crewman_Guy_Fleegman → u/SpinkickFolly]

Steam used to not even have a dedicated support team, with players facing all kinds of issues constantly as Gabe let employees just screw around.

Other storefronts launching and starting to gain traction is when they took major steps to start shaping up

[u/RavenWolf1 → u/Ketheres]

The real problem for competition here is that Steam as whole is designed for consumers at mind while competitors are designing stores for sellers. For example no reviews because those might decrease sales nor forums because some might say bad thing about the game etc. And because that attitude they can't never win.

[u/neograymatter → u/RavenWolf1]

I'd go a step farther and say that right behind customers, steam is also designed for developers over publishers as well.
Steam can trivialize the addition of game features like controller support, multiplayer matchmaking, cloud saves, and compatibility features, that the developer may have to implement their own solutions from scratch if they sold elsewhere.

[u/ClammHands420 → u/PussiesUseSlashS]

Because PC was an afterthought for most companies, and they saw server infrastructure as an unnecessary cost and bad investment. By the time someone did try, it was Bethesda and their launcher sucked big horse di...uh, I mean horse armor.

Then Ubisoft tried, and people accused them of being greedy, plus the launcher sucked. Then Rockstar tried and people hated the online requirements and how jank the social features were. Then Epic tried and the rest is history.

[u/anitawasright → u/ClammHands420]

yup and Valve did it so early that people HATED the idea of having to log in steam when it first came out.

[u/RedMoustache → u/anitawasright]

I disliked steam when it came out. But Steam and the market have both changed massively. It added an extra step to the way most people bought and played games. Now you need to connect to the internet and sign in instead of just hitting play. Not everyone was always connected all the time back then. A lot of them didn’t even have the option.

When Steam first came out it was functionally no different than the world’s friendliest DRM. Just need to log in and you’re good to go. No rootkits or malware needed. No shitty DRM drivers that screwed up the rest of your system.

But because they treated everyone so well they picked up steam (heh) quickly and it became a real market place. And developers adapted by getting rid of manual check/cd-key prompts. Then most developers dropped their shitty DRM systems because it was already tied to an account through Steam.

I only really started to love it when it became a viable replacement to the physical store, not something managed your physical copy after the fact.

[u/General_Panda_III → u/RedMoustache]

The steam box. That half-life bundle with team fortress. That bundle and Counter-Strike brought steam to mainstream.

Everything else is just why it has stuck around so long.

[u/billthejim → u/General_Panda_III]

orange box.

[u/Double_Elk8723 → u/anitawasright]

I hated steam for a long time as I didn't have Internet that let me down load games. It basically pushed me into console until I moved to a place with good Internet.

[u/Reed7525 → u/ClammHands420]

This, Sony and msoft put all their confidence in the console market being the goto

[u/Annalog → u/Reed7525]

I have been using steam since like 2007. I remember around that time maybe 2009? There was talks about a Play Store. This was also the time when Sony owned the VAIO brand so they had skin in the pc game. But by 2010 the PS3 was just selling so incredibly well that they abandoned the venture and sold VAIO in 2014, doubling down on their attention to consoles.

If they had earnestly thrown their hat in the ring as a steam competitor back in the 2000’s it’s very hard to say if steam would have survived. Sony PlayStation had an immaculate reputation with gamers from the 90’s and early 2000’s. They could have been the main service today.

[u/RobertPham149 → u/ClammHands420]

Even if they were eyeing for the PC market, the idea of online content delivery baffled the suits. They saw it as niche because they only see a market dominated by physical stores having all the footprints of video game players already, and online content delivery also risk inviting pirates. They didn't understand that people only went to physical stores and pirate video games because of a lack of options, rather than it being their preferred options.

[u/toolverine → u/ClammHands420]

Big horse armor made me chortle. Hats off to you.

[u/magniankh → u/ClammHands420]

God I'm glad the Rockstar ecosystem collapsed. It was ass.

[u/Sunny_Beam → u/PussiesUseSlashS]

When steam launched a vast majority of people still bought physical. It wasn't even till Half-life 2 launched that steam started gaining much traction.

