FAQ. How steam works and why MDRG will never come to steam:
- Why did steam ban MDRG?
Steam bans NSFW games mostly for one thing. Characters they deem underage. This sadly is very broad and up to their interpretation. Some of the things that developers need to avoid:
- Small boobs and petite women (As a challenge try to find a single nsfw game with small boobs on steam that doesn't fall under point 2.1)
- Mentions of schools, school uniforms.
- Characters that are "cute" and not "sexy". Steam for some reason interprets cute as a sign of someone undeveloped. For example: Clothes with bows, bows in general.
- Language that implies someone isn't over 18. For example using words like "girl" instead of a "woman".
This list of course isn't exhaustive, but it should give you an idea how ridiculous this stuff is. Sadly MDRG according to them falls under this. Why? We don't know as they don't tell you. You only get a generic rejection template. It could be, because Jun looks cute. It could be because of a description of a certain item. It could be, because of a shitpost in stream's comments. We do not know.
2. But what about "X"(insert title of a game on steam) game? It has the things mentioned in 1, but it's on steam.
There are games way worse than MDRG on steam, but those fall into one of those categories:
2.1 SFW game with an external patch.
If it comes to sfw games steam allows almost everything. What publishers started doing is releasing a butchered version of a game(Without any nsfw elements) on steam and putting a patch elsewhere. This has its issues. For example the community section of those games can only have sfw screenshots. Steam will community ban your account if you post nsfw screenshots under those games. You can find many reviews about this. Overall though, this is the current meta for nsfw games on steam. Example game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2429860/Living_With_Sister_Monochrome_Fantasy...
2.2 Developer got crazy lucky. At the end of the day the reviews steam does are done by a person.
Sometimes the person has a good day and if you're really lucky you can get on steam even with a game that according to their bans shouldn't be there. Example game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2739590/Mad_Island/
2.3 The games got released a while ago before steam's rules about nsfw content were consistent.
This is mostly about nekopara. Under current rules Nekopara wouldn't be on steam. There are more games that fall under a similar category. In short. What I've heard people say is "Steam is consistent with what they ban, but inconsistent in what they let through. So you shouldn't base your expectations based on what you see there.
3. But game X got denied and made it on steam anyway?
For some offenses steam lets you make changes and apply again. When they deem characters underage in a NSFW game it's unappealable. They specifically say "modifications and resubmissions will not be allowed." There's been one case I could find where Steam allowed a previously banned game. It was "chaos;head" and it was pushed by a publisher "Spike Chunsoft" that has revenue in tens of millions of dollars. As an indie developer if steam gives you this message it's over. That game will never be on steam.
4. But "Sex with Hitler" is on steam? How is that?
As ridiculous as "Sex with Hitler" is. It doesn't violate steam's rules. Steam allows incest, r*pe, bestiality. Yes, there are games where girls fuck horses on steam. The main thing steam consistently bans for is what I said in point 1. "Sex with Hitler" doesn't fall under any of these.