Microsoft came out with Live not that long after and while Steam coming out first defiently helped them, Steam won that battle becaude their product was far superior.

If Valve had sat on their laurels and Microsoft actually made something that worked properly, we might have been in a very different timeline.

[u/Bobu-sama → u/Sunny_Beam]

I remember at the time people were angry about Steam because downloading took forever and most people preferred to get the game in person at GameStop or Best Buy or whatever.

When it came out, Steam was really only convenient if you were rich enough to have high speed internet at home, you could game on your computer at work, or you were at a university. Getting a game through dial up internet could take half a day of continuous downloading or more, and that was only if someone didn’t interrupt your connection.

The most surprising thing to me about Steam was how just forward thinking it was and how it managed to survive in spite of being too early for the market to really want what they were offering.

[u/no_witty_username → u/Bobu-sama]

When I saw the whole steam thing during HL2, I legit thought it was some sort of malware and HATED it with a passion. I though it was the worst thing ever as you needed to create an account and go through their route to get the game. I was like fuck me man, why cant I just download the damned game from the website get my exe and play without all the hoop jumping. I still stand by that assessment. But I am glad steam didnt turn out to be some corpo malware slop.

[u/Fesai → u/Sunny_Beam]

If I remember right Half-Life 2 required Steam to be installed as part of the installation process. I remember me and a group of friends complaining about it when we just wanted to get into the game. But having to connect to the Internet and setup an account was "such a hassle".

Hence why my Steam account creation date was around the time of that game's launch.

[u/Sunny_Beam → u/Fesai]

It was the first game that required you to use it. Lol yeah me and everyone else I knew hated steam back then

[u/Middle-Peach2096 → u/Fesai]

I would argue it was more The Orange Box. You could buy it in store. if you did, you got a box with a bunch of Steam keys inside. Only way to actually download and play your games was through Steam, but everyone wanted those games so everyone got Steam. Half-Life 2 started it but in 2004 there were still a lot of people on dial up and even the ones on "broadband" might only have had a 1mbit connection, which wasn't enough to make downloading a multi-GB game practical. By 2007 broadband penetration had ticked up enough to make it a more practical idea,which is why Valve was able to take the chance on foregoing physical media entirely. There are a ton of Steam accounts turning 20 next year as a direct result. Before the Orange Box Steam was kind of a joke to gamers and digital distribution wasn't common. Valve flipped that on its head basically overnight, and did it by leveraging the server infrastructure they'd already built years ago, originally as a service to solve patch issues for Counterstrike. It gave them a massive headstart when suddenly everyone realized oh actually selling games digitally online is a viable business model after all. It's like being at the 75 meter line in a 100 meter dash when the gun goes off. Nobody else had a chance. 

[u/Hercusleaze → u/Sunny_Beam]

Ahh yes. Windows Live. It was terrible. And continues to be a pain in the ass for anyone who tries to play an old game that uses that as DRM. Fallout 3 and GTA IV are a pain in the ass to get running properly because of Windows Live. Especially GTA IV.

[u/Nick85er → u/PussiesUseSlashS]

Decades of producing stable platform and product integration, not taking advantage of their customer base. Good business practices, in other words.

[u/newcheesecity → u/Nick85er]

as a consumer, valve has been by far the most consumer friendly game store and I'm locked in.

If you ask devs about valve many would prefer any other platform if not for the monopoly steam has.

[u/tonjohn → u/PussiesUseSlashS]

Microsoft’s “Games for Windows” did compete with Steamworks early on.

[u/2Norn → u/tonjohn]

games for windows live would even lose against no competition. it was that bad.

[u/pwn4321 → u/Straight-Ad6926]

Always knew flat earth was just down under

[u/DreamsServedSoft → u/Straight-Ad6926]

we are doomed when Gabe dies

[u/psychohistorian8 → u/DreamsServedSoft]

I'm sure he hired people with the same vision, like Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway

of course, the replacements will be in charge of hiring the next set of replacements and the company vision/direction can drift

but hopefully that's far enough away that we'll be old/dead before it becomes an issue

[u/GrumpyPan → u/Straight-Ad6926]

It’s cause valve/steam isn’t a publicly traded company. People underestimate how terrible decisions are made for the sole purpose of raising stock price.

[u/RedMdsRSupCucks → u/Straight-Ad6926]

It's almost like all you have to do to beat your competition is to be pro-sumer. who could have guessed that if you aim your company to be in the service of your customers, then the customers reward you with their currency. Amazing !

[u/Obvious_wombat → u/Straight-Ad6926]

Steam operates with an exceptionally lean workforce of only 79 employees dedicated specifically to the platform. These staffers oversee operations for the massive PC gaming ecosystem, which is owned by its parent company, Valve.

Valve operates as a whole with a total workforce of just 336 employees across all departments.

[u/AlexNae]

the amount of effort put to stop grown ass adults from purchasing nsfw content is ridiculous

[u/Mama_Mega → u/AlexNae]

It is Two Thousand and Twenty-Six, and not only do morons keep chanting "protect the children", even bigger morons still believe that "protect the children" ever had anything to do with protecting the children.

[u/mennydrives → u/Mama_Mega]

Honestly all they have to do to protect the children is to have about two dozen undercover cops play Roblox 'n public Minecraft servers.

[u/Unusual-Locksmith832 → u/mennydrives]

That's the whole point. Anyone who has used the internet beyond Instagram and Youtube can tell you how to actually protect the children. Go for the spaces children are actually using instead of going after adult content in adult websites.

This stuff they are doing are such an obvious lobbyist ploy to steal even more data it's not even funny anymore.

[u/Aranxi_89 → u/Unusual-Locksmith832]

Yup just like having adults babysit at the playgrounds and pools, it is important to have a safe space that is maintained safe by an adult.

As we've seen many times before, simply trying to ban content does nothing to protect anyone, and mass surveillance is just there to oppress people.

[u/Vandergrif → u/Mama_Mega]

Meanwhile the Epstein of it all continues on, with basically nobody facing any consequences. I guess those children don't count.

[u/Ayotha → u/Mama_Mega]

Funny that the "protect the children" crowd also seem to be supporters of doing some pretty terrible stuff to children . . .

[u/Garrapto → u/Mama_Mega]

It's all about "protect the children" until someone suggests teaching kids to recognise sexual assault and sexual predators, then, suddenly, it's problematic...

[u/Trevski → u/AlexNae]

'member when OnlyFans tried to go completely SFW? Pepperidge farms remembers.

[u/Alan_Reddit_M → u/AlexNae]

Literally 1984

[u/mirrax → u/Alan_Reddit_M]

We've always been at war with East Boobia.

[u/moldy_B-O-L-O-G-N-A → u/mirrax]

We have always been at war with Eur-assia

[u/SavingsIndividual345]

It's about nsfw content, not malware

[u/Millbeechu → u/SavingsIndividual345]

i think he was mad because just a few years ago it was recommended for valve to STOP hardcore moderating every game but now its come full circle and they are recommending MORE moderating of nsfw content bro is probably just tired of dealing with this

[u/Artemis_Platinum → u/Millbeechu]

It's worth noting that payment processors went after Steam extrajudicially not long ago. To Gabe, this is probably the company equivalent of an HoA threatening you because your mailbox is the wrong color.

[u/arseniobillingham21 → u/Artemis_Platinum]

Waiting for Gabe to make Steam payment processor.

[u/Metalguy2010 → u/arseniobillingham21]

In 2025 we got the Gabecube.

In 2026 we got Gabe bucks as a worldwide currency.

Edit: Took me far longer than I'd like to admit to understand what everyone was joking about lol.

[u/TransBrandi → u/Metalguy2010]

If Europe can have Euros, Steam can have Gæbos.

[u/BogdanPradatu → u/TransBrandi]

Gaybros

[u/wirthmore → u/Metalguy2010]

"Gaben" is a good name for a currency. Yuan, Yen, Gaben.

[u/No_Internal9345 → u/Metalguy2010]

Gotta workshop that name though, Gaybucks has other connotations.

[u/no-sleep-only-code → u/No_Internal9345]

His username is widely known as Gay Ben.

[u/solidadvise → u/No_Internal9345]

I’m down with Gaybucks, it has a certain good time ring to it.

[u/jayphat99 → u/arseniobillingham21]

I cannot fucking wait to have a Spigot card in my wallet.

[u/_Koloki_ → u/arseniobillingham21]

The way forward is a descentralized national payment system, in Brazil steam accept payment though PIX, Visa an Mastercard have diminished power in the equation for Brazil.

[u/Magnitude_Ten → u/arseniobillingham21]

The amount of new regulations they would have to adhere to would, really, really suck for them. And the fees that could happene. I can see why they would never want to do this.

[u/New_Enthusiasm9053 → u/Magnitude_Ten]

Obviously they'd spin it out as a seperate company. But also they don't need too. The EU is making their own now because the US debanked ICC judges. And a european digital euro will fundamentally not need to give a shit about some Australian pressure group. 

[u/Best_Pseudonym → u/New_Enthusiasm9053]

They still will for some forsaken reason, but they won't have to; just like US processors.

[u/New_Enthusiasm9053 → u/Best_Pseudonym]

Nah, some European countries still have legal prostitution, I don't think games showing animated nudity will be affected anytime soon.

[u/CruxOfTheIssue → u/Artemis_Platinum]

There needs to be a law against this. We cannot let payment processors decide what people can or can't buy. Absolute madness.

[u/CyclopsAirsoft → u/CruxOfTheIssue]

In the US, there is an executive order against this now coming into effect later this year.

But that’s not a law and is easily reversible.  It needs to be codified.

[u/gmc98765 → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

It's unlikely that an executive order to that effect will hold up in court.

Trump hasn't exactly been having much luck with the general strategy of trying to implement de facto laws by telling executive agencies to act as if the law exists.

[u/DooberBooberDoo → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

Do you have any extra info on this EO? I can't find it. Payment processors getting involved with censorship of NSFW content is a Project 2025 goal. I find it hard to believe that this administration would put out an executive order against it, but I hope I'm wrong.

[u/CyclopsAirsoft → u/DooberBooberDoo]

Executive order 14331 - guaranteeing fair banking for Americans act 

It’s not directly targeting censorship of NSFW content.  That got caught in the kinda shotgun blast of an EO that this is.

What it does is prevent processors from blocking transactions for political, religious or ‘moral’ reasons.  Largely it was because of processors interfering with campaign funds and that getting the Executive branch in a tizzy.

But it removes many, but not all, of the reasons a processor can restrict legal payment.

[u/DooberBooberDoo → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

Thank you so much for the information!

[u/CyclopsAirsoft → u/DooberBooberDoo]

Honestly it’s probably a large part of why valve feels comfortable pushing back against processors right now.

It’s a US company so the processor has iffy grounds on whether or not they can block anything Valve is currently selling until that EO runs out. Maybe they can, maybe not, legally speaking.

Hence Gabe not liking his lawyer’s stance. 

[u/Ion_Jones → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

There was also an FTC caution against debanking levied at payment processors

[u/CyclopsAirsoft → u/Ion_Jones]

Yeah.  It’s hardly the sledgehammer we want against payment processors but they’re not ignoring the issue here.

Curbing their influence is happening step by step.

[u/whydobabiesstareatme → u/CruxOfTheIssue]

Couldn't agree more. They're just the middleman in a monetary transaction. Their job is to process the payment, not to morally grandstand or proselytize ideology. That all is above board and legal should be their sole concern.

[u/HunterIV4 → u/CruxOfTheIssue]

Agreed. If the purchase would be legal with cash, payment processors should not be allowed to forbid it.

It's like if the power companies decided not to provide power to companies like gun shops or abortion clinics or whatever. It doesn't matter if your "product" is being used for something that's legal but you don't like. You don't get to decide that.

[u/InfoBarf → u/Artemis_Platinum]

Valve should start their own payment processing company.

[u/GOKOP → u/InfoBarf]

Except the pressure came all the way from card companies, and telling people their MasterCard or Visa is unsupported is a business suicide.

[u/Alucitary → u/Millbeechu]

They just need to make a second store for heavy NSFW content. Steam After Dark

[u/tmantran → u/Alucitary]

Steam and Steamy

Or take it further: Esteamed and Steamy

[u/AltoAutismo → u/Millbeechu]

most NSFW shows you an alert if its NSFW and you cant even see previews. What the fuck else do they want? just slap a "give us your age" which they already do, so they don't even see the 'click to preview' stuff and just outhright dont see NSFW and i think that's how it works already, so whats the big deal

[u/MrGiggleMan → u/SavingsIndividual345]

Yeah, dumb as fuck

Flag it with an age rating so you can filter with or without nsfw and call it a day

It doesn't need policing, if people want it, they'll buy it.

If people don't want to see it? Let people filter it out

Simple. Self regulated markets are better and easier in this context

[u/Voidforge7 → u/MrGiggleMan]

There are proper options to filter out nsfw games or even content in the community. I don't see much of those games at all. There's also ignored products and can define a list based on the preferences.so yeah, this is enough.

[u/UpboatOrNoBoat → u/Voidforge7]

I literally see none of them. You have to search for it to find it 99% of the time.

[u/szczszqweqwe]

LOL
From the articles author:

"You've gotta feel a bit sorry for Quackenbush—getting yelled at by Gabe Newell ranks high on my personal listings of things that would make me cry.

[u/3BlindMice1 → u/szczszqweqwe]

I mean, he's one of the extremely few people that managed to become a self made billionaire without stepping on anyone not playing the same game. He genuinely seems like a decent guy, and I don't think that's just because he has an amazing PR team

[u/DTraitor → u/3BlindMice1]

The only bad thing I can attribute to him is the fact Valve has tons of loot boxes which basically prey on those with gambling addiction 

[u/not_perfect_yet → u/DTraitor]

I meeeeeean...

He's still a billiionaire with multiple yachts.

I like him, but nobody needs multiple billionaire sized yachts.

[u/TerranImperium → u/not_perfect_yet]

He seems to use them for marine science which is probably the best thing one could use multiple yachts for.

[u/monkpunch → u/szczszqweqwe]

Probably why they're a games journalist and not a high priced lawyer

[u/DrowningKrown]

Let me guess, visa or Mastercard want to police what we can and cannot buy with our plastic cards?

[u/BusBoatBuey → u/DrowningKrown]

Two goals from NY government. One is control over Valve's information:

The NYAG also proposed to gather additional information (beyond what we normally collect in the course of processing payments) about each game user on the off-chance someone in New York was anonymizing their location to appear outside of New York, such as by using a VPN.

Second is censorship, is tradition:

"although this case is about illegal gambling, it is important to note that Valve’s promotion of games that glorify violence and guns helps fuel the dangerous epidemic of gun violence, particularly among young gamers who can become numbed to grave violence before their brains are fully developed."

[u/Shark7996 → u/BusBoatBuey]

Are we still doing video game violence? Man I am so tired of these ancient disproven arguments.

[u/-suspended- → u/Shark7996]

Replace "video games" with radio, movies, TV shows, comics, various music genres, various book genres, or literally any other form of entertainment. Someone has complained about it making people worse, dumber, and more evil. Some ancient Greeks thought writing would lead to students not memorizing everything and becoming stupid.

[u/Inprobamur → u/BusBoatBuey]

And D&D turns you into a satanist.

Are we really still stuck in the 80's? Violent crime has globally been on a sharp nosedive, if GTA is really brainwashing kids into hardened criminals then it's doing a real poor job of it.

[u/kaytin911 → u/Inprobamur]

And Japan has the lowest crime rates in the world and it is the country that makes the games that puritans cry over most.

[u/Carlosthefrog]

It’s not about nsfw content, they don’t actually care, it’s about visa and Mastercard saying what you can and can’t sell.

[u/Noslamah → u/Carlosthefrog]

That is why Gabe is so pissed. He doesn't want to let game devs be ruled by shitty corporations like that, and his idiot lawyer should know better than to roll over and let that happen. Valve is too big to have to listen to assholes like them, they have enough money and noteriety to literally start a new payment processing service if all others decide to work against him.

[u/Gornarok → u/Noslamah]

He doesn't want to let game devs be ruled by shitty corporations like that

Its slippery slope, you allow it in games and they will try to use it further.

[u/asdfgtref → u/Carlosthefrog]

yeah I mean, normally my opinion is that of "big companies can decide whether or not they want their platform / service to do certain things within reason so long as it doesn't veer into baseless bigotry"... but in cases like this where Visa and Mastercard hold SO MUCH power over the market it's kind of difficult to really think it's okay for them to deny their services based on prudish whims. Usually if a platform decided they didn't want sexual content under them I'd say that's their choice.

It's very concerning how easily a group was able to manipulate this power to suit their regressive political needs. We should be glad that it was for something relatively minor as this kind of pressuring could easily be exploited for far worse, pretty concerning stuff.

[u/Damienkn1ght → u/asdfgtref]

*cough* Canadian Truckers *cough*

[u/ChocoJesus]

I don’t know how no one is mentioning the lawyers name is actually Quackenbush. I’m going to be laughing about that the rest of the morning at least

[u/Zannahrain3 → u/ChocoJesus]

His name sounds like a Bond villain.

[u/intLeon → u/Zannahrain3]

Sounds more like they cencored his name.. Quacken feds!

[u/beefjesus69 → u/ChocoJesus]

I started frantically scrolling down the comments to see if anyone clocked that.

KARL QUACKENBUSH is a fantastic name lmao I'm gonna start naming my video game characters this. This is some Ducktales shit.

[u/Politican91]

I really appreciate his willingness to fight back. I am sick of the prude-Victorian 1984. I have no interest in those games but they deserve to exist on the platform regardless

[u/magniankh → u/Politican91]

The problem is that defining porn and then determining the extent of censorship gets very subjective. 

[u/INTP594LII → u/magniankh]

Gabe will just have to try out every porn game himself then 🫡

[u/poopy_toaster → u/INTP594LII]

All hail Goonmaster Gabe! 🫡

[u/ThatLaloBoy → u/INTP594LII]

A ProtonDB where him and the community rate the goon level of every game. Anything that gets bronze or below gets yeeted off Steam.

[u/True-Desktective → u/magniankh]

Right. That subjectivity is the burden of the person, their taste, their selection. 

It is not a burden of the platform. 

A happy middle ground is information descriptions helping the person know what to expect. In complex enough systems some standardizations make sense. 

Where we always go wrong is to think that labeling anything on a sexual gradient means it needs to be shoved into some kind of corner or extra special gated box. 

Which inherently is making the taste and preference choice for the person, by the platform. 

US film and broadcast decency laws maintain an outsized vestigial impact in other mass media spaces, and it sort of made sense for the time and limited controls - but media history is a history of censorship. It also didn’t make sense and didn’t work. 

Legislatively speaking we bend over backwards to make a personal choice in taste anything but a personal choice.

There are a couple extra complexities - platforms have no obligation to be truly neutral - content doesn’t get to supersede all other laws in all matters - and the economics of what people buy and do not buy can pull things into the cultural moment or push them away…and in doing so change consumer taste and preference very quickly. 

The worst ruling in regard to decency happened in the US, but provided us the most important framing. Jacobellis v. Ohio - to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart notably says they’re unwilling to lay out exactly what makes obscene material, but “I know it when I see it”. 

And that’s just it. All this stuff is matters of taste and context driven by the sensibilities of each individual person. 

[u/Individual-Steak-673 → u/magniankh]

Which is why payment processors should not be allowed to refuse processing payments for any merchant period. If anyone is doing something illegal, that should between the criminal and law. We need to give processors immunity from liability for processing payments and just ban them from refusing service to anyone for any reason. There's is no reason to be forcing shit underground in the 21st century, even it is criminal, let alone simply because some might find it distasteful.

[u/JaguarOrdinary1570 → u/Politican91]

It's just necessary with these kinds of people sometimes. The thing about legal/compliance people is that their job is... mitigating risk. And that's it. If you always do what they say and never push back, they will absolutely paralyze your company with lazy and excessively cautious policies and strategies as they jump at every single shadow they see (or imagine they might see one day). "Everyone else is doing content moderation, we don't want to be the ones who stand out if there's some lawsuit or risk being the ones who piss off the payment processors, so we should do it too"

[u/Abigail-Marston]

If this kind of thing is getting out now, imagine how quickly steam is going to go to shit once Gabe retires.

I do not worship the guy like a lot of people do but I think it's pretty clear that he's the main guard against the same kind of practices that make the PlayStation and Xbox stores so shitty.

[u/kylepownu]

Hey guys I am getting some snacks, ya'll want anything?

[u/Puiucs → u/kylepownu]

some popcorn please

[u/kylepownu → u/Puiucs]

Kettle? Or butter?

[u/Puiucs → u/kylepownu]

butter pls

[u/kylepownu → u/Puiucs]

On it boss man

[u/Ravere → u/kylepownu]

Cornetto?

[u/ApplicationMaximum84 → u/Ravere]

By some coincidence I just demolished a mint Cornetto as I read this post.

[u/-AO1337 → u/kylepownu]

hamburger

[u/kylepownu → u/-AO1337]

You want fries with that or onion rings?

[u/Any-Pop-4795 → u/kylepownu]

pizza? oh no wait, hotdog and fries!

[u/BipolarMeHeHe]

He protec

He attac

[u/pwn4321 → u/BipolarMeHeHe]

But most importantly

He snac

[u/FastHotEmu → u/pwn4321]

no now he ozempac

[u/srnx → u/FastHotEmu]

tbf he started losing weight before ozempic was widespread it probably helped tho

[u/iNSANELYSMART → u/FastHotEmu]

anything is better than staying fat so hes right on tracc

[u/GregTheMad → u/FastHotEmu]

Good, I need him to live as long as possible.

[u/200IQUser → u/FastHotEmu]

Gabe

Do nothing

Win

Do something (ozempic)

Lose (weight)

[u/Iseeyouscaper]

WIN.

No censorship. We are grown adults and should be able to see and buy what we want on the store.

[u/Any-Pop-4795]

you know you fucked up when gabe gets angry

[u/GD_milkman → u/Any-Pop-4795]

Lawyers aren't really people, is completely understandable

[u/Corillynx → u/GD_milkman]

True. Source: am lawyer.

[u/GregTheMad → u/Corillynx]

Every lawyer I know says they hate lawyers.

[u/Icelock → u/GD_milkman]

I'm a Vampire, and even we hate lawyers.

[u/Hydrographe → u/GD_milkman]

Can you imagine a world without lawyers?

https://giphy.com/gifs/xT5LMuQroxQi36Hwys

[u/Moss81- → u/GD_milkman]

What do you call a bus filled with lawyers driving off a cliff?

A good start.

[u/SurgicallySarcastic]

Gabe doesn't need to play the game anymore and that's exactly why he won't
Most billionaires at that level are still optimizing for more. More money, more influence, more legacy-building. Gabe seems genuinely checked out of that whole game. Privately held company, no shareholders, no quarterly earnings calls he can just not give in.
He wants to make stuff he thinks is good and be left alone. The open platform approach on Steam has been consistent for years, this isn't some one-off. When you've already won and you know it, why change? Gabe gives no fucks.

[u/filthy_harold → u/SurgicallySarcastic]

The shareholders are Newell with a slight majority stake and his employees making up the rest. Rather than a public company where the money is made on the valuation of the stock, internal equity is more of a profit sharing system. After salaries, operating expenses, debts, etc are paid out, the remaining net income is then divided up by how many shares an employee owns. They probably have a system where equity is awarded based on years with the company (and maybe employee performance ranking) so long term employees are paid out more in dividends than new employees. So while Newell does effectively own the whole company, it means that he needs his employees to have faith in the profitability of the company or else they'll leave.

The way Valve is set up, the company would need to be performing really badly for its employees to consider leaving. This allows Valve to pursue long term goals rather than just trying to make as much as they can each quarter.

[u/superxpro12 → u/SurgicallySarcastic]

homie just wants to sail and play with cnc machines.

[u/r4ndoM_doGmagenshin]

This is why we love GabeN. I’ve never played a porno game ever in my life. Could care less about these games. But to have someone else tell me what I can enjoy, yeah that’s not happening.

First they come for the mammies, then kablamies, then they’re gonna tell me I can’t game in my jammies.

[u/twitch870 → u/r4ndoM_doGmagenshin]

The most realistic road this takes is that all Mature games get listed in the same category. So that in the eyes in the payment processors, you have played one.

Played something with a flirting mechanic or relation mechanic? Goodbye mass effect and baldurs gate. Baby making you say? Goodbye Sims.

[u/r4ndoM_doGmagenshin → u/twitch870]

God dammit Stardew Valley… you monsters.

[u/grinding_your_gears]

Gaben is too pure for this line of work

[u/MimiNuyasaka → u/grinding_your_gears]

That's exactly why he needs to stay, and appoint someone similar to himself when he inevitably retires.

[u/ArtofWASD]

Oh shit. The chill boss that everyone loves working with got pissed? You fucked up...

[u/Lord_Alucard_ICGA]

Someone's been shelling out big bucks to discredit Valve lately.

[u/Dusty170 → u/Lord_Alucard_ICGA]

Probably rat man tim sweeny. Hes got a hate boner for steam.

[u/RCB1997 → u/Dusty170]

His bitch ass kicks and screams monopoly because he failed to buy gamers with free games on his shitty platform with zero compelling reasons to ever use it

[u/Clay-mo]

Steam is cooked once Gabe dies.

[u/-Kaneda- → u/Clay-mo]

Haven't you heard Gabe's plan ?

[u/Mental_Chart6039 → u/Clay-mo]

If there is one Billonair that I dont want to die its Gabe.

[u/kjbaran]

Slow and steady wins the entropy race

[u/OMG_NoReally]

I am against content moderation unless its predatory and infringes on illegality. Porn has always been proliferated among all mediums for decades, if not centuries. From art, books, movies and shows, to now games, I think it's absolutely fine. It's up to the player to make the right decision and not for Steam to handhold them. They are not your baby sitters.

Good on GabeN for keeping it tight and not succumbing to the pressure.

[u/Gray227 → u/OMG_NoReally]

Honestly even "legality" as a moral guide these days is pretty fuckin' silly. Think of how many places criminalize homosexuality, or trans identities. The fact that Steam is based in America, whose legal system is absolutely making moves to restigmatize and criminalize those things as "pornographic" and "obscene," should make you rethink that position.

[u/Damienkn1ght → u/OMG_NoReally]

Also, Steam does a great job of filtering out smutty content as a default, so only people who want to see it will see it.

[u/Jhawk163]

Common Gabe W.

[u/DarkMatterBurrito → u/Jhawk163]

Is that a species of bird?

[u/seaworks]

That's so fucking funny lmao. get em gaben

[u/dramaticpotatoes]

Im really scared of what happens when hes gone

[u/notmyaccountbruh]

Just pitching in to say that GabeN seems to be an ethical being and that might play a part in success of his platform.

[u/Mobile_Bird_9530]

"Karl Quackenbush" Lol, that is a funny name

[u/tuenmuntherapist]

I wish one day I have “what the fuck do I pay you for?” Money.

[u/Bob_the_peasant]

We had a similar “conversation” with one of our corporate lawyers before they were let go - also in the Seattle area / tech sector.

We basically boiled down their professional opinion to be “legally, it would be safest to not do business at all” which is not an appropriate take when we pay you to navigate the legalities of the business

[u/kiwey12]

the lawyer was sentenced to 48h dota2 low elo for speaking up

[u/DrAstralis]

Anyone else notice a flood of anti Gabe and anti Steam stories this past week or so?

[u/blankie_bloops]

Okay, what has Gabe Newell done? I'm noticing hit piece after hit piece of late.

Edit: And by hit piece, I just mean the amount of articles of late, good OR bad. He's hot stuff right now

[u/5appy]

payment processors have way too much power

[u/Stigweird85]

As he should, Steam is a store front, they shouldn't be moderating content at all. I'm sick of the I don't like this therefore no-one else should enjoy it brigade